How to Build a Business Made of Bricks, not Sticks!

Get ready because everything is about to change. There's a new way of living life and doing business that will blow your mind. This is a podcast all about the timing of life and the timing of success. It's what we call the Right on Time life. And you are listening to the Right on Time podcast with Amber McHugh. Hey, hey. Welcome to the Right on Time podcast. Boy, are you in for a treat today. I'm so excited to introduce you to Angela Henderson from Angela Henderson Consulting Man. In this interview, we talk about the stress and burnout that comes with being an entrepreneur. But we're also going to go deep into the strategies that Angela used to grow not just one successful business, but two. And one of them, actually both of them. She started when she was still working a full time job. So there's a lot that we unpack here. But you are definitely going to want to listen to the end. At the end of this episode, I asked Angela what is right on time for her in business right now. And she went behind the scenes and she went deep into some of the marketing that she is doing. She's sharing numbers, she's keeping it real like Ang does. And she's going to break it down for you to give you some new things to think about from a marketing perspective as well. And I mean end to end. You're just going to hear it all. She's talking about the coaching, what she invests and pays for coaching. Angela is going to impress you. She goes there, she goes there in this interview. And if you want to dive into a real, real conversation, you are in the right place today, of course, because it's the Right on Time podcast. I am your host, Amber McHugh and this is going to be a fun listen. I can't wait to hear what you think about it. Be sure to hit me up and let me know over on instagram @amber McHugh or leave a review and subscribe to the Right on Time podcast for more of this magic. And I can't wait to hear from you. Let's do this. Angela Henderson, I am so pumped you are here. Thank you for coming to hang out with us.

Oh my goodness me. It is always an absolute pleasure to hang around you and your energy. So any day, anywhere, I will be there.

I thank you so much for saying that because I feel the absolute same way about you. Anytime I get to hang out with you and for as long as we've known each other, which is just over a year, maybe almost two now, energy from the jump, you are one of the most loving, honest, direct, supportive and real people I know. So I'm so excited to introduce you to everyone who's listening right now.

Yay. Well, thank you so much for letting me be here today. And like, again, any opportunity to hang out is a good day when I get to be with Amber. So thank you.

It's a good day. And speaking of it being a good day, what time is it for you right now?

Well, currently at time of recording here in Australia. We are just a little bit past 7:30am here in Australia.

Oh, good, that makes me feel better. I get worried. I'm like, oh, it's so early. It's like 5am her time. It's 4am Should I do later?

I always worry, but I always think though, they're like, again. And I know we're going to talk about this in a little while, but again, choice, right Is I can choose to. It's your podcast, your rules. Same with my podcast, my rules. And I've got choice. I can agree to commit and show up at 7:30 or I can choose not to show up. But the last thing I'm not going to do is bitch about it because it's my choice. And so again, that's one of the things that I think about often is another person that I'm working with at the moment was even when I worked with you in your mastermind, for example, is I knew at time of signing the contract what time our calls were, what the layouts were, how I could access you, and I was responsible for making that decision. Right. So yes, it's early, but it's my choice that it's early. So I appreciate you thinking about me, but at the end of the day, it's all about choice.

Oh, so good. Which I want to, before we dive too much more into this because we're going to circle back around to this. I know you chose to start. You've ran two businesses, successful businesses. Let's talk about the one that came before the business you're currently running. Which business was first?

So yes, so Finley and me was first named after my son Finley. And it was an e comm business focusing on creating childhood memories through play, love and travel. And I got that idea one day when Finley was about nine months. He was just sitting on the ground playing with all these toys. But all the toys had been given to us and they were ones where you would like take a ball, put it in the mouth and then these bells and whistles would start going. Which again, great. My kids Also have iPads. So I'm not against any electronics, but I was just looking down, going as an ex mental health clinician of 15 years, I'm like, surely there's other things to work on. Fine motor skills, gross motor skills spark creativity, imagination, but also have that connectedness between mother and child. So I went looking for different stores that had wooden toys, and there was nothing available at that stage. And so then that's when I started looking at supporting other mothers around the world who are creating these magnificent wooden toys that sparked all those things I talked about. And so again, we started with zero followers, zero email lists, zero idea of what the heck we were doing. And we ended up with over 70,000 people on our Facebook feed. We had over 20,000 on Instagram and an email list of 50,000 plus with over 1400 different products when we closed down. So, yes. Wait, why?

I mean, this sounds like you were growing an incredible business from the ground up. Zero to.

I could.

I couldn't count fast enough. All of the followers and the engagement that you had. Why did you decide to close this down?

Yeah, again, it no longer brought me joy. And I think it's one of the things that we don't talk often enough about is say often to my own clients, is what you're doing bringing you joy? And is what you're doing currently in alignment for you? And if at any stage, in my opinion, that those two things start to become compromised, we really need to sit in it and assess. So that was one of the things is I'd been doing it for almost at that stage when I made the decision to start kind of pull back for eight and a half years. It served its purpose, but it's also okay. And I think as women, we forget to give ourselves permission to be able to pivot. We forget to give ourselves that again. If we want to close it down, it doesn't mean it's failure. And that, as you say, Amber, you're right on time. That business was right on time for me, and it really seeded to where I then went to with the next business and from where I. I am now. Right. So it's okay to pivot, it's okay to wrap up, but we will actually be leveraging, which is always, again, the universe gives you what you need. I will. I'm just in the talks with the lawyers at the moment, but we'll be leveraging the Finley and Me audience because we've still been posting on there daily and things like that, and we're turning it into a foundation so I'm just working with the legal team now to turn that into a foundation where I'll be able to take money from my consulting business and put it back into that business in order to be able to give back. So a very exciting time.

Well, that gives me goosebumps too, man. Okay, so then you mentioned the consulting business, which is your second business that you started and you're operating now. Give us the scoop on that.

Yeah, I mean, as I said, I'm an ex mental health clinician by trade, so an ex social worker. So naturally, I think we're giving people. I like to help people, et cetera. And in the consulting stage, it was never on the cards. Finishing up. Finley and me was actually never on the cards. It just kind of the cards played. It's the way it needed to. And so also, over a course of two months, I had about 14 different coffee dates with people. And I don't drink coffee. I was having to drive 20 or 30 minutes each way. Then I. Then I was like, pretty much consulting. And then I realized, oh, one day when I was driving home. Oh, if I charge all these 14 people for my expertise, I could have a secondary business. So that's where like, it was literally never on any of my goals. It was never on my vision plans. It was never on anything. And it was just driving home that day, I was like, oh. Because I was like, something going to give. I can't just keep driving hours and back. Like, I love connecting with people, but I was like, this is starting. This is a bit much now. And. Yeah, now. Yeah, it's. Angela Henderson Consulting came around and you know, I work with women in business to. Yeah. To help them get all those pieces in place. So, yeah.

Flipping amazing. That's so cool. I. What I love in that as we think about things being right on time is you had. We make plans. Yes. But we also leave room for magic in the middle and the unexpected. So I know running two businesses myself, there's a lot of unexpected that comes up. So what are those key ingredients that you go back to that enable you to grow to successful. Wait, one question actually, before we dive into this one. How long have you been running the consulting business?

Will be going into our fifth year. And I say going into our fifth year because the first year, like I said, I didn't really. It was like, oh, again, I'll get a legal contract. Oh, what's my framework? Don't really have one. What's. Like, it really wasn't. And then also I think it's also important to know that when people hear from me and people work for me is even though I am an ex mental health clinician, at that stage of that transition period I was also being bullied in my day job. So at this stage I also worked 40 hour week. So I worked 40 hour a plus, had the one business, two kids and was starting the second business. So for me is too. Not only is that I was also bullied through a workplace situation where I was in charge of a three and a half million dollar portfolio for individuals with severe mental illness. Found out that a not for profit organization was still siphoning money from someone who had taken their life. I found out that another organization was doing that. I reported that back and pretty much was told to say nothing. So at that stage I lawyered up because I didn't want to, you know, a I don't want to comprom but I still felt those people had a voice for those people who need the funds to get out of mental health facilities, but also for those people who had passed. So I lawyered up. And needless to say, you work in an adult mental health facility, they don't really consider your mental health. So during this transition too as I was also going through anxiety and depression where I needed to be medicated and a variety of other things. So that kind of first year though I consider it my first year in business, it really was kind of like couple clients. There was no website at that stage. But because I was really putting more so my my own health in the front seat of that at that particular time.

You know, thank you for sharing that because it is something that comes up, I mean especially in the last couple of years with what we've all been going through. I mean heightened levels of anxiety. I know in my daughter I think we saw a little bit of depression that I didn't realize until she started seeing friends again, like oh, now I see what's happening. So bringing awareness to this and allowing ourselves to take care of ourselves is so important. So thank you for sharing this for all of us.

I'd also say, I mean today is Are youe okay? Day at time of reporting. Right? And again right on time. And I think the conversation around that is get curious with your friends and family because at this particular stage we have been ingrained to just say, yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine, you know, I'm fine, everything's all right. But the reality of it is is if you moment and get curious and ask a few more additional questions, more than likely the layers will start to show and most people are not okay. And so just be mindful of that. Right? So it's just something to consider.

You know, one of the things that right on time the conversation goes where it needs to go. We had not planned this part of it or talked or had a list of any of this. But even if you third times when I'm like something doesn't feel right, I may not even know what it is or what's happening. And actually very recently I thought who should I talk to about this because something is off and I can't explain it and there are people out there to help and have conversation with. So and even as entrepreneurs like yeah, reach out, like let's talk about this as colleagues, let's support each other. You know, with my team we're like it's all fair game. Anything anyone needs, especially in seasons like this here.