Allegedly Thriving

#13 - Big June, Bad Luck, and Bouncing Back

• Issy and Martin

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0:00 | 39:49

It’s been a few weeks, and Issy returns with a story Martin has been desperate to tell: the day she joined the gym… and somehow managed to injure both ankles within minutes of signing a 12‑month contract.

From the initial road rage omen, to the treadmill dismount that turned into a double “pop”, to the brutal reality of A&E, crutches, and a toddler who thinks hiding them is comedy gold—this episode is a chaotic reminder that small business life doesn’t pause just because your body does.

Also in this episode:

  • Why embarrassment is sometimes worse than pain
  • How your business survives without you (even when you’re convinced it won’t)
  • “Big June” and the behind-the-scenes pressure of busy season
  • Hats, animals with accessories, and a surprisingly deep debate about roleplay and costumes

If you enjoy honest small business chat with a dose of dark humour, subscribe, share it with a fellow founder, and leave us a review. What is the most ridiculous thing that has derailed your week?

Thanks for listening to Allegedly Thriving and for coming along for the inevitable detours.

If you want to learn more about the two potentially unhinged presenters:

Martin - Photographer and Owner of Terry Harrison Art: Martin Newham Photography  and TerryHarrisonArt

Issy - Director, Owner and all round Digital Genius:  Howell Studios and Howell Media

Welcome And A Story Tease

SPEAKER_05

All of that. Then welcome to the allegedly thriving podcast, the podcast where we don't know which camera we're looking at, where we ask each other whether we're thriving or just surviving the wonderful world of small businesses in the northeast. So Izzy. Izzy, Izzy, Izzy. Oh it's been a few weeks, hasn't it?

SPEAKER_02

It has been a few weeks.

SPEAKER_05

And and to be fair, the last couple we were tired with. And if I remember rightly, at the end of the last one we recorded.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, get it out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Um you you were off to the gym, weren't you?

SPEAKER_02

Maybe.

SPEAKER_05

But what what happened, Izzy?

SPEAKER_02

Oh, you have to be.

SPEAKER_05

I am taking no glee from this whatsoever.

SPEAKER_02

You have been so desperate to talk about this for two weeks now. Because it has been over no, yeah, it's been over two weeks, two and a half weeks. Do I do I do I divulge into the story?

SPEAKER_05

Do you feel that you commotionally can yet?

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_05

Then absolutely, because if you don't, I will.

SPEAKER_02

And you you with with you laughing at me as well the whole time. But so so yeah, so after this, so adversity makes you stronger,

Joining The Gym With Big Intentions

SPEAKER_02

dear.

unknown

No.

SPEAKER_02

I wish it didn't. I wish it did rather than making me weaker. So basically, cut two, uh two and a half weeks ago, I left here and went, hey, I'm gonna join the gym. I'm going, it's my first time, I've got a free session. And I went, I drove over and which started, it was a downhill things went downhill from as soon as I pulled out of the big because I pulled out left and someone was steaming down that road, a 30 road at like 60, and was coming around way too fast. So as I was pulling out, they had to slow down, and I looked behind me in my rear view, and you know, when someone's doing like this those signs for the listeners, not viewers, I'm you know they called you a wanker, yeah, and was like shaking his head and all this sort of stuff. And I was like, You were going really fast. I was going, I was like, and and you know, when that sort of thing pisses you off already. So I was already like and then I pulled in, went in, had the full tour from a very lovely lady who was the most upbeat woman you'll ever meet in your life. She was like a Disney character.

SPEAKER_05

She was trying to sell you a member.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, she was. So, and I was like, I'm all I'm on board. And I had the full tour, she showed me around, and then she was like, Oh, and she was selling me everything, and I was like, Yep, sign me up for everything. I paid and I started a 12-month contract. I committed because I was like, actually, if I am in a contract, it will make me go because I can't get out of it.

SPEAKER_05

Oh, that's a whole separate conversation.

SPEAKER_02

And and I I signed up and I was like, Oh, I've brought my gym stuff. Can I just go and use the gym for a bit, seeing as now I'm a member? And she was like, Yeah, sure, of course you can. And I was like, right, okay. And I I got changed, went up to the gym, which is fully air conditioned, and it's gorgeous, and it's full of nice people and whatever. And I was on the treadmill, walked, all I wanted to do was walk, like just walk for 10 minutes or whatever. I just wanted to get back into the swing of things, so I walked on the treadmill and I power walked, but walked nonetheless for 10, 15 minutes, and then I stopped the treadmill and I was like, right, okay, what do I go on next?

The Double Ankle Pop Moment

SPEAKER_02

And I walked off the end of the treadmill, and you know when you step down from somewhere, and the step is slightly less or more distance than you expect, and it makes your whole body go, ah. I did that and I put my right foot down and felt my ankle like I I basically leaned outwards, bent my my ankle basically went out to heard like a crack.

SPEAKER_05

Oh, did you hear a pop? Oh, that's a good ligament flick.

SPEAKER_02

A loud, in like in my own head kind of pop. Like my body popped, not like street dancing, and and then I was like, Oh my god, throwing down the fleet on the excuse my French, I was like, shit, and then I I instinctively then tried to get my balance, and I leaned to the left to try and get my balance back, and in doing that, did the exact same thing on the left side. So both ankles popped.

SPEAKER_05

It's still funny, it's awful.

SPEAKER_02

Both ankles popped, and then you know when you've broken a bone or you've done something, you've injured yourself in a catastrophic way, and your body basically just goes, and like I just I don't remember what happened. I was on the floor, I have no understanding of how I got there. My headphones fell out, my phone was there. I was listening to Gold Dust by DJ Fresh.

SPEAKER_03

Dude, that's the thing.

SPEAKER_02

It's like gold dust. No, it's in my headphone, it's in the common thing, it's me eagers, and I was like, What the fuck is going on? And I paused the music, took my headphone, one the other headphone out, and I was like on the floor, looking around a bit dazed, like, what the hell? And there was this guy, two men on the treadmills who just kind of looked at me and then just carried on.

SPEAKER_05

They were just like, I'm 3k into my 5k, straight, strange dismount technique.

SPEAKER_02

They sort of looked at me, and I was on the floor looking really injured, and they just ignored me. And then these three women who were like they I was behind them on the floor, and I was trying to work out how I get, I was like thinking, right, what the hell do I do now? I've really injured myself, I've embarrassed myself. I basically was in my head thinking, how do I disappear from this situation? How do I basically get out of this in a way that is like, how do I leave? How do I run away? I can't run away, my ankles don't work. So they this these ladies turned around and they were like, Oh my god, are you okay? Did you fall off and stuff? And I was like, No, but I think I've really hurt myself. And I felt, and you know, when you've injured yourself properly, you feel dizzy. And I started to feel really faint and nauseous, and I felt like and my whole body was just like in shock because that's what happened. It was it happened when I broke my arm. It's like your whole body just goes like and it just freaks

Shock, Embarrassment And First Aid

SPEAKER_02

out. And I was like, Oh, I'm all right, I think I just need to sit down. So I like kind of crawled myself to sit on the edge of the other treadmill. And these three ladies were like, Are you okay? Are you okay? And they were like fussing over me. And I was like, Oh my god, I want to die. I just want to disappear. And they went, Okay, we'll go get help. And I was like, Please don't get help. I don't want help. I want to just let me just let me die. Let me find my own way home. I don't want help. And then a bit it gets worse, listener, dear listener, it gets worse. Because then the lady who had just signed me up 20 minutes before came running upstairs with this guy who also worked there, going, Oh, Izzy, what happened? And I was like, Oh, you have no idea. And I explained it, and she was like, Oh my god, that is insane that that happened to you 10 minutes after you started your membership. And then I was like crying at this point, like ugly crying, because I was in so much shock, and I was like there, like dabbing my eyes, going, You you have no idea. Like, oh god, I'm so sorry. You've known me an hour, and this is how it ends.

SPEAKER_05

So, so at what point do you think they realized this was real and not a very elaborate attempt to get out of the sudden mistake of having signed up for a 12-month mentality?

SPEAKER_02

Oh, they were trying to keep me committed. They were like, uh, like she she was like, Oh my god, we'll get you, we'll get she was like, I can't remember the guy's name, he had a mustache. And um, she was like, mustache guy, go go get uh go get some ice some sugar, some isotonics. So he came back with this like isotonic drink, and I was and she was like, just take your time, you're all good, you're all good. And I was like, I was trying not to let my body just descend into like panic because I was thinking, oh my god, how do I get out of this? I'm stuck.

SPEAKER_05

Quality advert for the first aid training that they've received at that time. Somebody's fallen over, they can't stand up. What are we gonna get them? Isotonic drink, get them an isotonic drink.

SPEAKER_02

Where they went and got me some shirt, which I'm glad for because I needed something to break me out of it, and I was like there, going, right, shit, how how do I just I just want to just elevation and pressure would have been good. Just want to go away. I don't want to be here. And I was crying, I was embarrassed, people were looking at me, doing that thing that people do where they like kind of look at you and don't want to look like they're looking at you. So they sort of like glance over and then carry on, and I was like, Everyone's looking at me. And the the lady was like, No, they're not, everyone's here just thinking about themselves, everyone's doing it for themselves. And I was like, Oh, they're really looking at me.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, they they all went home. They all turned around to their partners and said, You will not believe what I said.

SPEAKER_02

And I was like, Oh god, and I said in the episode that we last did, I was scared of being somebody went viral, and I was like, This has happened, and then so I'm carrying on my story, and it's a long story, but I've got a lot to get off my chest here, and then they help me up, and when I stand up, I realise that I can't feel either of my feet. Like, I can't feel either of them, and they're tingling, and it's like I'm standing up and there's nothing there. It was really weird, and you know when you sit cross-legged for a bit and then you can't feel your feet, you're dead feet, and I was like, This is worrying, and I they held both elbows and walked me down in the lift, and I could barely stand, and then I got sat back down and then was like ugly crying again, and the lady sat with me while I was waiting to be picked up and sat with me for 45 minutes and was talking to me about her job when she was worked on cruise ships, and we were having a good chat, and she was like giving me ice packs and we're so lovely, and her shift had finished 40 minutes before. Oh bless her, and I was like, You can leave, like you are I'm fine. I don't actually want you, I don't want anyone here, I want to just die. And she was like, No, no, I will stay. And she stayed and she helped me in the car, and she was the best person ever. And I actually went and thanked her yesterday. But I

A&E, Swelling And A Sick Toddler

SPEAKER_02

uh yeah, and then I went, I got home, realized that my ankles had swollen up to like I'll have to show you the picture. It was like bad. And then like to it to describe the swelling, I couldn't fit my feet in crocs. The most comfortable shoes, the biggest most comfortable shoes in the universe, go to AE and then proceeded to have every doctor and nurse and x-ray person and every single person in that entire medical system try not to laugh at me. And when you're emotionally raw and you're stressed and you're embarrassed, and you're just like at a very low point thinking, oh my god, I run two businesses, how the hell am I gonna do that and look after a toddler? How am I gonna do all this with two broken ankles? Oh my god, and I was panicking, but everyone around me just thought it was hilarious and laughed at me. So I had to deal with that as well. And it was half past one in the morning when I finally got to leave with my crutches, get home, Esme comes back the next day. I'm literally I can't walk. She thinks it's funny to take my crutches and put them on the other side of the house because she's three, and then proceeds to have what can only be described as an exorcist level of projectile vomiting all over me, all over the living room, and I then have to deal with her having a severe stomach bug while I had two broken ankles, basically. They are they were badly sprained, and I'll take that as a win. And yeah, and then I had like five or six days of being thrown up on, dealing with a sick toddler, and taking her back to A, g what horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible. And then I got ill, and then yeah, so it was it was bad. But now I can drive, now I can get around, I'm back at the gym, I'm okay. But that was the story of it. And and I did spend the whole day after it happening crying, like the whole day. I just cried because I was like, this is just bad. But then I thought, actually, what a great you I think you replied with, Well, this will make a great podcast.

SPEAKER_05

So there it is. You messaged me the next day, and I you know nautily read it while I was driving, which I shouldn't do. But um, you know, you read it a little bit and you carry on, and and as as the message slowly came out, I realized, you know, I got to the bit where you said you'd had an accident, you didn't want to tell it to me last night because you didn't you were the person I was scared of telling the most. Because of my reaction. Yes. So so I'm picturing the scene as I'm reading it, and I hear about the first ankle, and I hear about the second one, and I stop for a second and laugh. Because it's funny.

SPEAKER_00

It was, and and and the thing the doctor said it was so impossible that.

SPEAKER_05

Then I felt bad. Um I still feel bad for laughing, but still laugh anyway, because it is funny. I know and that the It's ostensibly funny. And if it if it was if it was caught on camera, it would have been amazing. And it would have been it would have been up there with that viral one of the women who kind of falls and then gets her pants caught and still just whip off.

SPEAKER_02

But the thing is, is that like I've reached a point where at the time I was like in so much shock and I was so stressed and I was so overwhelmed, and mentally I was burnt out anyway. I realised at that point I was really, really hitting that sort of tiredness. I mean, you you'll hear the previous episodes and you'll probably hear back and go, Wow, she was tired.

SPEAKER_05

Like I was we may not we we may not have like you know, when you say, Yeah, we sound really tired.

SPEAKER_02

I was I was working so hard, I was hitting a point, and I think that was either some the universe's way of telling me to slow down by literally stopping me from walking, like it there was it was like life overtook work and my and in order for the businesses to function really well, in order for me to function well and run them and raise a toddler and keep my house clean and go to the gym and keep a social life and all these things, it's balanced like a very fragile house of cards. And when one just gets nudged, they all fall down. And that and and I think that I've learnt a lot from it, which is basically to not take to accept the fact that it was funny and to just relax and then lean into it. You've you've done that in two weeks, and I've had to go through a lot in my head and to go from basically thinking, oh my god, I literally want to not speak to anyone ever again. I'm so embarrassed. I've never felt embarrassment like it, but to come back from that and to actually to do actually find it funny-ish the more time passes, the more funny. I'm getting there, but oh my god, it was bad. It was bad. Because I think the thing is is that because people were actually genuinely like I was in genuine pain, like I was seriously quite badly injured, and everyone's first reaction was to laugh at me. It's like this is a bad place.

SPEAKER_05

You know, I should be more empathetic because I've done that. I I frequently roll my ankles to the point where I'll I'll I'll hear the tendon pop. Oh, it's horrible, you know, and then it swells up, and then I limp home and I'm like, oh god.

SPEAKER_02

But I could have got by if it was one. Yeah, it was having I could have just hopped around, but it was like I literally, I couldn't, I literally couldn't.

SPEAKER_05

Well, I mean, credit to you, you're well done because you've been back, you've gone back there as well. Yeah, I was shown your face.

SPEAKER_00

I've done it, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

You went swimming, you've had to sign a 50-page waiver to make sure I haven't actually. You've had special training.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, I'm I'm scared. I was nervous going back in.

SPEAKER_05

I mean, what I would say is that did they give you did they make you fill out a park U form and did they give you an induction into the gym before they made you before you used the equipment?

SPEAKER_02

No.

SPEAKER_05

Because in theory, you see, they probably should have.

SPEAKER_02

Well, there's a blame, there's a claim, but but she was so nice.

SPEAKER_05

She was so wonder why.

SPEAKER_02

No, but like I know it was my own fault because it wasn't like it wasn't like the equipment malfunctioned, it was me stepping off it. Like, it could have been anything, it could have been the stairs, it could have been because that's anything.

SPEAKER_05

That's exactly my approach to the kind of you know, the whole blame culture we suppose we live in these days where you know that whole where there's blame, there is a claim, you know. But 99% of the time the blame is actually with the individual who stupidly managed to injure themselves. Just take responsibility for it. It's it's it's like when you don't look where you're going and you stub your toe on a on a crack in a in in something. Yeah and people go, Oh, you need to sue the council for that. I'm like, but but but I'm the one who stubbed my toe. I I'm the idiot here.

SPEAKER_02

There's common sense there, and I think like I was I knew in I don't even if the equipment had malfunctioned and something had gone horribly wrong, or something if it was like if there was blame, even then I was still desperate to get away from it.

SPEAKER_05

I probably would have in in l in lieu of just being able to just disappear quietly, I would have just

Thriving Versus Surviving After A Wipeout

SPEAKER_05

accepted it somehow and I I feel I should ask the question again because it is technically the format of the show, which is uh Izzy I think I know the answer. Have you been thriving or surviving?

SPEAKER_02

The last two weeks existing. Survive I have the new barometer for survival, which is it's now all compared to that two weeks. Am I covered in sick with two broken ankles? No, which means therefore things are better than they were, which is a good thing, and that's how my brain is working now. So it's like, am I basically surviving functioning and at work and happy and doing things and going to the gym? Yes. Okay, so I am thriving. So weirdly, this week I am thriving because I've seen where things were. I have like, yeah, like the window, the curtains were open, I was covered in sick, I just took all my clothes off, and I don't even care who saw me. That's where I was at, and where I'm at now is I'm not there. So therefore, it's a win. Good. Every day where I'm not there, it's a win.

SPEAKER_05

And then you've been you've been gone for two weeks, and I saw you for the first time in two weeks, and you definitely lost weight. So I mean that'd that helped.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you.

SPEAKER_05

You know?

SPEAKER_02

Thank you. I well that it comes from not eating for like a week. Yeah. So I wouldn't recommend it, but it comes it.

SPEAKER_05

I mean it's an extreme approach, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, but it but I'm trying to be healthy. I'm not eating too many unhealthy things, and I'm kind of put off like when you've had like a bug and a virus and stuff, you're kind of put off by food. I'm not really craving lots of things.

SPEAKER_05

And your business survived.

SPEAKER_02

And the business was fine because people were here, you were here, my dad was here. Well, no, he was in Spain when I and injured my ankles.

SPEAKER_05

He was.

SPEAKER_02

And I remember I texted my mum after I found out that they weren't broken, because I was like, that'll be a whole other ballpark. But I was like, I don't mean to alarm you, but by the way, this has happened. And my mum was like, Oh, you poor thing, oh dear, exercise is bad for you, yada yada yada. And then a few hours had gone by, and then she texted again and was like, How are you, love? How are you feeling? And I was like, Well, actually things have got way worse because Esme is now really ill. And she was like, Oh my god. So I I knew that it was basically he they just yeah, they just called me an idiot and carried on, which you know, they're in there well within their rights to do so. It was just bad luck, really, really bad luck.

SPEAKER_05

Through the through the other side of it, though.

SPEAKER_02

So you're sorry, I'm thriving because I like I said, I'm not in that position anymore. And how about you? Amongst all the chaos and the madness.

Hay Fever, Health And Powering Through

SPEAKER_05

I've I've been surviving the last week or so. No mainly because of hay fever.

SPEAKER_02

What have you broken?

SPEAKER_05

No, no, nothing, just hay fever.

SPEAKER_02

Allergic shaving.

SPEAKER_05

Shat all the time. So I I put it down to hay fever, it's just really bad this time of year. Double up the antihistamines and just crack off.

SPEAKER_02

You can get a hay fever injection, can't you?

SPEAKER_05

Oh, I don't want hay fever injected into me. It's bad enough when I sound like some sort of torture.

SPEAKER_02

You will sneeze forever.

SPEAKER_05

But like I think if you have mild sniffles right now, but I'll just give you this injection.

SPEAKER_02

Your nose will be like a force.

SPEAKER_05

Like you're peeling onions all the time.

SPEAKER_02

But as someone who doesn't have hay fever and never has had it, humble brag right there. But like as someone who's never had I've got two functioning ankles. Yeah, you win. As someone who has never had it. As someone who's never had it, what's it like? Is it where as soon as you leave the house you feel like your face is going to be cold?

SPEAKER_05

What? It's in house. Basically you got you've got irritated eyes, your sinuses fill up, and your head feels all clogged up.

SPEAKER_02

Oh what? Like you've got a cold?

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, it can get it it kind of it it can it can manifest in many ways, and it at its worst you can actually just feel shattered all the time because it just drains you.

SPEAKER_02

Does it you know when you've got a cold and you feel and this is the term used by my family, a bit shitten. So you feel a bit like run down, a bit like it can make you feel ill.

SPEAKER_05

Oh so but it's a way we were driving down to Mum's on Saturday, and normally when we drive down, we listen to an audiobook. Could be a detective, whatever it is. And it because it entertains, it's a four and a half hour drive, gotta do that. Half an hour into the drive, I said we're gonna have to turn the audiobook off because I'm falling asleep. It is literally lulling me to sleep. I need something more lively. So we had 80s driving tunes for the whole trip down.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, classic.

SPEAKER_05

It was amazing.

SPEAKER_02

Love it. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05

The only thing that kept me awake was don't stop believing.

SPEAKER_02

Van Halen.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or a bit of jump. 1984.

SPEAKER_02

Duh duh duh. Yeah, no, I think I think I can't imagine having hay fever purely because it's like you you were what you can't basically you're allergic to air. You're allergic to to being on the earth. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

But I mean, uh look, I I was one of those kids who was allergic to anything. Like as a kid, I had asthma, so I was allergic to every pollen that was out there, every seed, um, you know, cat hair, uh honey. Yeah, honey. A drop of honey would close my lungs up to the point where I wouldn't be able to breathe anymore.

SPEAKER_02

What? Can you have honey now?

SPEAKER_05

Yep.

SPEAKER_02

That's wild.

SPEAKER_05

I grew out of it all apart from hay fever. And actually, hay fever's been fine. It just every now and then, every couple of years at a certain time, it gets really bad. And a few years ago it was really bad because my left eye swelled to the point where. I thought it was gonna pop out.

SPEAKER_02

Oh what?

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, I've got some really cool photos of it.

SPEAKER_02

Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_05

I think walking around with one eye like that.

SPEAKER_02

That's mad. I think like health I mean, what's your opinion on like health in general? Are you a generally anxious person when it comes to your health, or do you kind of just accept it and cope with it? And like are you dramatic when it comes to health?

SPEAKER_05

Well, I'm a man, which means obviously it's awful.

SPEAKER_02

All the time.

SPEAKER_05

All the time.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Um no, I'm a man, so I will always share my ailments with my wife. Um I won't stoically just sit there and put up with it. Um but I won't do anything about it. Why will I? But like So So as long as I share the problem, that's it healed. You just carry on.

SPEAKER_02

So like but like when you when you're feeling ill, like so last week when I had this virus, I was proper poorly, I was stuck, I was down in I was six hours away seeing a client, I was feeling really poorly to the point where I had to reschedule when I got there, and now I've got to go back at the end of the month. So that's a whole other story. But I I'm very good at powering through, but when I'm ill, I literally cannot power through. Like a lot of people would have just gone, right? It's three hours of training, feel ill, feel awful, but I'll get through that three hours by hook or by crook, and then I will get back in the car and just sleep the whole way. Like dad was like, you just gotta just get yourself in there and just put every bit of energy into it, and then you can just be dead afterwards. But I just couldn't.

SPEAKER_05

I think if if it was a if it was a photo gig or a client or something like that, then it was a paying gig. Yeah, and unless unless I was vomiting, literally, you know, you I'm going to express something over this floor from an orifice of some sort, um, then I'd probably try and go through with it. Yeah. Unless I had a good relationship with the um client. And that's the difference. If you've if you if you've got a client that you know that you can chat to and say, look, I really don't feel right, you're not going to get the best out of me. Can we reschedule and I know they'll be okay with it? I'll just do that.

SPEAKER_02

And that was that's what I did. Yeah, because I knew because I knew that basically they're paying they were paying for my my my sessions, my training sessions, and I had all this stuff planned to do, and I knew for a fact that I wouldn't be worth the money if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_05

I think i i it's a it's a good question in terms of a business question of you know, is failing to actually present yourself or failing to deliver something better or worse from your brand than delivering something badly.

SPEAKER_02

That was the dilemma.

SPEAKER_05

And I think I think you can ameliorate the damage of not churn not turning up for a legitimate reason better than turning up and doing a shit job. I think that will tarnish your brand more because if you're rescheduling, you've got the opportunity to go there and still bow them.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and that's the thing.

SPEAKER_05

I think that would do longer term damage.

SPEAKER_02

I I knew that because I had completely lost my voice. I had a bad tummy, I had fever, I was ill like you know, and you just want to go, your body just goes, got asleep, got asleep, got asleep. That's how I felt.

SPEAKER_05

You wouldn't have been on top four.

SPEAKER_02

And I knew that I was like, Yeah, and I but it's the guilt. I think when you're running a business and it's your name, it's your brand, it's your baby, it's literally you are the brand. Like me being energ energetic, basically, is what people pay for. Me being able to deliver a message and do something is what people pay for. And the fact that I couldn't do it, I it just absolutely killed me.

SPEAKER_05

No, no, but I think you made the right decision though. Yeah, so I mean I mean that brand is the most you brand is the most important thing, and you are the brand. So ultimately, that's more important than probably your output.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

And it's like I've, you know, I was saying to you the other day about photography, the whole idea that you know, technically in a lot of fields, the end photograph is the least important thing. It's about you and your relationship with your client and how you do it. It's the same thing to brand.

SPEAKER_02

But I think I think I was like I it was the first time I think since I was pregnant, maybe it was when I was pregnant and I was really sick and tired physically. I I I just couldn't go to like a meeting or something. No, there was something that was happening, and that was the last time I ever had to pull that trigger and say, no, it's not happening. And to do it was just like because I whenever anyone's ill in my business, like if a free if we've got a job on, there's always someone who drops out of a chute because they're feeling poorly or whatever, and you know, you've just got to accept it. But for me as a person organizing it, I'm like, oh just like angry because I can't help it. But like you just have to accept it. But when it's me, I'm like, oh my god, like like I I've never I've never had to deal with this before, and probably I've now infected all of them or whatever I had, and as like a parting gift, and yeah, and I'll be going back down again. But that would be the worst.

SPEAKER_05

I've come down. I'm I'm not going to train you, I'm going to sleep all day. But what I will do is infect you.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, no, it was like it was just oh god, it was and I lit dad said that I looked like basically like like a white, like like basically this this table, just pale and static. So so yeah, so but I'm feeling better now. Good and I'm thriving and I'm smiling.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, but I think I think in general, you know, apart from apart from the surviving element of just being a bit run down, I am thriving, you know. I've got we've got a good couple of weeks coming up. We've got busy weeks.

SPEAKER_02

Oh yes, we do. And I'm and I'm glad I had all this all happened before all of this.

SPEAKER_05

Oh god, I know. Can you imagine?

SPEAKER_02

If got it out of the way.

SPEAKER_05

That would have been awful.

SPEAKER_02

It would have been horrendous.

SPEAKER_05

It would have been bad.

Protecting Your Brand When You’re Ill

SPEAKER_02

So yeah, I I'm gonna I'm excited for the next few weeks. It's it for for reference, that time of recording, it is what we call Big June. So not a lady called Big June, but just this big woman that comes and just like Big June, Big June's here again. Here she is, Big June every year. Big June is basically an absolute shit ton of work comes in every single year. We can make probably uh a fair percentage of our annual turnover in one month every year. June is always the always the month.

SPEAKER_05

So what I love about it is because I'm sort of semi-involved in that I can I can see we've been out helping you guys with what you do, is you know that it's really busy from a filming day's perspective. But then I just I look at the filming days and go, yeah, it's not so bad.

SPEAKER_02

Oh no.

SPEAKER_05

And then and then I remember that you've got to edit it all.

SPEAKER_02

I've got to edit it all, and it's the prep. The ahead of so we've been prepping for these events, but it starts weirdly, you don't see it, and our client doesn't see it, and you don't really see the prep that we do starts in about six months before, maybe more. People were we were booking these jobs in and quoting them and thinking about them and starting to plan them about a year before they start. And then and then, like even today, we're doing all the kit prep, we have to check everything. We were ringing the insurance company and confirming things for venues, we were pat testing, we were checking wireless signals, like they the client pays for things to not go wrong.

SPEAKER_05

So you've got a stress test and make them go wrong as well.

SPEAKER_02

We can't just rock up and be like, Yeah, cool, it'll be fine. Everything has to happen. So, yeah, and and when and it's always exciting when it happens, but the the people that work on the jobs that we book in, aka you, and you've seen kind of behind the scenes on the run-up, they're there for like one day, two days most, and it's my whole life for like weeks. So big June every year comes and catches us by surprise.

SPEAKER_05

It's gonna be good though, we're thriving. We're thriving, it's gonna be it's gonna be good.

Hat Choices And Weird Animal Accessories

SPEAKER_02

Um if you had to wear one kind of hat for the rest of your life, what would it be? Oh, we're doing the hat again. Well, where have we talked hats before?

SPEAKER_05

I think we've done hats, haven't we?

SPEAKER_02

Because I was contemplating. I was contemplating buying a cowboy hat. Oh. I I but what kind?

SPEAKER_05

Like a Stetson? Like a proper American Stetson one?

SPEAKER_02

It's a bit like that duck's hat.

SPEAKER_05

You're just influenced by the duck, aren't you?

SPEAKER_02

Well, because I've seen people wearing them like festival style, like for summer. Because I have a big like sun summer hat. Like you know those ones that women wear where you look like you're getting a signal, those sort of round ones. And I just thought I look a bit silly in it, but maybe like a cowboy hat style. Do you think that's a good one?

SPEAKER_05

I think practically speaking, if I had to wear a hat for the rest of my life, it would just be a baseball cap. Because I do have a nicer Cubra, like a proper Australian rancher. It's lice, it's a lovely hat. Like seven rabbits go into it being made and all of that. The thing about it is though, it's really good for certain months of the year. So if it's a bit cooler and it's and it keeps the rain off you, brilliant. As soon as there's any sun out there, it bakes your head. Yeah. So it doesn't work. The ventilation is really good. Expensive hat, doesn't work.

SPEAKER_02

See your baseball cap the whole way.

SPEAKER_05

I think it's probably the most sensible, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I see. I'm considering a cowboy hat. Whether I wear it, like get one, but get one that's really funky, like a like a bejazzled one.

SPEAKER_05

But you see, I mean that's that's that's the practical answer. The impractical answer, I think would have to be a top hat. Oh Because I just think top hats are so cool.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. Imagine wearing it with like your gym gear.

SPEAKER_05

If you were Except There would be it it would be a top hat that was extendable.

SPEAKER_02

What, like the cat in the hat?

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, so I'd have a top hat that I could vary the height of.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, see, this leads into my own.

SPEAKER_05

But it would have to be I'd have to have a little lever that I used to ratchet it up and down with.

SPEAKER_02

See, this is a question I asked, who did I ask this recently? Probably someone equally as insane as us, which was if you were an animal, what animal would you be and what accessory would you wear? So, like for me, I would be an alpaca and I would wear a top hat or a bow tie that spins.

SPEAKER_05

Okay. So this is an odd one, isn't it? Because first of all, if we're talking about animals wearing clothes, you've got to understand and ask the question why

Big June Workload And Hidden Prep

SPEAKER_05

is it that across the whole of human history, whenever we've anthropomorphized animals, we've always given them tops but no pants. So you're saying you want to be No, I don't say I'm not saying I want to be anything.

SPEAKER_02

You want to be a raccoon wearing knickers.

SPEAKER_05

Some of the most popular cartoon characters don't wear pants.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, we need a poo.

SPEAKER_05

It's a bit weird, right?

SPEAKER_03

Oh my god, my whole childhood was a lie.

SPEAKER_05

Bit strange.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

But is a bandolier an article of clothing?

SPEAKER_03

What's a bandolier? A bandolier. What's a band? You're very posh. Oh god, I'm not What's a bandolier? You do not know what a bandolier is. Wearing a top hat when you say this.

SPEAKER_05

No, a bandolier is um it's a it's a strap, almost like a sash, but it's normally made of um leather, and it's what gunslingers used to use to hold extra virtually. Like a holster thing.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

But it but it's kind of a strip of them, it goes all across your chest.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so what animal would you be wearing a bandolier?

SPEAKER_05

A bandolier.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I don't know, I like the idea of a wombat or something.

SPEAKER_02

A wombat wearing a bandolier.

SPEAKER_05

Wombat wearing a bandolier.

SPEAKER_02

It's a very posh wombat. In my bandolier.

SPEAKER_05

Well, you see, you've made me self-conscious about my voice now, because the day you said I sounded posh.

SPEAKER_02

You're now gonna have to come in and be like, what?

SPEAKER_05

I just no, I sound like there's a microphone in front of me, I think I should articulate.

SPEAKER_02

As if I sound like a Google assistant. Hello. Welcome home.

SPEAKER_05

I I have a completely

Roleplay, Costumes And Cringe Logistics

SPEAKER_05

different question. Oh gosh. So I was watching TV with Jane.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

Okay. And um the two main characters, there was a couple, main characters, and then they started pretending to roleplay. And they made this whole thing that they were gonna go and do roleplay in a sexy way and pretend to be characters and then kind of turn it into a sexy thing. I turned around to Jane and I said, I don't get that. I don't get I don't get roleplay. Like, like, I don't understand how that's supposed to be like sexy. It's like I What were you watching? It was a cop show. Oh but I think the character, I think, you know, it was a euphoria. It was the rocky, I think it was the rookie or something, but two of their characters like they said, Oh, you pretend to be this, and then they went off. And you don't see anything.

SPEAKER_02

But like I be the I be the milkmaid and you be the young stable boy.

SPEAKER_05

Modern family did it for ages where Phil and um Phil and Claire did the Juliana and But I just it's like this trope that they've got about a lot of American comedy shows have where they kind of do role playing, they pretend to be people and they think it's a little sexy and stuff. And I I genuinely don't get it because surely what you're doing when you're role playing as a couple is you're saying, I don't like you. I want you to pretend to be somebody else, and that's gonna really turn me on. I mean, how can you see that in anything other than I'm not happy with?

SPEAKER_02

What I would say is it just makes me think you've seen the producers 2005 with Mel Brooks. Mel Brooks is Nathan Lane. It's one of your favourite. There's a whole bit where they roleplay where Maxby Allestock the the this old lady is a young milkmaid carrying all this milk, and Maxby Allestock is um a well-hung stable boy. And they have to do this whole routine. And I just I I for me I'm person I've personally never done it because I am I would laugh too much.

SPEAKER_05

And yeah, you'd be tempted to kind of really get into the role.

SPEAKER_02

I am very self-conscious as it is, and I don't think I'd be able to do that. But where do you stand with costumes? No. Because that's the thing that goes with the role play, isn't it? Where someone dresses like Princess Leia or someone dresses like I don't know, someone from Baywatch or dressing up as like a teacher, maybe a nurse.

SPEAKER_05

Really, really vanilla.

SPEAKER_02

Uh I don't to me it's just basically.

SPEAKER_05

To be honest, it's the Jewbackers I worry about.

SPEAKER_02

The Ewok.

SPEAKER_05

Could you grab the Ewok outfit tonight? I don't say that, guys.

SPEAKER_03

Just just just Hello, I'm C3 Fio. Oh yeah. Don't do it for me onto D2. I couldn't, I couldn't, I couldn't, I couldn't, because you just it's you know what it is. Those films. You do give C3PO vibes. Best after D2 characters. Oh my god, you are C3PO. Fuck off. You built like him, you sound like him.

SPEAKER_02

Oh my god, you are C3PO. Anyway, that's a whole other conversation.

SPEAKER_05

I'm C3PO, what are you?

SPEAKER_02

Beep boop boop uh BBA. Um but I would say that mm I'm Jabba the Hood.

SPEAKER_05

My thing with those roleplay things is that ladies and gentlemen, an inside is to is he self-confidence. I'm jab of the hood.

SPEAKER_02

I am Jabba the Hood. But no, what I would say, my opinion, if you were asking my opinion on the whole roleplay thing, is films and TV make it look sexy and a bit sort of out there and daring. And they only show obviously little snippets of it, but in my head I'm thinking about that person who's in the bathroom trying to put that costume on and trying to get in character, and then the awkward conversation of, well, who do you want to be?

SPEAKER_01

I don't know, I'll I'll be a I'll be like a shopkeeper and you'll be someone buying some tomatoes. And you and then you have to kind of go, okay, shall we start then? Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Like that bit, uh just everything around the actual thing, just oh and then and then at what point do you get out of character? I don't know. Do you go, right? Okay, I'm done being the milkmaid now. I'm gonna I'm just gonna be me again. Like uh just or the thought of all of it makes me cringe.

SPEAKER_05

It just seems very complicated.

SPEAKER_02

It's all too complicated. So on that note, because I feel like we could talk about that for a while, and I worry that my family are listening and have now got an insight into my life. Um Oh yeah, mine mine might be listening.

SPEAKER_05

Oh fuck, yeah, they probably are.

SPEAKER_02

Well, you saying is you like ewok's.

SPEAKER_05

Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you? You said ewok. I think you'll find I said tobacco.

SPEAKER_02

Well, that means no one has to shave then, which is good.

SPEAKER_05

Um does that make you hand solo then?

SPEAKER_02

Or are you frozen in carbonate? Anyway, anyway. That's as far as I can go with Star Wars. But so next week do you think you'll be thriving or surviving?

SPEAKER_05

I think we will be surviving

Next Week’s Pace And Sign Off

SPEAKER_05

in a thriving way because we're going to be super busy. But that's good.

SPEAKER_02

So we'll be tired, we'll be shoot tired, but yes, and y you'll be th I'll be thriving off that high of I'm saying it, successful shoots, successful things happening, and I'll be knackered by it and tired and exhausted, and all the versions of that word. But I will be like, Oh, it's so good, I did it, got it done. So that'll be that'll be us.

SPEAKER_05

Do you want to sign off with a cheesy catchphrase?

SPEAKER_03

Uh keep on thriving, people!

SPEAKER_02

Oh god, you thought, oh, as if you had that in your back pocket. Right, well, goodbye.

SPEAKER_05

That seems fair. See you all next time.

SPEAKER_02

Fair enough.

SPEAKER_05

Bring it up.