Nicki Elwin - Breakout HR

In this episode of The Journey of Business Podcast, Richard Lannen sits down with Nicki Elwin, founder of Breakout HR, to explore her journey from a 20-year career in HR to taking the leap into running her own business.

Nicki shares how she built her career across manufacturing and global organisations, including a transformative stint in the US, before reaching a “now or never” moment that pushed her to go out on her own. From handing in her notice to navigating the early days of networking, social media, and winning her first clients, she gives an honest look at what it really takes to start and grow a business.

The conversation dives into the reality of HR beyond the stereotypes, highlighting the balance between supporting people and driving business performance, and why creating the right environment for employees is key to long-term success. Nicki also talks about confidence, personal growth, and how putting yourself out there—whether through business or even singing in front of a crowd—can open unexpected doors.

With plenty of humour, real-life stories, and practical insight, this episode is a refreshing look at the challenges and rewards of building something of your own.

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Transcript

Tempo: 120.0

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I'm Richard Lannon, Rhymes with Cannon, and this is the Journey of Business Podcast. Welcome to the Journey of Business Podcast, the podcast dedicated to the journeys of the people in business. Nikki. Hi. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you. Thank you for coming on. You're welcome. For God's sake. Oh, it's so close. So close. So hi.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Oh, fucking hell.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Right. I'm going to leave a bit of that in. I just say, so how did your business journey start?

SPEAKER_00 0:50

God, great question. Uh well, I started in HR about 20 years ago. I know. Don't look old enough.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

So you're 21.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

Exactly. Yeah, I was a young, a young achiever. And um after uni, I think it was just I would say this, cool. I don't think HR has ever been cool, but I think it was just like a buzzword at the time. So I thought that'll do. And here I am 20 years later. So I got HR admin job, which was really boring. But I worked with um a guy called George and a lady called Joyce, who argued like a married couple. So you'd be sat in the office doing your work and they'd be like, George! And I was like, wow, what have I walked into? So I did that for about a year and then moved on. Um, and just a lot of manufacturing companies. I love a shop floor, I love manufacturing. Um, and after about four years at one company, I went to a company called Myra Showers, which a lot of people know, just down the road, and I was there for 10 years. So I went from looking after all the people on the shop floor um and in production um all the way up to sort of a senior HR management role, had a little stint in America, which was eye-opening, um, working over in the States for a few months as a bit of a second and um yeah, looking after loads of teams across the business, all their HR needs, all um working on things such as diversity and inclusion strategies and well-being strategies, uh, to the point where, yeah, after a while I felt probably time to move on. So I got my first HR director job at a company in Quedgley who sold kitchen worktops. Sexy, I love a sexy product, and um after about three years decided it was a sort of now or never moment. Do I go out by myself or do I go off to a sort of bigger HR role? And I didn't want a bigger HR role. I thought it was sort of 60-hour weeks and things like that. So I thought I'd work 60 hour weeks for myself. So um I did what I always do and went to the place where I make my best decisions, the pub. And uh with my other half, we talked it through and decided that we would I'd give it a go. And I think I quit my job three months later.

SPEAKER_02 3:02

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

Mmm, why not? Yeah. Why not? And I um I went to my first um a couple of networking things just to give it a bit of a go and see if I liked it. I didn't, I hated networking. Um, but I still thought it's now or never, so handed in my notice at Easter and then left two months later.

unknown 3:22

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

And then started out breakout HR. Here I am today. So very short version. No, that's good. Really boring. I went so I went there and now here I am.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

Well, I suppose there's a few questions. So the American stint or the America stint, was that because Myra had are they over there as well?

SPEAKER_00 3:44

Oh yeah, so Myra are owned by a company called Cola, it's like a global bathroom brand. Um, and they bought Myra. I was gonna try and be all clever and know the date, early 2000s, I think. So yeah, essentially American-owned company, so they're Cola Myra now. So yeah, Cola are um they started, they have a village, like a town, like Cadbury, uh Cola, Wisconsin. Um, so it started with the factory and sort of built up around it. So um massive business across the globe. And as part of like developing people, they'd offer you maybe a second in a different country. And I always said no, because I was like, no, I've got a mortgage, I've got a husband, I've got all these things. And then I got divorced, and my boss was like, Do you want to go to America? And I went, Yeah, thinking that'll never happen. I was like, Yeah, go on then, why not? Why not? And within like four months, there I was over in America for a few months, all alone. Suddenly I'm on a plane, two suitcases. I could just see the film. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, what did I agree to? It's like when one, you know, when you're growing up and you're like, Yeah, I'll go to uni, thinking you're never gonna go to uni, and then suddenly you're alone in halls and you're like, What do I do? Drink. Um, and so yeah, I was on a plane, suddenly I'm living by myself in America, driving on the other side of the road, all these little things to get used to, completely different culture and way of doing things. And so I lived there for about four months supporting a HR team over there. Wow. It's terrifying.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

But part of I did it. Yeah. Part of my growth. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 5:16

There you go, I'm HR, it's part of my development. So yeah, I think it was um I wouldn't do it again. I literally took um yeah, classic, God, it's probably not good to say. Edit this out. Um, I literally I hate gyms, but I went to the gym four times a week to come back the size I left. But it was an experience.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Yeah, that's how we finished that bit. That's good. That's nice.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

It was good, good for my growth, as they say. Literally.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Yeah, I was gonna say back down and then you you learned about yourself. Uh the other question, the name breakout HR. How did you come up with that?

SPEAKER_00 6:01

It's really boring. So I had loads of things, and then I Googled like what can I call my HR consultancy, and I got some of the most cheesiest puns on like HR terms and things like that. And it was just like, I remember just stood at home one night with my other half cooking, and we were just laughing at how awful they were. And I was like, God, I'm never gonna have a name. And one of them for some reason was just like breakout HR. And I was like, quite like that. That's not shit. So it's like no one's like, and then everyone's like, Yeah, you're breaking out and you're doing this. And I was like, okay, a bit dramatic, but yeah, why not? I like it. It stuck. So, and I couldn't, yeah, couldn't come up with anything else. So, yeah, it has been that. Uh every so often I'm like, should I change it? What would you know?

SPEAKER_01 6:49

What would you change it to? I think it's good that you got the name, because you could have got it. I don't know. Nikki B's got a ring to it.

SPEAKER_00 6:56

Like Cardi B. Cardi B. Down with the kids. Don't really know.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

I think that's very uh like everyone, but I I know it was Nicky B, so I was like, oh, Nikki B he's got that ring to it. So you've got a HR company, but you also do some other things. How did you get into those?

SPEAKER_00 7:12

I do, yes. Um start with the singing. So I used to be a good shower singer and a car singer. I love a car boogie. And um, well, when I was young, I think I did the whole I want to be a singer, but nothing ever came of it. And then I met my other half who does sing and um performs, and he slowly but surely bullied me into a it was just after COVID, so they did like the Opa Mics moved online. So um when we started hanging out, he was like, Do you want to do you wanna come to online opa mic? And I was like, Okay, cool, I'll just sit and watch and sort of saw how it worked. And then he slowly bullied me into doing one, and he was teaching me a bit of piano, so played a bit and sang a bit, and it was good because it was like it was just you two in the room anyway. You forget that there's sort of like a camera there and it's going out to sort of people, and then I think we when they started being in person again, um, I did an open mic, drunk. Um, I had like five rums. I was like, yeah, I could do it, and then slowly but surely um did a couple more, and then someone offered us a gig, like a charity gig. So we're like, okay, we'll do that. And then slowly but surely more and more sing in, and now we do it a lot.

unknown 8:19

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

So weddings, anything summary, we run an open mic night.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

So so how I mean you've been running now for how does your what does your life look like now? Because you're you're juggling a lot of plates from when you first started to today.

SPEAKER_00 8:34

Yeah. Um, hopefully today a bit more work from when I first started. Because I like literally, I remember my first day of I literally finished my job on the 31st of May, breakout HR 1st of June, and you're almost like, what do I do with myself? Because like you just don't quite know, do you? Sort of throw yourself into it. So it started with all I used to spend my time doing was just networking. So everyone I've known from the joys of HR is you meet a lot of people. So you meet a lot of like people who do um learning and development suppliers, coaches, um, well-being people. So I just reached out to everyone I knew and had a good relationship with and went, let's go have a coffee. Um and use that to sort of go, This is what I'm gonna do now. Have you got any advice for me? Um and you know, spread the word if you're out and about when people need HR. So that was it. I just spent weeks just talking to people, um, going to networking events, just trying to spread the word, really, um, doing social media and all those sorts of things that I didn't even think that I'd have to do. So posting sort of three to five times a week, trying to get my messaging right. Um, and then slowly over time it just sort of develops into obviously doing some work. Who'd have thought? Uh different kinds of work, going out to visit potential clients, putting proposals together, and now it's just a mixture of all of the above. You actually spend just as much time doing this sort of thing and doing networking events and talking at events than you actually do doing client work. And it's a real juggle, isn't it? As you all know. Yes. But that's the fun of it, isn't it? Yeah. So people buy from people, so you've got to put that effort in, otherwise, yeah. People won't buy from you. Don't be a dick.

SPEAKER_01 10:18

It comes back full circles. Full circles. Full circles. And then I suppose everything you're building though, I mean, even singing to some extent is still putting yourself out there.

SPEAKER_02 10:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

To the point where, you know, do you get the head tilt? What do you actually do? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

Is this not? What do you like? I get these little I was literally having a coffee with someone a few weeks ago, and the lady who was uh bought me over a coffee and she went, I think I know you from somewhere. And it was a great moment because I was like, Oh, um, I said, Oh, I I do some singing. She went, That's it. And I was like, Stop it. Had this little moment, but it does, I guess if nothing else, it just gets your face out there. Because I live in Siren Sister, so it's quite a small town, and we run an open mic there. So you do get sort of recognised for the music thing, and then they're like, Oh, you do HR as well. Oh, this person. And so anything helps you be human and recognizable, and it all helps because like again, people want to work with people they like, not people who are gonna be, especially in HR, they don't want rulesy people, but they know if you're you know a human and you're social and you're out there doing different things, if nothing else, it's a conversation starter. Or my video calls, because me and Stu, my other half work in the same office on the wall behind is all his guitars. So when everyone's like, oh, who plays? And it's like, oh great, and you just have a good chat about it, whereas he just gets on his video calls the back of my head. Who's that? Yeah, it doesn't really start a conversation to be fair. So anything starts a conversation, so guitar's work for me. I was gonna get a breakout HR background, it'll be all professional, but it wouldn't do that. So I don't play them. I think on our third date, I went, I can play some chords. She went gone then. I was like, A, D, G, C. Done.

unknown 12:15

Drop.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

I know, that's what I remembered from when I was like 12.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

Oh, I remember that. I used to I have guitar lessons tried. I did actually have guitar lessons, but I just find it so much cooler putting it on the wall. Yeah, yeah. People come in and go, do you play it? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:29

A little.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

A little. Just practicing. Show me. No. It's exactly where I want it on the wall. I don't want to move it.

SPEAKER_00 12:35

That's what I do when I'm by myself. Yeah, it's my therapy.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

And it's also, it was like, it's electric. I was like, I can't find the amp.

unknown 12:45

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

Is that is it that's no, that's that's a fake app.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

We'll get you to our open mic.

SPEAKER_01 12:52

Oh my god, no. You have to come and watch. I didn't realise though, someone did tell me you can learn to sing. It's about if you've got a strong enough voice, like you can be tra you can train it to some extent. I mean apparently to some extent. I don't know. You're gonna prove me wrong now, and she's just trying to set me up for a fall.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

I really don't know.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

Try it, right? It should be fine.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

So I imagine I've heard some people they are there's l they're literally tone deaf, so I don't know how you get that.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

Yeah, you kinda have to be timing and some things like that. If you can hold yeah, I think it's interesting. I don't I don't want to sing.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

That could be your next Oh yeah, it could see if you can train get a teaching, a proper teaching singer, and like go for it.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

And then come that can be it, and you could finish out our Oprah. Was just create an environment where people can give it a go. And it's it will always be scary that like if we get a new singer, we'd be like, Sh do with his loud voice, does all the intros, so be like, you get the best intro. And it'd be like, What everyone goes nuts when it's their first.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

I love the idea.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

It's like we had a guy, worked with them at Myra for years, and then we came along, he lives in Siren, came along terrified, and he went, Everyone's really good. Like that. And I was like, Yeah, but you could be really good, you know. And he went, Oh, I'll do it next month. And I was like, we'll see. Along he came, she played guitar for him, he sang, he got the best reception because it was like his first time, he was fantastic, and now this month is his two-year anniversary, and he is now the frontman of a band called Organised Chaos, and he is brilliant. So we met this other guy at Europa Mike, who came with his little ukulele, and he didn't have a singer, and now they're a full band, and now they gig, and it is so lush to see how he's like gone from there to here.

SPEAKER_02 14:38

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

And if he holds up his promise he's gonna play this month on his two-year anniversary, he's gonna bring his ukulele and for the first time play and sing. Oh I'll let you know on Friday if he does it. So, yeah, I think you will. So it's lovely to see someone like because I'm a HR person, I'm a developer, yeah, and so I love seeing that journey. We've got a guy called Phil, he came 18 months ago and he did his first song like this. Like, I've never seen anyone look so tense, like he could have pulled a muscle, and now he's just like it's amazing to watch. And he's getting singing lessons, and he's just got this gorgeous voice, and he just comes and he goes for it. And now he plays too.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

I know I feel all well.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

I'm worried now because these sound like natural talents, so there's no there's no lessons given there.

SPEAKER_00 15:26

Um we'll get some people who can't, you know.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

Yeah, don't worry. I definitely feel like that because you know when you're driving along, you think I sound amazing, and then you turn down the volume and go, what the hell is that? Or um I'd rather listen to the wind noise with the wind noise.

SPEAKER_00 15:39

Maybe be in friends who's like this is what I hear inside my head, like I'm amazing. Barely care. But you see, this is happening on that video, she's like, Oh my god. This is your challenge.

SPEAKER_01 15:54

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 15:56

We'll find you a single.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

Yeah, we'll have to do some initial tests just to make sure we're not way off track. It's gonna take years. You haven't got this time.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

I'll be brutal.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

I'm worried about that. I'm a sensitive soul. Oh, I like it.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

Dancing, singing. Watch. Watch me. I'll show you.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

I don't know what I'll turn out. I'll emerge like a butterfly that can sing. Dad, I'll be on tour.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

Oh my god. Yeah. And I can we'll sort you out. We'll get you some gigs.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

Uh I still have to work, that's the idiot, too. If I'm a social media, it's fine if you're like an influencer kind of thing and this is your job. But I was like, oh no, I actually have to do other stuff.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

Pissing around on the side.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

Like I still should be like, Where's our fucking stuff?

SPEAKER_00 16:40

Piss around on the side and then charge people.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

But it yeah, it is that kind of again, it comes back to your having you in the room, you know. Yeah, exactly. You help people with HR. There you go. I suppose I suppose we should probably talk about some of your HR stuff. So what do you what do you help people with, for example? Is it all doom and gloom? But you just mentioned there. See that bringing into it, you develop people.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

Yeah, it's not all doom and gloom at all. I think people think that HR is hiring, firing. Um, you make people redundant, you know, all those sort of sad things. But actually the point of HR is to um support a business, lot of create that environment so people can be. It was sound really cheesy, awesome. At the end of the day, without people, your business doesn't grow, right? Because you need them to do the work they are. Um, they're selling you in some way, shape, or form. They're either productive or they're not, and that's basically the environment that you create and that culture you create, um, shapes that. So it's all about creating that environment where people can be brilliant. So it might be development, it might be that you're looking after their well-being and their mental health, it might be, you know, 10 other things. Um, but that's what HR brings. And I think there's this whole like argument, are you for the business or are you for the people? And they're like, you're blatantly on the business side. It's like, well, we are, because at the end of the day, businesses are there to make money, and if you do HR right, it adds to the sort of bottom line, but you're also there to look after the people, and it's really thin, it's a it's a it's a balancing act. But there's so much good stuff, but I just think people see the you get the negative stuff, like, oh, because of HR, I didn't get a pay rise, or HR said I can't do this, or and it's like, that's not what we're here for. We're here to advise managers and help them create the environment or help managers help you by having great conversations, but it's not our fault if you didn't get your pay rise or this didn't happen. It's yeah, but we get blamed for a lot because managers also go, HR said, Oh no, we didn't, you said it. So it's a really interesting career. But I think you go into it thinking it's one thing, and then you just deal with so many things that you weren't expecting. You're like a therapist, you're a career planner, you're a advisor, you're a all these sorts of things. So you don't quite know when you go into the office one day what you're gonna get. You could get some of the most funniest stories you'll ever hear. Some really funny scenarios, some downright weird shit. Um, I found so much weed at work in my last job that I don't even know where that came from. Um, or and you get some really sad stuff because you've got your employees going through stuff, or you have people at work who took their own lives and suddenly you're dealing with that in the workplace and you're trying to help everyone, you are not trained for that shit. So you do all your qualifications and they're like, This is employment law, and it's like, oh, brilliant, that does not help a lot of the time. So, yeah, there's so much more to it, and so for clients, I can do any of those things. You'll get clients who are hiring their first person and they just don't know where to start through to any project that means that they want to look after their people better and they don't really know where to start. So anything in between. And it could be that you want me on the end of the phone because anything can happen on any day of the week, or it could just be do you want, I've got this one problem to solve. Can you come in and help me solve it? So pretty flexible in the way I work. You can have me on a retainer or you can pay me for a one-off thing, we'll get it done and mic drop move on. That sounds really dramatic. No, I like it. Sogger, I'll forget you next week. But no, it all depends on size of the business, what they need at the time. But hopefully, hopefully, where I'm different is I want to like the people I work with. I want to get to know them. So I don't just want to do a piece of work and leg it. Hopefully, there's a longer relationship there. And the more I know about the business, the better your advice is because you're you're giving it business context, not just no, don't do that, you're not allowed, because that's not real life, is it? No. And if you say you're not allowed, people want to do it more. So um I like to see the grey and just advise. It's advising on risk. So you could do this, but the risk is X, or you can do this and the risk is Y, and help them make a decision, not just go, no, you can't do that, because people still do it. Yes. So you might as well give them the pros and cons of each option, and then the business leader will go and do what they do.

SPEAKER_01 21:15

I like that. That's really good. I'm glad um you got to explain that because I think a lot of people struggle, and they're at all different stages, and I can imagine even if they've got sort of some sort of a HR team, but you can still come in and advise and work and but because problems arise that might be difficult and they may not have the knowledge.

SPEAKER_00 21:30

Oh god, absolutely. Like any HR team, HR's funny. I've done it for 20 years, and there's still stuff I haven't done, haven't seen. And um, it's always good to have a sounding board. And you always, Chris, when I was HR director, you've always got this group of projects that you want to do, all good things to you know make the business better. But life gets in the way, something will happen. Oh, the business is at a downturn, we've got to do a restructure, whatever it is. But those projects like, I'll do it next year, I'll do it next quarter. And actually, sometimes you could. Just get someone to come in and do it and it's done. Otherwise, it's I will put that into 2026, and suddenly it's summer in 2026, and you're like, 27. So it could just keep sort of dragging. And all the while you've promised your people, yeah, we are going to implement that. We really are. And of course, they just go, You're not. And it all has that sort of impact on employee engagement. So, like, you keep promising stuff, but you don't do it. So you'll get better gains if you spend a bit of money for someone to come in and do it, and they'll go, Oh, you did do what you say. Brilliant. I like it here. So it all adds up to your employees have to trust you at the end of the day, otherwise they'll go and work elsewhere. There's plenty of choice out there. So they'll be off. Well, that's quite a journey, Nikki. It is. It's a fun one.

SPEAKER_01 22:46

In all of that journey, is there a low point in this exact view?

SPEAKER_00 22:51

I haven't thought about my low point yet. Do high.

SPEAKER_01 22:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 22:54

Um probably got a couple. Um I guess personally, when I got my HR Direct job, because that was a really big sort of step. It was like, God, I'm gonna go for a HR Direct job, you know. A, I don't know if I'm adult enough. I'm not. Uh, that's true. Um, but that was a really lovely moment because um I applied for this job. I went through like three or four sort of stages, and um, I was actually out for a friend's birthday, and um I wasn't drinking because I was the driver and I got the call. I wasn't expecting it till the next day, and um they called me that evening and said I got it. And I was just like, with loads of these, because it was my other half friend, so loads of people I didn't know, and I'm like and everyone's looking at this like random woman screaming in this pub garden, and I was like, I got the job! And they're like, And who are you? So it's a lovely moment because I felt really sort of proud of myself that I got it. But my actual proudest moment was had a lady in my team called Tara. Um, and after we'd worked together for a couple of years, she got her first HR director's job, and that was more of a proud moment for me because it was just really lovely to sort of help her get there. And um Tara is brilliant, maybe she'll watch this, and um, but she really struggled with her own confidence at times and her own sort of capability, so it was nice to just be able to help her and give her a bit of guidance. And when she got that job, she was like, I'm so sad I'm leaving. But I was like, This is amazing. So it was a real proud moment that she um she has that job and she's been there now for a couple of years and she's she's smashing it. So I feel all warm and fuzzy.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

That's great.

SPEAKER_00 24:30

I know.

SPEAKER_01 24:31

Um low HR points.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

I think probably just individual situations, like um it's hard in HR because you you almost become the sort of poster person for whatever's going on in the business. And um, when I left my last job, there was gonna be a big change in the business, and um they wanted everyone back in the office five days a week, and it isn't what I wanted to do, and it was part of the reason I thought now's the time to move on and try something, but because you're the HR director, you have to be the one to go, this is amazing! Let's all go back to the office, and you know you're gonna get shot down for it because it was a terrible idea. Um, so that's sort of that sort of moment where you're like, I'm not really on the same page as you anymore. And then we've got a breakup. Yeah, yeah, it is like that. You're like, oh, we just don't, we want to go our different ways. Um, because you want this and I want this. So it's very, very much like that. Um, so you sort of I know you always then have to make a moral decision. Is that I don't know, it's probably not just HR, but you're like, Well, I'm I can't stand in front of people and say that this is brilliant because I hide nothing on my face. So it would have been an absolute fucking car crash. Um, so yeah, and other low points just when you're sat in disciplinaries and things like that in your early career, and you just hear some terrible stories, or you've just got to keep a street face when people people are saying some things that come out of their mouths. I had one where this guy, full-blown grown adult man, and he couldn't get himself to work on time. And um, we were trying to understand why, and um we were being really nice because we knew that his mum wasn't well and he had caring responsibilities, so we were treading really carefully to understand if that was why he was late, because then of course we would have been like, Okay, let's start your day later, or let's do what we can to help you. So we were like, tell us about your routine, you know, hoping that he would say, Well, I have to look after my mum or whatever, like that. Um, well, I um I get up, um, you know, have a shower. Um, you know, sometimes I might need the toilet. I was like, So you're telling me you're late for work because you need to take a shit. And I'm just sat there going, Don't laugh. Like, just don't laugh. And then I caught the eye of his manager and we both laughed. It's like, I'm so sorry. And I was like, Yeah, this is not my finest hour.

SPEAKER_01 27:14

Also, how that how not smart is that? Why you don't obviously you have a shit at work because you get paid to shit. Let's just move that to the house.

SPEAKER_00 27:25

I've just been paid to shit. Half an hour. Read a book.

SPEAKER_01 27:30

No, I am working for lunch, yes.

SPEAKER_00 27:33

Wash your hands. I get half an hour. And it's moments like that, you're like, what am I doing with my life? Like you really, you doubt. But yeah, it's only those individual situations where you're like, How did I get here? But I'm sure we all have meetings like that.

SPEAKER_01 27:52

Yeah, no, don't where we're like I don't think I could not have a meeting like that. Especially when you're there.

SPEAKER_00 27:59

We'd laugh all the way through every discipline.

SPEAKER_01 28:02

I just feel like just read the transcript. There's no laugh at it.

SPEAKER_00 28:04

Yeah, not allowed. Oh, I've got great stories like that. I've had like employees who should be going into customers' homes and they've been caught going through customers' drawers, all sorts of things. Literal drawers, not drawers. Similar. Yeah, basically, let's be honest. We all know. Yeah, and then you do doubt your whole life choices, but it wasn't me going through the drawers, so I'm fine with myself.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

So for that's an opportunity to get the word dildo into this podcast. It's in, it's in, I don't know what to do with it. It could be out. That's what she said. Um you won't write into that one. Oh my god. We deserve that. Yeah, I do. I really do. There we go. Officially blue butt outtake. That's that's good enough. Um, last question. Um if you had one piece of business advice to anyone in business or sort of just getting into business, what would it be?

SPEAKER_00 29:02

Um I would say just give it a go. Like, not business in general, but like I think I've done things like, should I do this, should I do that? And I've spent ages like almost overthinking it, and it's like, just try it. What's the worst that can happen?

unknown 29:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:16

Because it doesn't work. Or you could put the post out there that you were thinking could be a little bit controversial and it could be great. Or no one likes it at all. What have you lost in the grand scheme of things? So just do it. Go Nike. Just do it. And if you can't do it, outsource it.

SPEAKER_01 29:34

Hate.

SPEAKER_00 29:35

You're welcome.

SPEAKER_01 29:36

So shall I thought that was covet.

SPEAKER_00 29:42

You know it makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 29:45

Thank you, Nikki. Thank you for your time.