Season 4 | Episode 4 | Building a Business Bigger Than Yourself

Today, Trudy Heins sits down with Sam Bell, founder of Courageous Girls Club, to explore what it really takes to build a business bigger than yourself.

What began with just eight girls gathered around Sam's dining room table has grown into a national organisation, licensing programs across Australia to help young girls build confidence, courage and resilience.

As the business expanded, Sam faced the challenge every founder eventually encounters: how do you stop being the person who does everything and become the leader who enables others to carry your vision?

Together, Trudy and Sam discuss the transition from operator to CEO, the power of licensing, protecting your intellectual property, documenting systems, building the right team, and learning to let go so your business can continue to grow without depending solely on you.

If you've ever wondered how to scale a service-based business, struggled to delegate, or wanted to create a business that makes an impact beyond your own time and effort, this conversation is for you.

Connect with Sam Bell
Website: Courageous Girls Club
LinkedIn: Sam Bell


Episode Highlights

02:35 How Courageous Girls Club began

05:11 The experiences that shaped Sam's mission

09:39 Building confidence instead of simply tackling bullying

15:43 Why licensing became the path to growth

20:36 Redefining success and building a business that fits your life

23:07 Stepping into the role of CEO

25:40 Letting go so your business can grow

31:04 What every business owner should know about licensing

33:56 Leadership, authenticity and building the right culture

38:44 Giving yourself permission to lead

43:22 Why you have to back yourself

45:05 Season 4 Quickfire Questions

47:42 Final thoughts and takeaways

Become a Fempire Certified Business Coach

If you're an experienced businesswoman ready to turn your knowledge into a profitable coaching business, we'd love to have a conversation.

Click here to learn more

Find a Fempire Certified Business Coach

Looking for practical business support from a coach who understands the realities of business ownership?

Find your coach here

Join the Fempire Academy

Access practical business resources, masterclasses, templates, playbooks and a supportive community of women building stronger, more profitable businesses.

Join the Academy

Connect with Fempire

Website

Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

SAM

The conclusion that I came to from that was actually just, it sounds so simple, just be the best version of you with the most integrity.

Do the right thing, even if that's not the thing that benefits you or that you want to do.

You know what is the right thing to do.

TRUDY

Absolutely.

Welcome to Fempire Rising, Her Future, Her Voice.

I'm Trudy Heins, and I'm the CEO of Fempire, a strategic business consultant and your host.

If you joined us for season three, you'll know we spent the season exploring the foundations of building a successful business.

But eventually, every business owner reaches a point where working harder is no longer the answer, nor the option.

The very skills that helped her start the business can become the things that hold her back.

And that's where season four begins.

Welcome to The CEO Shift.

This season, we're talking about what it really takes to move from operator to CEO of your business. To stop doing everything yourself, to build stronger systems, make better decisions, lead with confidence, and create a business that does not rely on you for every single thing.

I'll be speaking with women from Australia, New Zealand and around the world who've made that shift and have the lessons to prove it.

Because the goal isn't to do more. The goal is to lead better.

This is Fempire Rising.

Today I'm joined by someone whose story perfectly captures that of season four.

When most people see Courageous Girls Club these days, they see a growing organisation helping young girls build confidence, resilience and courage through programs delivered across multiple communities.

What they may not realise is that it all started with just eight girls gathered around Sam Bell's dining room table.

Since then, Sam has transformed a simple idea into a scalable business by licensing Courageous Girls Club to leaders across Australia.

It is a remarkable example of moving from being the person who delivers the service to becoming the CEO who builds the business.

And along the way, she has learnt the importance of systems, leadership, vision and trusting others to carry the mission forward.

Today we're talking about what it really takes to build something that is bigger than yourself, and why stepping into the CEO role isn't just about growing a business.

It's about creating a legacy.

Sam, welcome to Fempire Rising.

SAM

Thank you.

TRUDY

So please tell us a little about yourself and what inspired you to create Courageous Girls Club.

SAM

I find this a really tricky question to answer.

So I was very much at a loose end where plans for what I was going to do next didn't eventuate.

And I kept seeing an advert on Facebook that said, "Train to be a girls' empowerment workshop facilitator."

TRUDY

Oh, big title.

SAM

It was a very big title.

Try saying that fast. It's impossible.

And I kept seeing it.

I was like, "No, no, no, no, no. I don't know what this is."

But I kept coming back to it.

And then the thing that clinched it for me, of all things, is the fact that they accepted Afterpay.

TRUDY

Okay.

SAM

So I went, "Oh yeah, okay. I'll put it on Afterpay. It doesn't matter."

TRUDY

Yeah, yeah. That's girl maths, right?

SAM

Absolutely.

It doesn't really cost anything.

But the training was really simple and lovely.

And the idea behind it was that I could run school holiday workshops for young girls.

Now, I'd just spent a year working at the local dance school, teaching young girls ballet and other types of dance.

And I think I'd really noticed a big difference in how childhood had changed from me being a dance teacher, what would it have been, 12 years previous to that?

Childhood had changed.

The way children learned things seemed to have changed.

And something about this advert really just spoke to me.

And the idea of running some school holiday workshops for girls seemed really appealing.

And then very quickly, I decided that school holiday workshops was not the thing to pursue.

Actually having a weekly, term-based event was a smarter business decision.

But at the time, and it seems crazy because I think when you work in this industry, you start to see that there are quite a few other businesses that do similar things, four years ago, people did not pay for their daughters to go to an empowerment workshop after school.

They paid for them to go to swimming.

They paid for them to go to ballet.

They didn't pay for them to come to something like Courageous Girls Club.

So it was very new, even just four years ago.

And it's much more common now for parents to invest in that emotional wellbeing for their children.

TRUDY

And I think that as a whole is probably something that we're seeing across the board.

And the fact that people are investing in their children in that way is fabulous.

But I'm seeing that even in relation to the women we coach and that whole-of-person approach, as opposed to just a recreational, extracurricular activity or hobby, is becoming very much something that is commonly accepted and more widely spoken about.

SAM

Yes.

TRUDY

What did life look like before Courageous Girls Club, and what experience shaped your passion for helping young girls?

Because I know that you certainly have a great backstory to that.

SAM

Yes, and how to keep it succinct.

So as a young girl myself, I was bullied very badly from age six to 26.

I actually started running my own business when I was about 17.

I was a line dance teacher, of all things.

And I did that, but it was never considered anything serious.

And it was a case of, "When are you going to go and get a proper job?"

So I went and got a proper job and found that the bullying continued into the workplace, which was such a surprise to me.

I thought that kind of mean-girl nastiness that happened in high school would finish.

But it didn't.

It carried on into adulthood.

And I guess circumstances enabled me to essentially opt out of real work, and I went back to ballet class and qualified as a ballet teacher.

I set up my own dance school, opened my own dance studio, and kind of went along merrily in my own little bubble world.

TRUDY

In your own ecosphere.

SAM

Yeah.

It was wonderful.

I would also say that actually bullying still happened in my dance studio.

There was still that kind of nastiness and people wanting to outdo one another or being spiteful.

The world of dance is a very toxic place anyway.

TRUDY

You can imagine modelling, all those things.

They become part of the territory.

SAM

And then I decided, because I'd had my first child, I wanted to do something different.

And at the time, I had gone to see an image consultant because my own confidence was at an all-time low.

I spent all day, every day in dancewear.

And I think turning 30, becoming a mum, being a business owner, it was like, "Well, who am I?"

And a lot of that is in how do you dress, how do you show up?

What am I doing?

TRUDY

But that image is very much how we tie our value to, rightly or wrongly.

It is part of how we tie our value.

SAM

Absolutely.

So I went to see an image consultant and it completely transformed my life.

But it also made me fall in love with that result, and I wanted to create that result for other women.

So I sold my dance studio and retrained as a personal stylist.

What I found was that all of these women that I spoke to who were struggling with their own image, with their own confidence, their own self-esteem and feelings of self-worth, it all went back to being a child.

It all went back to being a girl.

And whether that was being bullied, whether that was having an overbearing mother, whether it was being objectified by men, there was something that happened in that early foundational period of being a young girl that they were carrying into adulthood.

And it was holding them back from finding a loving relationship, from applying for a promotion, from changing jobs.

And the women that I was seeing, they had this thing inside of them.

And obviously the way I marketed my business at the time spoke to them.

And what I found was that I could only do the things from the outside.

TRUDY

Yes.

SAM

Not the inside.

And that was a great cause of frustration for me.

But it also kind of solidified a lot of things in my own thoughts of going, "Oh wow, we've all just had a tough time, haven't we, of being girls?"

And I remember having a conversation with a videographer.

We were just talking about work and I was telling her about my job as a stylist.

And she said, "Wow, Sam, you really love women, don't you?"

And I said, "Oh my God, no. I hate them."

And I was like, "What just came out of my mouth?"

But because my experience had been to be ostracised, to be picked on, to be, "You're too loud, you're too big for your boots, you're too bossy, you're too this, you're too everything."

So I actually feared women.

And my way of dealing with that kind of rejection was to reject them.

So it was like, "Oh, I don't like women."

TRUDY

Oh, that bluff and bravado kind of.

SAM

Yeah, absolutely.

And it was then with Courageous Girls Club that I kind of joined the dots, if you like.

I went, "Okay, oh my gosh, bullying comes from not feeling good enough about yourself.

"So if we can teach girls how to deal with bullying and also give them enough self-worth that they don't need to bully in the first place, maybe we can make a real impact here."

TRUDY

Absolutely.

And I think it's understanding that vulnerability and not becoming bitter and twisted from it, but how to step into that in a productive way.

Because I'm very much around, the last thing we want to do is have this hardened shell around us.

The fact that you talk about those mean girls going through, not just high school, but I'm the ripe old age of 56 and have experienced that in the last six months, this kind of mean-girl attitude.

And you just think, "For goodness gracious, really? Are we still there?"

But I see it with my granddaughters.

The bullying is becoming more and more spoken about, which is fabulous, but it appears to be becoming more and more prevalent too.

So the fact that you have been able to work out that, I guess, the link between if we can deal with this now while they still are impressionable enough, we can actually probably create a better generation of women moving forward that are going to be more supportive of each other.

And I love to hear that.

That is really exciting.

So it all began with eight girls around your dining room table.

Take us back to that moment.

SAM

Oh gosh, I was so scared.

I had no idea if this was going to work.

And the training that I'd done online, it was great for what it was.

There was a bit of content there and I followed the script.

I just remember feeling really wooden and really awkward.

TRUDY

Inauthentic.

SAM

Yeah.

It was so hard because I guess all of my work with kids had been very physical, very dance-based, lots of fun and games, thinking on my feet, using lots of energy.

And this was a very different thing.

It was very sit-down and step-by-step process.

And I realised, for this to work, it needs to be my thing that I do.

TRUDY

That's exactly right.

And I know you deal with a lot of neurodivergent children.

And that prescriptive nature of, as you said, "Sit here and let's go from A to B to C to D," just does not work.

Again, I have a granddaughter that has that.

I had a son who would, and I know that would be just a road to nowhere if that was the way that you had continued.

SAM

Yeah, absolutely.

That was my first term.

I had eight girls because that's how many seats I had around my dining table.

They were aged seven to 12, which I don't do anymore because there's a huge age gap.

TRUDY

That's a big difference.

A big maturity level.

SAM

Yeah, absolutely.

It was great.

And I think it was so revolutionary for the time.

But what really shocked me, I guess, was that it wasn't a hard sell.

And I say that as a business owner from the point of view of going, I recognise that I live in a small place where lots of people knew me because I'd worked with kids for a while.

But something about it captured the attention of parents that said, "I need my daughter to go to this."

TRUDY

And I think when I'm coaching women in their business, anything really comes down to understanding what is keeping somebody up at night and what their true pain point is.

And clearly you did that.

These mothers or parents were worried about their daughters for whatever reason.

It was something that captured them and you provided a solution for that.

And I think that was probably why it resonated so much.

We worry about our children and it does keep us up at night.

So when do you think you realised its true potential?

That it was actually going to be, maybe not just a side hustle, but a true business that was going to be able to take you forward, and obviously now with licensing.

Do you think there was a moment that it clicked and you just went, "Oh my goodness, I've got something here?"

SAM

That's a really interesting question, and it's worth some time.

So it absolutely was a side hustle for me at the time because I was also running a fitness business.

I was teaching a lot of fitness classes and, interestingly, creating a similar space for women as what Courageous Girls is, but with a different medium.

TRUDY

Probably need.

SAM

Yes.

But my focus was very much on fitness, and Courageous Girls was just something I did there.

And then I saw BPW, Business and Professional Women, in the organisation were running, not an awards, but like a business competition for female founders, and it was for innovative businesses.

So I entered this and became a finalist.

It was one of those things I'd forgotten I'd entered.

TRUDY

Yep.

Seemed like a good idea at the time.

SAM

Absolutely.

And then life goes on, you don't think anything more about it.

And you go, "Oh my gosh, I'm a finalist."

And then the next thing I know, I'm having to go and do a training session to learn how to pitch.

And then I'm at this big fancy gala dinner and pitching to a panel of judges and a room of, you know, 100 people.

And it was the response to that.

I think it was the process of going, "Okay, how do I explain Courageous Girls Club in this situation? What is it that I'm pitching for? What is it that I need? What do I want? What's the story here?"

And I think going through that process and then giving that pitch to that room full of people, and then the response from those people, the judges as well, I think that was the thing that made me really go, "Sam, this is too good to keep to yourself on Bribie Island."

And I'd grown to four classes on Bribie Island by then, population of 20,000 people.

So this is not a big place.

I was thinking, "If I can have four groups on Bribie Island, then other people can have bigger groups in other places."

So then I was like, "Okay, how do I scale the business?"

I've done other things.

When I had my dance studio, I employed staff.

I didn't want to go down that route again.

I found that very stressful and not my wheelhouse at all.

TRUDY

A common thing, trust me.

A common conversation that I have with women in business is, "It would be a great job but for the staff."

SAM

Yes.

So that was a big no from me.

So I was like, "Well, I'm a licensed Zumba instructor. I wonder if I could license Courageous Girls Club in the same way."

And so that kind of became the idea.

And then I knew what I had to do was prove that it was a replicable process.

TRUDY

Great.

SAM

So I left the island, which might be a Bribie Island joke, got off the island, and went and set up some clubs in some new places.

And I documented the whole thing.

So it's like, "Right, okay, how did I set up my first club? How am I going to set up my second? What about my third?"

It needs to be a process that other people can replicate.

And that needs to be then a proven model.

So it has to be something that anybody could learn to do and replicate that in their own area.

So that's what I did.

And around the same time, an amazing woman that I knew, but we didn't know well.

We were both Zumba instructors and had mutual connections.

And she saw a lot of what I was posting about Courageous Girls Club.

She's down in Sydney.

And she got in touch and said, "Oh, hey Sam, would you mind if I picked your brain about your Courageous Girls Club? Because I've been thinking about doing something similar for some time."

And I said, "I'm absolutely more than happy to talk to you. FYI, I am looking at licensing this. I just want you to know that in the beginning so you don't think I'm pitching to you, because I'm happy to tell you whatever you want to know."

So we had a conversation.

And I think a week later she came back and said, "Could I be your first licensee?"

TRUDY

Wow.

SAM

So I was like, "Oh my gosh."

TRUDY

Here we go.

Right, this runaway train is going and I need to work with it.

SAM

Yeah.

So then it was like, "Oh, now I need to create the training program that is sellable."

Not just an idea on the back of a serviette or my own notes.

TRUDY

And get things out of your head and onto paper.

SAM

Yeah.

So that was then the next thing.

And because one person had asked, I was like, "Well, it wouldn't hurt to have a few more, would it?"

So I put a post out on Facebook and got another two ladies interested.

Somehow one licensee became three.

So then that was Sydney, another lady quite close to us here in Moreton Bay, and a lady up on the Sunshine Coast.

And that was the start of Courageous Girls Club being a licensed business.

And they followed the plan, they followed the process, and their clubs are up and running.

TRUDY

Wonderful.

So because you mentioned you'd built other businesses, what things did you take into that that helped you build Courageous Girls Club?

And you mentioned the licensing in Zumba, but are there other examples?

And are there other things that you went, "Oh no, I'm going to leave those behind in my past because I've learnt the lessons and I'm not going to bring those into the new?"

SAM

That's a really great question.

So practical things that I learned would probably be, my very nature is I am very comfortable and very confident to build the plane as I'm flying it.

Something about this made me go, "No, you have to do this properly."

TRUDY

Yes.

SAM

You have to lay the foundations.

You have to do it step by step.

You have to do all of the things.

You can't wing this.

You can't just build the plane.

I mean, there is an extent of building the plane as you're flying.

TRUDY

And I think a business is like that anyway, isn't it?

I think that you need the ability to pivot because markets change, things are always changing.

So you have to be like that.

So what do you think had happened or was different that made you feel that?

SAM

I think a degree of maturity.

And I think that knowing this could be huge.

TRUDY

Okay. So you could see the scalability of it.

SAM

Yeah.

This could be the thing that really makes me.

Don't mess it up by cutting a corner, by jumping too fast, by not having the legal agreement quite right, by overpromising and under-delivering.

Don't mess it up, Sam.

That was the underlying kind of thing throughout.

It was like, no, it has to be.

I'm not saying that everything has to be perfect, but it has to be good enough to justify every step.

So that's definitely what I learned from other businesses.

I would also say from the personal styling business, I loved the personal styling business.

I loved the work.

It was not really a scalable business.

And I did try different methods, so I learnt a lot from that.

I tried to have a membership, have like a retainer-type system.

I tried training other stylists.

None of those really worked.

And I think having had the dance studio where you get repeat business, low value, high volume, versus that kind of, you might only get a customer once, you're charging a bit more.

TRUDY

It's more bespoke, isn't it?

SAM

Yes.

And there's nothing wrong with that.

It depends what your end goal is.

TRUDY

Absolutely.

SAM

And so for me, I was like, "Nah, I want to build something."

TRUDY

Yeah, I want to build my empire.

SAM

Yeah.

So I definitely learnt a lot about business models, marketing, and I think about how you want to spend your day as well.

I spent a lot of time with a lot of male business owners when I was a personal stylist and learnt a lot of business things that I would say were very masculine.

And it was very, "You need to look at a picture of your kids every day and remember that you're doing it for them."

And I'm like, "Yeah, but I want to spend time with them too."

TRUDY

The picture doesn't just work.

SAM

Yeah.

I'm like, "But who's actually going to look after my kids while I'm working 14 hours a day for them? Because I want to do that too."

So there was a lot of, I think, unconditioning as well around business and going, "You can run a business your way."

TRUDY

And success.

One of the things that I always say is success means different things to different people, and that is okay.

It doesn't have to be about the money.

It doesn't have to be about building an empire.

Well, if that's what you want, that's great, and you take the steps to get there.

But you need to find your definition of success and move towards that.

SAM

Yes.

TRUDY

Not your accountant's, not your family's.

You have to really look inside and say, "What is going to make me feel successful?"

SAM

Yes.

TRUDY

My question to you on that is, what really had to change in your mindset to go from being around the dining room table, to licensees, to scalability?

In your mindset, what do you feel had to alter?

SAM

There was a definite sense that an identity shift needed to happen.

And I do feel that for quite a long time I almost hid behind being a leader in the club with the girls, doing all of the lovely things, instead of actually stepping up and being vocal, sharing my opinions and being bold and saying, "Hey, women, I can help you create your own business doing amazing work with young girls that you're going to get paid well for."

So I had to really battle lots of old bullying stuff.

Like, "People like me should keep their mouth shut."

TRUDY

Yes.

SAM

"You know, who do you think you are?"

TRUDY

Conditioning.

SAM

Yes.

All of that.

It just comes up at unexpected times.

And I don't think we ever really get rid of that.

I think we get better at shushing it.

I think for every level, there's another thing that comes out from somewhere.

TRUDY

We're complex creatures.

SAM

We so are.

So yeah, it was definitely about me looking at, "Okay, what does the CEO of Courageous Girls Club look like? And what does she do? And how does she interact with people?"

Because she isn't spending five days a week crawling around the floor with little girls.

She's actually having meetings with politicians, and she's going to Parliament House, and she's having conversations with other business leaders.

And so I had to really do a lot of work internally on that mindset shift.

And then also recognise that I can't do everything by myself and that I needed to walk the tightrope of looking at what can be delegated to others, what can be outsourced.

And interestingly, I'll say the ladies that are licensees at the moment have said to me several times, "Hey, you know, Sam, if you need a hand with anything, just let me know."

And I don't feel comfortable asking them to do stuff.

Like, I feel like I need to do it all myself.

And I'm like, "Wow, where has that come from? That's interesting."

TRUDY

That is not unusual.

And interestingly enough, my next question to you was, did letting go come naturally?

And you have just answered that.

SAM

No.

TRUDY

Okay.

So if it doesn't come naturally, how do you overcome that?

SAM

I think like anything, it's practice.

TRUDY

Before we get back to the conversation, I've got a quick question.

Are you still running your business?

Or honestly, are you leading it?

If you realise that you're carrying too much, making every decision, or feeling stuck in the day-to-day weeds, it might be time for some support.

At Fempire, our Certified Business Coaches help women make the shift from operator to CEO through practical guidance, accountability and real-world business experience.

Whether you need support with leadership, strategy, systems, marketing, finance or growth, there's a coach who can help you.

To learn more about working with a Fempire Certified Business Coach, visit fempire.com.au.

Now let's get back to the conversation.

SAM

So I did hire a VA.

Even that was like, "Oh my gosh, this is going to take me such a long time just to tell her all the things that she needs to know. I might as well just do it myself."

I think the biggest thing for me that really helped actually was concentrating on the long game.

So, okay, yeah, today this is a bit painful because you're having to explain how something works or you're having to record a video for somebody.

But over here, it's not going to take any time at all.

And it's all just going to get done, and you're going to be off doing the things that only you can do.

TRUDY

I love that.

And I think that's one of the key takeaways that I would like people to understand from today's episode.

Yes, it may be uncomfortable.

Yes, you actually might feel a little bit precious about bringing people in.

And I think we are conditioned to kind of not toot our own horn, and that feels a little bit princess.

"Oh, I need this, and I need a VA."

The reality of it is, if you have a bigger mission that only you can do, then you need to be able to bring other people in that can support you in that mission.

Otherwise, you will never reach your full potential, and your business will never reach its full potential.

What do you think makes a successful licensee?

SAM

A successful licensee, it comes down to passion for the girls and passion for the vision.

So every woman that has said yes comes from a background of recognising that they needed something like Courageous Girls Club when they were young.

Quite a few are from a fitness background, but not fitness, more that nurturing wellness.

TRUDY

Wellness, yes.

SAM

Wanting to take care of women and wanting to help women take care of themselves, take care of their bodies, their health, and understanding that physical and mental wellbeing are combined.

So women come from that, or they might come from counselling, education.

But people don't need to be qualified teachers or therapists to be a leader.

In terms of the business, you get taught everything that you need to get up and running and to start running the business.

What can't be taught is that innate passion to help girls.

TRUDY

And interestingly enough, Fempire, we run a licensing model for our coaches, which is exactly the way that you roll.

And we have all the process and everything.

And when I'm interviewing prospective new coaches, the one thing I am looking for is, "I want to help women."

The rest I can teach.

That is 100 per cent exactly what you just said.

It is the way you do things, we can teach that.

Because it is something that you can replicate.

But that internal desire to want to help is something that you can't.

SAM

Yes.

TRUDY

So I love how that aligns.

So now, how do you protect the quality and the reputation of your brand?

Because that for me is critical, and I'm sure it is for you as well.

SAM

Yeah, it's a really tricky one actually, because it's so in its infancy.

It's only been 18 months since Simone signed up as the first licensee.

And one of the things that I feel is another bit of a tightrope to walk is being okay with having to adjust as you go and have hard conversations sometimes.

When I started this, I could not perceive how another licensee might run her club.

You can do as much as you can to try and imagine what that might be like and try and think what might go wrong.

But until it's a living, breathing thing, you don't know what might go wrong or what you might not be okay with.

So I feel like it's a bit of a tightrope of going, "Ah, I've just seen that Betty in Scarborough has advertised it this way, and that's not the way that I want it done."

And so I go, "Okay, why do I not want it? What's better? Did I explicitly say this? Does it say that in the training? Is there a reason?"

And having to be okay with that and actually start with yourself to go, "Okay, is this a deal-breaker? Is this okay? What does it mean in the long term? What's the conversation that needs to be had?"

Right now, so far, there hasn't actually been anything that I'm like, "Oh my goodness, what is she doing? Stop, stop."

But of course, there are things that you go, "Ah, I would never have imagined that that would have happened."

There's an amazing lady actually who runs it from her home like I used to.

And she has pet guinea pigs.

So she has a little bit of time where the guinea pigs come out with the girls.

Now, I could never have imagined 18 months ago that I would have a licensee that would make guinea pigs part of Courageous Girls Club.

That would never have been in my imagination ever.

It's actually a really great thing because everybody can make Courageous Girls Club their own thing.

It makes sense the way it's introduced.

It's actually, she uses them as a bit of an emotional regulation tool and as a bit of a treat.

Does every leader need to go and buy guinea pigs?

No.

Is it going to be a point of difference for our business?

No.

But I think as the CEO, you can't anticipate every single thing that happens, but you need to be prepared to have hard conversations if something comes up.

Because at the end of the day, it's your business and it's your reputation, and you must protect it.

TRUDY

You have to have a core there of what is acceptable and what is not acceptable.

And as you said, there'll be things that will float around the edges and you'll make a judgement call at the time.

But then there is a ceiling where there are non-negotiables, and you have to have those hard conversations because people will push boundaries.

That's just life.

Okay, so what advice would you give somebody who is considering a licensing model?

SAM

Speak to a lawyer and make sure that you get an agreement.

TRUDY

Sure.

SAM

That's the first thing that I would do.

It is a really, really great way of scaling a business that is, as far as my understanding is, less intense on everybody than a franchise.

TRUDY

Absolutely.

SAM

It allows for freedom on both sides.

It's a way of getting something that you've created to expand beyond you without you having to employ people or think about, "How would I set up a club in Sydney?" without a lot of headaches.

TRUDY

Absolutely.

So it is scalability without you actually having to be boots on the ground, literally, isn't it?

But I would imagine that part of that, and I know you've discussed this already, but your systems and processes are critical.

SAM

Yes.

And a lot of the time you won't know all of the systems and processes that you need.

It's even like hiring the VA was a big moment of going, "Ah, yeah, I don't actually have a process for scheduling my social media. I'd better create one."

Because when it's just you, you do all of the things as and when.

You might wake up on Thursday morning and go, "Oh, I haven't done the social media for next week. Quick."

TRUDY

You have a thought.

SAM

Yeah, absolutely.

And when you've got somebody else that needs that information, it makes you put a system and a process in place.

To expand from that, the systems and processes that we have in place for Courageous Girls Club become about child safety, become about reporting, become about storage of personal information, consent for social media photographs.

So kind of beyond the fun aspects of the business.

That's the bit everybody really wants to do.

How do I turn up and do amazing things with girls for an hour?

Because that's great.

But how to complete risk assessment forms and what information you need to record and how to do this, they're all of the very boring things that are definitely not the kind of things that I enjoy at all.

And I've had to really almost sit on my hands and force myself to do some of those things.

Because again, to take it back to what I was saying earlier about that whole building the plane as you're flying it, for me, I've gone, "I need to have these systems and processes in place so that nothing breaks in the future."

TRUDY

And I'm also building a business that allows other people that may not have the capacity to do that and think through those more logical things, so that they don't have to do that.

It's great having it all in your head, and you may be very regimented in the way you do things.

But actually then taking that and putting it into Google Drive or on paper or however you present it, getting it out of your head and onto paper is critical as well.

How do you think your leadership has evolved?

SAM

You ask really, really great questions, Trudy.

I was actually thinking about leadership probably two months ago in particular, and I was thinking about what kind of leader do I want to be?

And I think I started to go down this rabbit hole of thinking what a leader is meant to be like, and forgetting that a leader is however you want to lead.

And you are already leading.

So I had to kind of go back and be, "Hang on a second, right? Who am I, Sam Bell, as a person?"

The seven ladies that have become licensees, what is it about me that they've said yes to?

TRUDY

Absolutely.

Because they won't follow a leader unless your values align to theirs.

So it's clearly not about a textbook leader.

SAM

Yes, exactly.

And I think in my head, my husband comes from a very corporate background where he's done all the leadership training and the Level 4 and the levels.

TRUDY

Yes, I have done all of that.

SAM

All of that.

So I think living with him in parallel, I've been looking at that going, "Oh, is that what I need to do now? That's what a real leader does."

TRUDY

And the reality of it is that real leadership could not be further from the truth of what you can learn in a book.

SAM

Yes, absolutely.

So I think the conclusion that I came to from that was actually just, it sounds so simple, just be the best version of you with the most integrity.

Do the right thing, even if that's not the thing that benefits you or that you want to do.

You know what is the right thing to do.

TRUDY

Absolutely.

SAM

And so that was the conclusion that I came to.

I don't need to go off and do whatever those leadership things were.

I just need to keep being me, but the best version of me.

TRUDY

Great.

So what has been the biggest challenge that you've had in scaling your business, do you think?

SAM

Business-wise or personal-wise?

TRUDY

Both.

SAM

Okay.

Business-wise, I just feel like there's always a hump to get over.

Like, not quite there yet. Not quite there yet. Not quite.

TRUDY

It's a mountain that continues to get bigger.

SAM

Yes.

And nothing ever seems fast enough.

You go, "Oh my goodness, July, and I still don't have 20 million people teaching it."

But when you stop and look back at where you were six months ago, you go, "Oh my goodness, this is huge. This is so fast."

So that hump always feels impossible.

But when you stop and take a look back, you realise how far you've come and how far off that hump you are.

TRUDY

How important is that reflection?

I think that is one thing that we really, and particularly as women, because we continue to just power forward.

And often, even when we've brought up our children, we have so many layers of mother guilt and this guilt and some other guilt, that we forget to actually look back and go, "Oh well, I've raised wonderful children. I've built a business. I've held together a marriage," whatever your achievements have been in life.

But we always seem to focus on the things we haven't been able to do.

SAM

Yes, it's true.

That's the hard stuff on the business sense.

In the personal sense, I would say my biggest challenge is prioritising myself and my business because I have a default setting that puts everybody else first.

A really great example was I was running a three-day workshop in the Easter holidays.

It had been planned for a really long time, and my husband came home from work and said, "Oh, I have to go away for three days on these days."

And for the first time in our 20-something-year relationship, I said no.

And I said, "I cannot run my workshop and be a solo parent while you're away. So you need to tell work that you can't go."

And he didn't want to do that because of his work ethic, and he'd never said no before either.

But he said no, and nobody died.

The world didn't break.

And they went, "Oh, okay, can you go next month?"

So he went the next month.

But doing that was very difficult for both of us in different ways.

And the big challenge for me was actually drawing that line in the sand and going, "Actually, no. What I'm growing here is bigger, and I need to be able to do this, and I need to be able to do it well."

I can't do that well if my mind is on, "Are the kids okay? Are they fine? Has Grandma picked them up? Have they gone to the..."

TRUDY

I can't do that and I need that focus time.

SAM

And so that's the kind of thing that I find myself doing.

It's a daily practice of prioritising my business and my place in it above other things.

TRUDY

And I hope the listeners really take that on board because I think that challenge for a lot of women in business is real.

And even just hearing that you've given yourself permission to do that, I hope that there are women out there that say, "Oh, it's okay. The world doesn't break if I put myself and my business first."

It doesn't have to be all the time, but just when it is critical for you, it's okay.

So what fears did you have to overcome?

SAM

I think I'm still overcoming some of them.

I think years of, I was always very outspoken when I was young.

And I think years of maturing and understanding that you can voice an opinion kindly is part of it.

But I think the bigger part of it is often learning to keep your mouth shut or learning to keep the peace or worrying about being bullied again.

All of those things.

I do 100 per cent feel like I have stopped speaking up as much as I would have previously.

And I think part of that is a desire to say things in a nicer way.

I don't need to be blunt or harsh or sharp-tongued to people.

And sometimes I don't know how to say what I want to say in that manner, so I don't say anything.

But that's definitely a fear that I have.

Like, "Oh my gosh, I'm going to say something and everybody's going to go, 'Oh my goodness, who is this woman? She's terrible.'"

TRUDY

And I think one of the things that I really celebrate, and maybe it's just you, we are a little bit different in age.

And one thing I always say is that I think the moment I hit 50, I lost a lot of my filters.

And I have very strong points of view, and I try and always say them with kindness, and I think that is really important.

But it is really important that you feel your point of view is heard as well.

Because who knows, somebody may not be speaking because they are scared, and your point of view may align with theirs, and it may be enough to bring them out.

So let's talk legacy.

What impact do you hope Courageous Girls Club has over the next five years?

SAM

It's a very magical thing.

I never could have imagined the results that Courageous Girls Club has.

And if we examine it and look at research and science and all the things, it would lead to the conclusion that of course it works because of this and this and this.

But when you're just a person going, "Oh, I'm going to do this lovely little group for these girls," the magic that happens really is incredible.

And the feedback that we get from people, from parents, is amazing because we're a safe space for girls to come and just be who they are.

They have a trusted adult who is external to their family, not a teacher, that they can come and say, "Oh my God, I had the worst day because Mum gave me a Vegemite sandwich."

Or they can be, "I'm having a really tough time because Mum and Dad were arguing again last night."

We're not there to fix.

We're there to listen.

And they get to make genuine friendships with other girls.

They get to practise things that they need in real life, like saying no, like understanding what to do if they're bullied, like peer pressure, how to get back up when they've fallen down, all of those things.

That's what we do.

And the testimonials, the feedback that we get all the time is amazing.

So for me, going, "Oh yeah, there's 45 girls in this local area here, just Bribie and Mingi."

If we've got that in every town, in every suburb, in every state in Australia, the impact of that is huge.

That's why I'm hungry for more licensees to come and do this, because I see what's happening to these girls.

And it's not just the girls.

It's the ripple effect.

Because the girl that comes to Courageous Girls Club goes into school, and when her friend is having a hard time, she says, "Oh, hey, don't worry," and she uses what she's learnt at Courageous Girls Club and teaches it to somebody else.

And so we can absolutely change the world with this.

It's so simple how it works.

And often it is magic.

TRUDY

The biggest ideas and the most effective ideas are the ones that are simple.

And it's almost like people hesitate because they seem too simple.

"Somebody else has already done this before."

What advice would you give to women sitting on an idea that could become much bigger, but they're sitting back because they're thinking, "Oh no, that's just a simple idea."

SAM

Well, what a terrible waste, hey?

Imagine that you were sitting on the answer to whatever and you just didn't give it a go.

You've got to give it a go.

There's nothing to lose.

Nothing at all.

So give it a go and satisfy your own curiosity, if nothing else.

TRUDY

What's the worst that can happen?

It doesn't work.

It doesn't matter.

You've given it a go and you won't die wondering, will you?

SAM

Exactly.

TRUDY

All right.

So now we're going to move into our season four core questions.

Very quick-fire, straight off the top of your head answers.

What changed in your business when you stopped trying to do everything yourself?

SAM

I got more space and time to do bigger things that only I can do.

TRUDY

What does working on the business look like for you right now?

SAM

I spend at least an hour and a half every day thinking of what needs to happen to grow this business, to scale this business, to tell somebody new about this business.

That's what working on the business is about.

Versus working in the business, which is delivering it or creating content.

TRUDY

How have you intentionally designed your business to support your life goals, not just your revenue goals?

SAM

I'm very good at not working all of the hours.

I'm very strict.

For a little while, I taught more clubs than I wanted to teach because that's what I needed to do to scale the business.

But I've scaled that back so that I only go and teach, I go out for four hours a week.

Which gives me more time with my kids after school and gives me lots of time through the day.

And my whole week is pretty flexible.

And Fridays, I generally don't work.

Mondays are a day that if I've got things to do, I do them.

Or it might be I'll do things in the home that I would rather do instead.

TRUDY

Sure.

Life admin.

What is the one thing business owners need to stop doing if they want to grow sustainably?

SAM

They need to stop asking for permission and they need to lay the foundations.

TRUDY

Great.

What advice would you give to the woman listening right now who knows she's become the bottleneck in her own business?

SAM

Get some help.

And if that means writing a list of, take it back to really simple things, what are the things that you do that somebody else could do?

Even if there's nobody else yet, what could somebody else do that you do?

What can you delegate?

What can you pass out?

And even just doing that creates a magical release in your brain that gives you the idea for whatever the next step is.

TRUDY

Lovely.

Sam, I absolutely love what you've shared today because your journey reminds us that every business starts with one person solving a problem.

But creating real impact isn't about doing more yourself.

It is about building something that allows other people to carry your mission forward in life.

Thank you for sharing your journey and for the incredible work that you're doing through Courageous Girls Club.

And obviously, Fempire has been involved in that.

We've supported some of your girls in that Easter program and different things.

So it's something that I am passionate about, helping our younger generation.

And we always talk about that because the future is clearly female.

So we applaud you for supporting the next generation of courageous young women.

It's been a pleasure to have you on Fempire Rising.

How can any women reach out to you if they would be interested in becoming a licensee, or any parents reach out to you if they're interested in exploring how Courageous Girls Club can help their young woman in life?

SAM

Oh, thank you, Trudy.

The easiest way is to look us up on social media or visit the website, courageousgirls.club.

You'll find us on Facebook and Instagram.

Send us a message and probably my beautiful VA will get in touch with you.

TRUDY

And we will put it all in the show notes.

We will absolutely link you and do all of those sorts of things on our social media as well.

If I could grant you one wish, which area would you like to have somebody as a licensee in next?

SAM

Melbourne.

TRUDY

Okay.

Yes.

So all our Melbourne ladies out there, reach out, please, and have a chat to Sam.

Thank you so much for your time.

It's been an absolute pleasure.

SAM

Thank you, Trudy.

TRUDY

Thank you for joining me on this episode of Fempire Rising.

If today's conversation resonated with you, share it with another woman in business who needs to hear it.

And remember, the goal is not to do more. The goal is to lead better.

If you'd like to learn more about working with a Fempire Certified Business Coach, visit us at fempire.com.au and follow Fempire on social media.

And if you'd like to connect with today's guest, you'll find all their details in the show notes.

Just search for Fempire. We're easy to find.

Until next time, keep rising.