#41 The Wholestory With Becks Smith

It'll be about 11:30. There we go. Live. This meeting is being live streamed. Yes, we know because we've just been talking about it. Right. It's doing its thing. Facebook is coming over here while all the technology connects. Who knows, people might be listening. Maybe I'll edit this bit out. We were just talking about podcasts. There we go. So we are live in the group. I'll just.

There we go. Yes, so they can hear that. Cool. Cause I've got the live stream happening over here. Awesome. Right, so we're going live. It's been a while since we've been live streaming into the group. Um, that's just because I've been a bit rubbish and I've been really busy. So, yeah, apologies for not fulfilling promises of. Yeah, live streaming in the. In the group and also getting podcasts out. But we are making up for my poor ability to structure my life and organize podcasts in amongst all the amazing client work we're doing. And we have got the amazing Beck Smith with us today. From the whole story to have a bit of a yarn and see what she's up to.

So.

So. Kia ora, Becks. How's it going?

Kia ora. Gotta, everyone. Hi. Yeah, I'm Beck Smith. I'm good, good. It's sunny today, so I'm enjoying the sunshine.

Yeah, we were just saying before we clicked the life button. So you're. You're working on a farm where you live and working as a farmer, but you also enjoy skiing and we've just had some pretty cold, awful snowy weather if you're a farmer, but if you're a skier like me in the background, hoping to go tomorrow. It's been a great couple of days, so. So yeah, it's. It's tough, but yeah, yeah, it's such a tension.

I like torn between the cold. Yeah. Love to play in it. I'd hate to work in it.

Yeah, I don't think anyone likes to work in the snow or perhaps maybe ski instructors, obviously. But anyway, yeah, so, you know, we start off by asking the obvious question, Bex, who are you and what do you do, other than being a farmer and a skier?

So. Thanks, Tim. I am a farmer. So we've got 700 hectares, sheep, beef and deer farm here in sustainable Central Otago. I'm also a mum. I've got three beautiful wee girls. Ash is one, Emerson's almost five and Millie is six. So, yeah, we're raising our three kids on the farm. I'm also a vet. I've been working here in ran Fairlie for 13 years now. And in June 2020, I started a social enterprise now, B Corp certified called the Whole Story, which is focused on inspiring sustainability in agriculture.

Wow. And on Tuesdays, you, you know, ski. Tuesdays, you ski. I mean, it sounds like you've got quite a bit on your plate. How do you fit all that stuff in? Are you just one of those superhuman people that. Yeah, that's crazy stuff.

Clearly crazy is the optimal word there. I think it's a kind of organized chaos. Like. Like it's. Or not organized, and you just run with the chaos and it happens anyway.

Yeah. Disorganized chaos. Yeah.

As long as everyone's, like, alive at the end of the day and hopefully at some point, then. Then we're all good. Yeah, it's really like. It's kind of. I've got a big thing on just being where your feet are. So, you know, whatever you're doing, whatever you're passionate about at the time, just be there, get it done, move on to the next thing. I kind of like exciting stuff, so I keep getting different things coming in and out of my life, but I kind of can't ditch anything because I love them all so much.

So I. Yeah, I hear you on that one. I think we were just talking before we went live. We're pretty similar personality types in that regard. It's like kind of just say yes and then work it out.

Yes. Yes. And wing it. Definitely.

Pretty much, yeah. Off the cuff is definitely a personal motto. I should probably get that. I should probably get tattooed around a cuff. That'd be quite cool, the cuff. We're gonna. It'd be fine. It'll be fine. So did you. You come from a farming background originally?

No, not at all. So I am from Hamilton. I was born in Hamilton, actually, which many people know. Yeah.

Big expose already on the. On the podcast.

Yeah. Five years of my life there and then moved to Papua New guinea, so also. Yeah, so not from a farming background at all, but I come from a really outdoorsy family, so we've always kind of loved getting out in nature and tramping and climbing. And I wanted to be a bit from a really young age. My uncle's a vet, so I thought I'd go into, like, small animal vet work or maybe horses. I've always loved horses. And not.

Not small horses, like a real niche.

Or small horses, like, you know, shell and ponies.

I'm a shell and pony vet. Don't do anything else. Just chit the ponies.

And so I kind of like, always wanted to be a vet. And then my best friend during high school was a border and had a farm here in Central Otago and I used to spend my school holidays rocking up here and helping her out on the farm. And I just. That combination of loving the land and the animals and kind of putting it all together really made sense to me. I didn't want to do anything else after that.

Nice. What a crazy idea. Do what you like doing and feel that you're kind of good at it. Yeah, my catch on just careful. It's like, easy now, Becks, you know all these crazy ideas you're putting out here already.

That's super cool. So you sort of. That was your plan really, from. From school was like, just go do veterinary, get on it and. And you did all that. That was all. All pretty easy, plain sailing. You felt like it was all what you were meant to be doing.

Yeah. Yep. Now that, like, just finished school, went straight up to uni.

Did the five years vet school and came out as a. I guess a mixed practitioner vet, but with a large animal focus. So working. I always wanted to work in a rural community and I really liked the sheep, beef and deer work. So I had two places I wanted to come and, like, Rampurly was one and Marlborough was the other. I got a job here. Started as a new grad and married a summer and haven't left.

They trapped you. It was all part of that cutting plan. It did.

It's a community plan, I tell you.

Nice. Nice. And so I'm intrigued to learn a little bit more about png. What was that like? How long were you in Papua New guinea for?

Yeah. So therefore, five or six years somewhere around. That came back for, like, the end of my, I guess, well, my intermediate schooling.

Yeah.

Yeah. So I did most of my primary schooling over there and yeah, it was amazing. So dad worked for the electricity commission over there and my stepmom worked for the British High Commission. So, yeah, we had. It was like an idyllic childhood. We lived in a compound. But you. So you were living in with your mates all the time, playing after school in a soup sack. Compound with a playground and we had a yacht. So the weekends we'd spend out on different islands. Just terrible. I mean, I know it's awful. Terrible. Like, you know, like, it was really, really cool. It definitely sparked my passion for sort of adventure and.

Yeah, yeah.

Pushing the. Pushing the limits and your comfort zones. Really. Yeah.

Wow. Yeah. Your kids got no hope, have they? It's like this is. This is My benchmark of childhood. And most parents want to make their kids lives a little bit, you know, more fun than theirs, so. Yeah, that's going to be. Yeah. Lucky kids, man. Yeah.

To be fair, on a farm brings a whole nother different set of like idyllic childhood kind of things, like.

But it's pretty, pretty special as well.

Yeah. Super cool. So, so you, you got that to Ranfurly and so you've been a vet, you sort of active as a vet in Ranfurly and you're still, so you're still doing some veterinary stuff or. So you did a few years doing the veterinary stuff and then you started to have some other ideas or. Yeah. How did you end up like you're doing all this stuff? You know, what was the sort of sequence of events or did it all just sort of happen at once?

So through the vet work I found I had this real interest in leadership and more personal development. And the deeper I dug into values and purpose and who I was as a person, I knew, like, it sounds kind of crazy, right? Like what I was doing and what I am doing. I still work as a vet in the evenings and weekends. So like that's real purpose work, right? Like you're making a difference to people's friends, farming operations, to animals lives, you know, to, to small animal pet owners and their, you know, their animals. So you are genuinely making a difference every single day. And saving lives is pretty big purpose work. But I felt like, yes, I could do that, but also I had more to give and I don't know where I got the sense of I had more, but there was definitely a way to marry some other core values in my life with my skill set from veterinary work and actually create bigger of my own to have positive impact. So it was really through my just finding out more about myself and knowing who you are and your value set and kind of working through how can you best live out your value set to serve others?

You pretty much nailed purpose. That's, that's kind of it, you know. Like, the definition of purpose that I work with is, if you look at the dictionary definition of purpose, it's essentially the reason for which something was made or created and.

The like, the contribution that something makes and really that is the key to purpose is like be the truest version of you making the biggest contribution that you can make. And it seems to be that you've, you've connected to that quite quickly and potentially like even having that sense of purpose. And like, I just want to be a vet because it feels like it's me. I mean, did you have that kind of underlying sense that you were, you know, it is kind of helping save lives and livelihoods? Was that early on or was it just kind of like that veterinary thing of. It sounds kind of cool, like get to hang out, do stuff with animals and you know, learn some cool stuff.

Also early on I used to. I remember moments going in with my uncle, into his veterinary clinic and working with him and just seeing the impact that his work had on the, the animals and the people. And I think it was watching the positive impact he had. I mean he's an exceptional vet and he just positively impacted so many people. He lit up their lives and he, you know, whether it was really small things that weren't actually like life changing for the animals, but even the conversations he had with the people and I think it was that real inspiration and then like there's a massive dopamine hit you get from actually saving a life and in that moment and that, that's pretty addictive in itself. So if you can get a bit of that and do good at the same time, then yeah, as you say, like it's all about that vision. But it was, it was about this isn't just the only contribution I can bring to the world. And it's not. It is a good contribution, but it's not necessarily all I have to give or the best contribution for me.

Yep. Yeah. Nice. And so you did it sounds like you've done a good amount of personal development work through like on you know, three specific programs or just general like going down Internet rabbit hole research type stuff. Like how do you, how do you do your personal development or how have you done it to date?

Yeah. So I am a bit of a personal development junkie.

How have I done it? I'm more of a course kind of person. Like I love.

Yeah, the rabbit hole doesn't get me so far but actually the accountability of being in a group or on a course keeps, keeps me going. I've worked with a lot of different mentors as well throughout kind of, I guess my personal and professional life that have kind of kept me accountable as well to different pieces. Yeah, a real big advocate for. There's a thing in agricultural sector called the Agriwoman's development Trust and they're all about developing rural women and their leadership qualities. And I've done a couple of their courses and their escalator program was really like pivotal for me for just really like their thing is about knowing who you are is how you lead.

Yeah, 100%. And it's, you know, you can kind of. I like. Well, as people may well know if you've listened to more than one of these. So my degree was in medieval history and I just really love ancient philosophy. Like, stuff that we don't. We kind of don't really know why they knew it and how they knew it, but they did know it and they wrote it down and it's, you know, stuff that's kind of coming full circle and I'm pretty sure it's. It was Socrates or Aristotle will fact check it and put a link, you know. But one of the key phrases from that sort of Greek philosophy was know thyself. And it's such a fundamental idea, but it's the scariest thing that people can go and do, which is why a lot of people don't connect to their true purpose, because they don't want to go in and think about who, who they really are. And, well, why do I behave like this? And who. Actually I am a bit like my mum or I am a bit like my dad and I don't like that because I don't like that in my mum or my dad. And yeah, that's, that's the hard part of the purpose journey. But it seems like you, you're one of those rarer individuals who seem to have had that early connection to a real deep understanding of who you are and what you want to do and you've, You've been on that path was. I think it's less common. Um, I think kind of afraid of connecting to that.

Yeah. And the earlier you train yourself to do that work too and then see the rewards. Like it's like, you know, the Pavlov's dog experiment, like, actually, like, I know that the pain and the hard work of digging deep brings rewards. So you kind of, you get more comfortable with the uncomfortable and you know that pushing through will actually dig some real gems and good results. And I think the earlier you learn that, the more it becomes a habit and you just, you're happier to keep pushing yourself into that space and you.

Know, within that there is a sense of meaning and purpose. By overcoming a challenging mental obstacle, or even a physical obstacle, doing hard physical work to become a better version of you, I think that there is, once you connect to that and you understand that that for me is a key part of human development and recognizing that. Yeah, if you can undertake challenging, particularly challenging mental.

Work on yourself, it breeds a really high level of general resilience. And I Think. Yeah, I just don't see that. I think that's one of the big things. We're not taught in school. You know, you're not really. It's kind of like it's just not on the curriculum. Like you just don't get it. Was there anything from parental input that you think, you know, were they pushing you to do stuff or do you think it's just, it's just Becks, that's just how you were made, that you were more open and receptive to this.

Definitely. I think like my dad's an exceptional kind of mentor for me. He has motto when we were younger was kind of always do what others expect of you and more nice. Now that can like that can serve you and it cannot serve you as well because you overachiever. Right. So like when you do that, digging deep like that for me is, has brought up quite a lot of stuff because that pushes me mentally in my head to actually never have achieved enough.

But never.

Yeah. As a manager and career and stuff. Is he always.

Role modeled that, you know, hard work gets results and kind of pushing the boundaries on, yet challenging yourself and rising to challenge like challenge for me is a core value. So it's kind of interesting to bring that up because it's, you know, I almost have a handicap start on that because it's quite core to me so it's easier to go into challenge. But yeah, dad definitely like he, he pushed us to kind of always be the best version of ourselves.

Yeah. So yeah, it is a double edged sword in that regard.

It's kind of like, yeah, have I done enough? Have I done enough? But yeah, at the same time you've got to know that you, if you've given it everything, you've done enough, whether the result was kind of what you really wanted or fully expected, as long as you've actually done, you know, do a quick check. And I did do everything that I could do. Yeah. It's interesting because I have a similar mindset and approach to like everything, everything is a challenge, everything's surmountable as far as I'm concerned. It's, it's just you have to want it enough and if you want it enough, you'll find a way. And if genuinely you can't find a way, then there probably isn't a way. And that really frustrates some of the people in this household.

That learners mindset too. Right.

Like it's like growth mindset.

Yeah. You can grow, you can learn. Like it's, you know, that's Because I don't know it. I just don't know it yet.

Exactly that. Yeah. And I think, yeah, it's interesting. Yeah. Just overwhelming positivity and resilience and a desire just not to stop until someone actually says no. You kind of need to stop. Which again, you know, sometimes it has good and bad things because in a business context you can sort of start going down, down a track and you don't want to give up because it's like, well, if I just do. But I don't know, I think in general, the number of times in my life when, you know, it's like, just do that one extra step because you just don't know. And suddenly that extra step takes you out of the rain cloud and it's beautiful sunshine and there's a big rainbow and you go, okay. It just. I just needed that one extra step. But I guess, yeah, It's. Is it 1 or is it 10 or is it 100 extra ones? Yeah, I guess that's life experience teaches you. Yeah, possibly. This horse has been flogged a few times.

I think it, it's like that self awareness as well. Like when you're aware of it in yourself, you can choose to dial it up or dial it down. So you know when to put that into play and you know when to sit back and kind of talk to yourself and go like, come on, Bex, like, rein it in. Like, yeah, just settle down. Sit down for a minute.

Very good. So you're doing, you're doing your veterinary, you're doing a ton of personal development work. And you start seeing that there's this calling for you, which again, I think very similar journeys. Like when I started my business, it's like, yeah, look, we're doing some pretty cool stuff. I started out mainly doing sales training for other B Corps and businesses, doing good. And then I just felt, actually, you know what, this is kind of the tip of the iceberg, this helping people get on that purpose journey, getting more people to think about B Corp. I think there's more, there's more that I can do here. And again, I think that's partly the muscle. You know, if you use the muscle, you kind of get into, into that state of kind of like doing veterinary stuff. Yeah, it's kind of cool, but I want to use, I guess you're using also using different mental muscles.

Sort of veterinary versus personal development and human development, which is kind of what you're. What you're now into. So, yeah, you're sort of having this moment and so yeah. What was the, what was the first step you took? And, and what was the kind of initial you felt like? I'm curious, I want to do more. But yeah, what was that process or journey like, what was the first thing you did?

Yeah, I think I'm trying to think what actually came first. I think it was actually sitting down and working through the Ikigai model. So going through that and then it was starting to look at what did the world need. And I came back to sort of two real lived challenges that I was facing and pain points that I was seeing like every single day. And so two pain points that were affecting me directly were that the environment, well like that sustainability in agriculture was becoming synonymous with environment. And that people and businesses, communities, animals and everything else were being left behind because we were becoming so narrow focused on this one word being synonymous with environment. And although the environment is crucial to our existence and we're so passionate about doing good, we have to keep everything in balance. Otherwise we're just going to, you know, tip it all on kilter and not going to achieve anything. And so that was a real pain point for me. But also the fact that I was watching my husband and my father in law out there working really, really hard on the farm every single day. Like it's a full time job and some. And then they were coming home at night and having to kind of sit down with old Dr. Google and figure out, okay, right, so you know, sustainability initiatives, this is what I should be doing. How do I do it? Who's the right person to help me? Like the connection between, you know, farmers are deeply passionate about the land that they live and work on and work alongside. And their ability to actually get things done is exceptional because they're out there doing it every day. But there was a real disconnect between the how and the middle. And so with the strengths. And this is where the Ikigai model came in for me is from my strengths, background and experience, what could I bring to kind of provide solutions to those two problems? And that's where the whole story was born, just in that real need to solve those challenges that I was faced with.

Nice. So for those of you who aren't aware. There we go. Look at this through the magic of technology. Hopefully this is working and you can actually see it. I'll find out in a second on my other screen over here. So this is what the model of Ikigai looks like, which is the Japanese word for reason for being or phrase for. Yeah, reason for being. There we go. Yeah, it is showing up on the other screen. Fantastic. Look at that. Technology wins. So I'll put a link or. Yeah, well, if you're watching it in the group, it's in the group, and I'll put the picture in the group. So if you're one of our clients, where we. In our Be Better community, this is being live streamed into that group. If you're listening to this as a podcast separately, I'll endeavor to make sure I put a link up to this picture of ikigai. Just so that. Yeah. If you're not sure what it is. But, yeah, as Bex was sort of saying, it's this kind of model of trying to work out what are you good at, what can earn you money, what do you love doing, and does the world need it? And kind of in the middle of that is this sweet spot of your ikigai or your purpose or your dream job or your true vocation. And vocation is an interesting word because it comes from the Latin vocale, which means to call. So if something is. Which is interesting because you kind of hear people go, oh, you know, it's vocational training. That sounds rubbish. That's not a proper degree. It's like, well, no, vocational means it's your calling. It's like, I've been called to do this. There you go.

Really cool. So and was. Was ikigai something that you were made aware of through, like, the personal development work that you were doing through the programs, or did you just sort of stumble across that? Because ikigai is one of those things. Like, a lot of people, it's like 50. 50. Some people are what, Ikki icky. Who? And other people, like, oh, ikigai. Yeah, obviously, yes. How did you sort of come across that as a model?

I can't even remember. I think potentially, I'm not sure whether you and Cath talked about it.

Okay. Yeah, yeah. Entrepreneurial women, purpose. There we go.

The workshop I went to with you, Tim, was essentially where I first heard about it. And the homework I did after that was. I mean, that. That was in the very formative stages of. You know, that was during one of the lockdowns, I feel, or around that time, making bread. And here I was doing my ikigai.

Like, you know, actually, I think you're right, because you remember, Kath had. So, yeah. Shout out to Katherine van der Meerlen, who is just an amazing human who, as a smaller side, like, she came from Australia, landed in New Zealand, and then it felt like within two days, had just like, Dominated this whole entrepreneurial women with purpose event thing concept, and it just, like, roped in people. And because she's an amazing human who genuinely cares and has got really good approach to life, she just, like, built this thing. And then she's like, I can't remember how we got connected. Like, hey, do you want to. Can you come and help me? I'm looking for some content for this thing. I'm like, sure. Purpose. I'm all over it. And then, yeah, next minute, she had these. It was going to be live events in Auckland, Wellness in Christchurch. And then, yeah, suddenly it's like, they think we can do live events. It's like, how about we just go online?

Ticket to one of the live events? That's how it happened. I saw a post on social media, entered a competition, won a ticket to go to the Christchurch one, couldn't go, did it online. And it's actually funny how, like, that, like Cath and entrepreneurial with women with purpose has become so interwoven into my business and the whole story, because it's actually one of her podcasts that inspired a lot of the work that I do. So, yeah.

There we go.

Super cool. So I guess you're just backing up the track a little bit on the whole farming thing. You know, us a city folk, you know, what do we know with our pollutant cars and our, you know, highfalutin ways, doing our thing. And then there's, you know, you poor gritty farmers trying to do what you do. But then half the city folk. Yeah, but you bloody farmers with your bloody fertilizers and destroying the planet.

Boo.

It just. It just seems to be with those classic modern issues where we just want you to take a side and we're just going to keep throwing rocks at each other when clearly it is way more nuanced than that. And sure, there are going to be some really shitty farmers doing some bad stuff, just like there are really shitty people in the city, you know, doing bad stuff. So it kind of would seem logical that the majority of farmers actually do care about the land that they've got, and it's intergenerational and, like, they're trying to do the best that they can. So, yeah. Any thoughts or commentary on the. Clearly, I would imagine you're probably profiling on. Not that we're trying to make it pro or anti, but. Yeah, it's hard, Yacker. It's, you know, you're out there doing it.

Yeah. And I think it is really interesting you talk about that divide and that kind of, like, I think every time there's a label on something, if it's not who you are, then you assume you are not. And so then it's really hard to, you know, there's a big compare and contrast kind of thing. But I think, you know, everyone out there in the world kind of has to just do a little bit better. I don't think there's anyone perfect. So I think that farmers, urban hybrids, like me, I come from an urban, so I'm like, hybrid farmer, urbanite. So I think a furbonite.

A furbonite sounds like a kid's toy, like a furby. Hi, I'm a furbonite.

Do you know, like, I think it's. Everyone is just. We all have the opportunity to do a little bit better and we all have a responsibility to find the people who can help us be a little bit better or do a little bit better. And I want to be one of those people that helps farmers do better and also who. It's really hard. It's quite doomsday at the moment. There's a whole lot of negativity around climate change, around our responsibilities and our impacts, and I think it's actually really hard. And there's heaps of science that proves this. It's really hard to innovate in the space of, like, a defensive mindset, a negative mindset. And so we need to lift people out of negativity and into inspiration and positivity to actually face the world's wicked problems and farming. It's really interesting, like, we caught a lot of flack for being, you know, part of the problem, but actually we have the biggest opportunity to be part of a solution because we have massive land holding that can actually be part of the solution to this wicked problem. So if we can put farmers in a positive mindset and inspire them and not be so, like, hard on them all the time, rural mental health's a real issue. I mean, farmers are feeling the brunt of it at the moment and if they're in a depressive mindset or a negative mindset, they're not going to rise to the challenge to actually be part of the solution and look for those opportunities, because they actually can't if they don't have that white space. So, like, I implore everybody out there to, like, give a farmer a pat on the back, help them rise into that space of positivity, because they actually, like, New Zealand farming has the opportunity to be, like, part of the solution. So we should support. Yeah, nice.

Yeah, I Mean, I grew up in a rural environment, so, you know, not. Not in a farming family, but in a small village that, you know, our next door neighbor was Jim the farmer, and he would come home in his tractor and, you know, he'd be off in the fields and I. I was like, really? Yeah. Sort of captured by this idea of being a farmer when I was. When I was a kid, but I didn't follow it through. I did work on a farm after school before I went to uni for the summer, and that was quite cool. I think I kind of probably got it out of my system. Six months was enough for me because I realized how I had hay fever as a tea, like, really bad hay fever as a teenager. And one of the jobs I had was basically stacking hay bales in the barn. And if you could imagine in a. Those of you who don't believe this, but the uk, you know, Britain does actually get some hot summers and it would have been like high 20s outside, but in a hay barn with a tin roof, it's possibly 40, 50 degrees plus at the top of it. And my eyes would just be streaming and I was just sneezing into the hay bales, trying to stack them and get them. Yes. That was. I think that was like. Like, yeah, I think I've done my farming gig here. Like, I think I've got that out of the system.

Put anyone off, right?

Yeah, yeah, pretty much, yeah. So I've got. I think I've got a level of empathy and some understanding of the challenges of. Yeah. What it's like. But I don't think a lot of people truly understand, like I say, how hard a lot of the rural community, like, just how hard life is. It's like, like I say, it's been snowing this week. Well, you've still got to get out there. Like, I can kind of, like, this is how protected I am in the city. Like, on. What was it with Friday today. So yesterday I had a whole bunch of meetings in town and I don't normally get into town very much because, you know, I should try and keep it all on zoom because I'm a bit lazy and I just like, working from home, take dog for a walk. And on Wednesday night, I was like, oh, do we. I might have to reschedule my meetings if there's a bit of snow and, you know, it's a bit tricky, but I have the luxury of maybe doing that. Whereas you can't go, hey, can somebody have a chat to the cows and just let them know that, um, we can be late coming out tomorrow morning because it's a little bit chilly.

Yeah. And my husband and I were just talking about this the other day in that, like, it's. We're in the middle of spring at the moment. Obviously, it's, you know, we've had some pretty bad weather, but this was sort of before all that. But even in spring it's so busy. And we were out. It was a late night. We were out helping carve a cow. And then I've got lambs, a lamb rearing system, so I was out feeding lambs and. And things like that. And, you know, it was like 11 o' clock at night and Jason went inside after cabbing the cow and I was still out and I just had one sick lamb and I was trying to sort of look after that. And, you know, you're crying because you're tired and you're cold and it's like, it's hard work and you're exhausted. Like, I've got three kids as well, so after they've all gone to bed, I'm outstairs.

The kids are just feral. Somewhere around the farm, riding the tractors around.

Yeah. And it was that moment where I was just like, I wish people who flippantly say that farmers don't care could see right now broken we are with caring. You know, these individual animals we're working with out here like, that we genuinely care. And so it's like it was just kind of one of those classic moments where I just wish you could see how much we care and how hard it is sometimes. I mean, it's painted a glamorous picture when you see, you know, the. The sun out and the green field and everything happy. But that's not the reality all the time. And sometimes it's just really hard work. And I haven't been inside before 10 o' clock for the last six weeks.

Wow. And like you say it starts again tomorrow morning at some ungodly hour. It's not like, oh, it's okay. We've had, you know, if I have a late night with a Zoom call with someone in the US or the UK or whatever. It's like I can maybe have a bit of a line in the morning or, you know, take the dog for a later walk. But, yeah, you don't get that luxury.

Yeah, kids don't either. So I think yesterday, like six layers of clothes, I was like, my hands were red raw from the cold wind and I was like crying because the pain.

Icicles coming over your eyes.

Yeah. And the kids are the same. They're out, like in jackets and they're out working on the farm too, at school holidays with. I can't just leave them. So they've got to come along with us and they learn the values of hard work early and that's. That can't be a bad thing. Right? But it's not all glamorous. It's. Yeah, it's.

Yeah, I think. I mean, I think that's what rural. Rural communities still have that connection to, like, hard work. It's like life is hard, it's tough. It's. Sometimes it's brutal. Like, just it's going to happen again tomorrow, so kind of you just have to deal with it. And again, I think we've, you know, if you want to look on the really long timescale, we in a city folk again, you know, it's like we live very protected, you know, oh, it's a bit cold. We'll leave the heating on all night then, because, you know, we don't want to get a little bit chilly overnight. Well, 50 years ago, 100 years ago, deal with it, you know, it's. You're going to be cold. And I think we. I think we miss out on that lack of hardship. And I think that's again, perhaps where, you know, circling back to the mental hardship, like doing hard things, you know, I historically have done stupid things, like I've just gone run a marathon. Having done no training. It's like, well, how hard can it be? It's just running for a little bit longer than I've run before, you know, doing stupid things like that. When you're a bit younger, I think. Yeah, I've always done stupid little. Starting a business that was fairly foolhardy, you know, back in the day, it's like, yeah, how far can it be? You know, start a business. Yeah, I think we miss having that connection. I don't think we understand how much we miss by not having that hardship. And it's like, it's going to be tough, but there's no one else to do it, so you just have to come out and do it. Kids.

And, you know, and I mean, the lows are low, but the highs are also amazing too. We're talking about the moment spring. So we're starting to see, you know, all of the fruits of our labor and our hard work throughout the year hitting the ground for their beautiful baby lambs and baby calves and. And do you know what, like that feeling knowing that we're producing something that is going to deliver high quality protein in a protein deficient world is, you know, and we're doing it the best way that we know how and that we can do, you know, that, that sense of pride and that is really, really strong. And yeah, I, it's pretty cool to see things work out and to, to sort of achieve those goals. And yeah, it feel, it feels good when you see the results. Yeah, nice.

But like you say, and, and I guess that's, you know, that's why we call our client group Be Better. You know, you don't want to just rest on your laurels. And so you had the, you were saying your husband and your father in law, like, trying to get their head around like, what is this thing? You know, we're doing as, doing as much as we can. We're trying to be better, but it's hard. So that, that's kind of like the, the, the backstory or the creation myth story for, for the whole story. So. Yeah. So what, so you saw this and then did you. Yeah. What happened next?

So then I just kind of played around with what were my strengths and how could I, like, what would be useful, what would actually, like, help get gains. And I listened to, as I said, one of the entrepreneurial women with purpose podcasts where Kath spoke to Bridget Williams from Beat and Precipitate and her speaking about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, like, it was like I'd been hit by a bus, honestly, like, I was like, how did I. Like I'd heard of them, but I didn't really understand or know or connect. And the way she spoke connected me with the goals. And then I went, why are we not singing this from the rooftops? You know, like, this should be something. And this is a way that we can look at sustainability from a much more holistic sense and actually, you know, extend, like recognize what we're doing, tell our story to the world and set goals so that we can actually achieve a sustainable future. And I think just being able to use that framework and then I kind of, I guess built a business around.

How we use that framework to inspire holistic sustainability and agriculture. And so that's done through. There's a whole lot of different channels. And I think that was the coolest thing about building a business with a purpose and a very clear purpose is the actual how or the what didn't matter so much as long as it achieved the why. And that's been really fun, so. Because it changes all the time and people go, oh, what do you do? And I'M like, well, there's kind of three buckets that fits into, but it changes. And I'm open to opportunity because we've got a clear purpose. How we get there is kind of flexy.

And that's.

That to me is everything. It's like if you have that, that overarching sense of purpose and, and knowing what you're trying to achieve, the rest of it, you. You'll find your way. And that sense of resilience and optimism. And I'm just going to keep going because what I, what I want and what I need to achieve is so needed. And it has that meaning for me and it is going to help create better outcomes for. For not just, you know, potentially your farm, but New Zealand farms and then maybe even beyond that. Yeah, that. That's the shit that keeps you going. That. I think, again, it's sad that the vast majority of people have no idea what that feels like.

Yeah. And it's that, like, I do and I check in frequently. Sometimes you get, I mean, you know what it's like with business. Sometimes you get kind of caught up in the chaos and you go like, every now and again, I just need to check myself and go, is what I'm doing proposing dreaming here actually going to serve the people that I'm trying serve? And I think that's. That's the biggest soul connection piece for me is it's not is this going to serve me or my business, it's is this going to serve the community? Yeah. And that for me is it's so grounding, like, it's so ground connecting with. Is this serving the people that I set this up to serve?

100%. And yeah, we're exactly the same here. You know, Jess, you know, she's been real really useful for me for the last. We've been. She's been hanging out with me for about a year now. Even a bit more. I think we worked out the other day. Yeah. Just like. Well, we come up with ideas and it's like, yeah, but who cares? It's like, does it. It's one of those, probably. Well, is it overused? I don't know. There was that a book called Does it make the Boat Go Faster? That was written all about the British Olympic squad. Must have been for the late 90s or early 2000s even, where basically the whole ethos was. Yeah, we could implement that. But how does it make the rowboat go faster to get us a gold medal? And if it didn't make the boat go faster? Well, then we Don't. We don't need to worry about it. And I think it's kind of the same, you know, I think for me now that business is a bit stronger. It's been here a bit longer. B Corp's becoming more of a thing. We've kind of got more of a baseline, which means we can now start tinkering, like, even like creating this community. It's kind of like, well, you know, hopefully it's useful. You know, hopefully this podcast is useful. Hopefully you will talk about your podcast like it's like you say, it's not it. But I think this is, this is the, the middle ground of purpose. Because you enjoy doing a podcast, I enjoy doing a podcast, so I'm getting some enjoyment out of this. But I'm also hopefully showcasing your awesome mahi. And hopefully we're going to inspire someone in the group or someone who's going to listen to this maybe in 10 years time to go, I can go and do that. And that is the sweet spot of purpose. It's like it's fulfilling you whilst also helping fulfill something bigger than you. So, yeah, it's really, really cool.

So. So, yeah, so you kind of just start tinkering. So when did the whole story kind of actually start? And what does, I guess, what is it you do today? Like, what does the typical day look like or the typical thing that you're doing with the whole story? And yeah, has that kind of morphed from where you did start out? Have you had any changes or did you pretty much nail it first time into, right, we're going to do this and we're still doing that. Or is it still.

Always a big spiderweb, isn't it? No, it started out. So I actually officially launched in June 2020, so I'd actually become a finalist for the Xander McDonald's Award, which is a sort of young innovative leaders within agriculture in New Zealand and Australia. I'd become finalist for that and as part of that application. Application, I'd kind of talked about this, you know, the whole story that I had idea. And all of a sudden I was a finalist. And so it was going to become like really public really quickly. So I was like squirreling away at night, trying to get the website up and going because I was like, oh, we've really got to get this launched. So, yeah, got there, got that across the line, got a massive amount of opportunity for feedback, for kind of clarifying what it was that I was trying to achieve and how I was going to achieve it in the short term around that awards process. So that was really cool. And initially what we've set out to do and what I'm still doing is it's got three buckets of work. So the first kind of bucket is the one to one work. So I work with individual farming clients on their sustainability journey and I guess using a tailored sort of framework that's kind of bespoke to their farm and, and working through that with them. The second bucket is the one to many sort of delivery model. So doing workshops and what wasn't in the original plan and you touched on before was the podcast series. But that now falls in that bucket too.

Yep.

Hadn't even thought of it, but it definitely serves the why and is something that I'm really enjoying doing. And then the third bucket of work is kind of the behind this, I call it sort of behind the scenes section which is governance, industry advocacy and sort of representation there where I'm kind of working in different research projects, facilitating research that serve the space. Yeah. Governance roles and industry roles. So yeah, three buckets to kind of put it into. But yeah, that at the moment is how it's falling out.

Nice. And.

Yeah. Has it been going like you're getting some wins, making some changes or is it, I guess with it with the farming sector in general, there could be some long, you know, might be longer term before you get really big outcomes or. Yeah. What's, what's the general results been?

Yeah, really good. So one of my biggest kind of drivers is making sure that I provide tangible and practical solutions that people can actually implement straight away.

Not just what a crazy idea.

I know, not just talking about big picture stuff around sustainability and agriculture. But hey, look, this is actually like these and it's about connecting people. So I don't want to reinvent any wheels. We have amazing rural professionals doing awesome stuff in our sector. It's actually, it's that finding solutions, it's actually connecting people with someone who can help. Do you know, like, I don't need to be doing this for you, but I know the person you can and I'll connect you with them and you can make that happen together. Because I can't hold all the information required to drive all of these sustainability outcomes, but I am really good at connecting the right people together. And so yeah, we're getting some wins, we're getting connections, we're getting inspiration. And social media is kind of a game changer and people are picking up what I'm throwing down and I try to put some stuff on there. Every week that's kind of just, you know, like there's something you can do on farm that takes a very small step, but it's a, you know, series of small steps that make up giant quantum leaps and sustainability. So, you know, you don't have to see what the impact looks like. Just take that first step and, you know, here is where you need to go to do agroplastic recycling or, you know, this is an opportunity for how we can grow and educate our people on farm. Like, that's kind of. Yeah, like little tangible take homes. And that's a big thing about what the podcast has been delivering too. Yeah.

Is there. Is there, like, one main big thing that, like, most people can do? Is it? Or is it, like, really specific to the type of farming that you're doing in the region? Or is there, like, one? If there happens to be a farmer who tunes into this podcast. Farmers, probably. Perhaps not our core audience. Who knows, Let me know if we need to go deeper into farming. But yeah, so, like, one big area that makes the biggest win for most people.

I think the biggest. The biggest win is mindset shift.

Yep.

The shift around getting excited about sustainability, not scared of it. It's become really, really compliance and regulatory heavy. Whereas if we can actually go, hang on, let's not just make regulations or deal with compliance, let's try and shift people into thinking, hey, sustainability is really exciting and these are our opportunities. And that mindset shift is the biggest one and probably like almost the hardest as well. Changing your mind is a real challenge. But that is what I've been seeing is the biggest impact that I'm having is actually people that penny drop where they go, hang on, this is really exciting. And here are some things I can do. And once you, you know, once you're excited about something, you're more motivated to go and do it. So just, yeah, inspiration and excitement is the biggest thing that I'm.

It's the key. Yeah. And that was a big part of my journey. Like when I first, when I had my kind of exit from the corporate world. And it's like you are all just greedy who just want to destroy the planet and make as much money and you don't care about society, community, or even the humans in your business. That was kind of my final experiences of the corporate world. You come out of that and you are quite angry, and it's almost like the grief process. You kind of like you're in denial, then you get angry and you kind of go through that. That process. And that was A big learning. Michael Philpott, good mate of mine. Like, he was like, mate, all your content's angry. Like, no one wants to. No one wants to hang out with angry people. And it's like, yeah, but God damn it, like, these people should be. Everybody should be angry. And it's like, yeah, you don't. And it took, you know, it takes you a while to kind of get. Get through that. And. But you're 100% right. And that's what we try and bring is just, like I say, overwhelming force of positivity that this is. It's kind of like the exact. Or the analogy I sort of use is you need to be having the best party on the street so that people look and go, what's. What's happening on Bix's farm? I don't know. Well, let's go and check it out. Because, like, the music sounds really good and everyone's got drinks and they're having a great old time. And it's like, well, yeah, we're. We're at, you know, sustainability party. This is where it's at, people. And it's like, okay, well, that does look more fun than what I've been doing. So, yeah, how do I get into this? And, yeah, I think that's been a big part of it for me. And then I'll just share this. Look at it. I'm getting all over the sharing stuff today. This is. I don't know if you come across this. It's called the Dunphy model of sustainability adaptation.

Shout out to Tim Loftus from New Zealand, Marino, for introducing this one to me. But, you know, this. This is the classic thing. You know, you kind of start off with rejecting the idea of sustainability. It's compliance based. It's kind of like, I'm actively not going to do this, even though it might be better for me, because I just don't like how you've told me to do this or what have you. And then people might move to like, okay, well, just going to ignore you rather than actively rejecting it. And then it becomes that sort of complex compliance. But then you kind of go, actually, having just done that, I see that there's a benefit to it. Okay, you've kind of got me now. I'm like, I may be slightly intrigued. And then suddenly it becomes, actually, we're getting a benefit from this. We need to do more of this. And then actually, you know, purpose and impact just become strategy, and that's what we lead with. And the example Tim talks about from his experience was having worked for REI, like the big outdoor clothing retailer in the U.S. he was pretty close with the team at Patagonia and then he led the B corp journey at Kathmandu. And he's got some really interesting insights how, you know, he sort of talks about how the senior leadership were perhaps slightly resistant to the idea of sustainability. But when he sat down with the CFO and said, okay, what about efficiency? What, how much are we spending on lighting our stores? And the guy's like, I don't know. He's like, well, I know and I know that we can reduce it by whatever factor by switching out to LEDs when we can. So he was selling the sustainability impact through an efficiency impact because people understood efficiency. And I think, yeah, meeting people where they are getting them and again it's like, you know, doing good is contagious. Once you've done some good, it feels good. And actually that was quite easy. Oh, okay, well maybe we can do the next one. So now I think you're 100% on the, on the right track. Clearly you are because you get some wins in, you enjoyed it and you go in gangbusters. So yeah, life's all good.

Yeah. And I think it's that do you know, like if people.

It's exactly what you talk about, talking about efficiency and we talk about like actually having like happy, well looked after staff on farm, you know, like the cost involved in recruitment and like finding farm staff and at the moment is like finding stuff anywhere at the moment. It's like hard work. So actually if you look after the ones you've got and you make sure that they're, you know, good wages, good education, they're happy, good work, life balance and doing that sort of stuff. I mean it seems like real basics, but actually that saves you time and money further down the line and actually can help then recruit further because those people share and they talk about it. Funny that people talk.

Crazy idea. Yeah, yeah.

And you then become an employer of choice and once people realize like what that's sustainability. I'm like, yeah, people are sustainability. Like it's kind of like once you start recognizing that there's more to it and it's a more big viewpoint, then you can find those we sparks of passion. Because every farm's different and every farm is different, they set of values is different. What floats their boat within the sustainability sphere is going to be different. And it's about how you allow them, them to express their true selves and as you say, like to actually use their own core calling to actually show up in their sustainability journey.

We're talking to. Well, I'm doing a workshop in a couple of weeks, I think, or 10 days. I think it is 17th sometime around there. And we've got Caroline Tailand, who is also in the group, and she was working as a consultant at Christchurch International Airport. As a sustainability consultant. And she was sort of charged with trying to introduce the SDGs and yeah, kind of raise levels of awareness around sustainability. And hopefully she might be listening to this at some point. She might be able to give us some tips and tricks or comments. But, you know, that was a big thing that she talked about. How she got engagement was meeting the employees where they were. So I think she was talking about how it was potentially like the engineering departments in the airport. And I think she even mentioned it might have been the fire teams at the airport who were kind of really resistant to. This all just sounds like green mumbo jumbo. Like, what do you like, I don't need to know this, but I remember her talking about how she sort of started to meet them and ask them, well, what. What do you like doing? Like, do you. Do you enjoy the outdoors? And they're like, well, yeah, I love going hunting and fishing or I love getting into that. And she was like, okay, right. Well, what we're trying to, like, ultimately what we're trying to do is make sure that you have a pristine environment to go fishing in. And they're like, all right, well, that. Yeah, I'm all over that. Like, totally get that. Right. Okay. So you using these really shitty chemicals every day actually is contributing for me. I think that's one of the big. Cognitive dissonance is kind of almost. Not quite the right word, but it's just. Just lack of awareness of the impact that actually I might be contributing to the thing that I don't want to happen, but I just haven't made the connection for whatever reason. And I think, yeah, helping people, it's like, yeah, I mean, this is the work that we're all kind of in this space doing. It's like bringing people on a journey, but you got to meet them where they are and have a really great party that they want to come and play it. It's. It sounds really simple, but it's not that simple.

Everyone's got to find meaning, work. Otherwise everyone's just ants building an anthill. Right?

Yeah. Yeah, Very cool. So the whole story's going really well. You've got your podcast, your podcast, you're mainly interviewing rural type folk. Is there a Theme theme to the podcast or is it pretty wide ranging?

Yeah, so the podcast, this series is pretty structured and it's structured around the UN Sustainable Development Goals. So how many are in now? Episode four launched this morning. So yeah, we have one initial introductory episode where Bridget Williams is speaking about the Sustainable Development Goals and kind of providing that context and talk about that context in agriculture. And then each week I get a different guest on who highlights one of the specific goals and is working towards that space within the agricultural sector, whether they're a farmer or someone supporting farmers or just ag industry. But yeah, so highlighting a goal each week. And so if I don't know it.

I was going to say season one will have 18 episodes, 17 goals. Nailed it. Very cool. Oh, we'll put a link. What's it called to give it up for those if people aren't able to.

It's called the Whole Story podcast. Keep it pretty simple like what you've done there. Name of the business and probably big shout out here to FMG because they've been awesome and supporting actually me bringing that out to the world because yeah, without them it would have been a lot harder and wouldn't have been as, as good as it is.

So yeah, you're saying like, hey, like, so I need a sponsor for this podcast. Like there's got to be someone in. Come on one of one of my clients, like, come on. Or someone listening to this. So you've got you just saying beforehand. So fmg, if you're listening from outside of New Zealand Farmers Mutual Group, they are a New Zealand rural insurance company at the core of what they do. But they are seemingly like really involved in rural communities. They, you know, they seem to be. And I guess, well, they're a mutual business. So they're. Is it customer owned business or supplier owned? I can't remember how their structure, like, are you, are you a customer then? Does that mean you have ownership?

Anyway, they're like a cooperative type but they're, they're mutual.

So yeah, so they're a cooperative type business. So they've definitely got that sort of sense of contribution. And you know, we're here to do some good. And yes, we connected you with Emma from FMG and I was like, well, if you don't ask it's going to be a no. And you got sponsorship and you were just saying before that you've got a team of how many helping you with your podcast?

Oh gosh, I'm not even sure how many hundreds of people.

Yeah, I have a team. The Podcast has a team.

I thought, let's talk about it. But see, as you mentioned it, yeah, I do have a team.

And yeah, they're amazing because there's a whole lot more to podcasting than I really thought or under. Understood. And so they're happily.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But, yeah, very, very cool. So, yeah, so nice.

Yeah, there you go. Yeah. So if anyone, you know, come on, there's got to be someone who'd want to sponsor my semi regular smack chat, talking to cool people, just saying, I don't know, we'll work on something.

And so, yeah, B Corp. How did you come across B Corp and. And why.

I must have come across B Corp. They probably were in the same. And it was in the. The workshop that you did with. With Kath.

Yep.

And it's kind of in that formative stage where I was all about, like, finding out what my purpose was in the Ikigai process. And then I was like, B Corp. Like, it was another one of those. Like, it's kind of like the second bus or maybe the first bus. Another bus. I've been hit by a few B Corp thing and it's like, wow. And that's awesome. I want to be on that journey. Like, I want to be one of those.

When I grow up, I want to.

Be a big corp. Yeah, Like I.

Want to be a B.

So when I started the whole story, I knew nothing about starting a business. I just knew I wanted to do something with purpose. And I had this really cool idea. I have no idea how to do it. How shall I do it? Oh, hang on. There's these really cool group of business businesses called B Corps that actually have an impact assessment that kind of assesses your business, but you can use that to structure a way that you build a business. So I actually built the whole story using the structure behind the impact assessment, and then had to wait a painfully long time to then go through the process myself. But, like, it was always. The whole story was always designed to be a B. It just took time to be recognized as B. Yeah.

And yeah, we've. We've got quite a few people that we've been hanging out with, you know, you know, within our sort of client group, who some were younger businesses than yours. So, you know, a lot of startups we're finding are getting. Are interested in. In fact, we've had a conversation this week with another startup and a couple of others just recently where they're kind of like, hey, can we use this as a framework and say 100%, like, build the business and you know, because you can use the assessment to look at, okay, well if we had 20 employees, what, what questions would be different? Because typically the more employees you've got the depth of reporting and structure that you need around how you operate your business, it's just a bit more so you can even use it as a bit of a strategic planning tool to go, okay, well if we had 20 employees, if we had 3,000 employees, what sort of stuff do we need to be thinking about? And you can sort of have that on your, on your roadmap. So yeah, it's definitely a really, really cool tool. And so yeah, I guess you got a pretty decent score. You got a couple of impact business models. For those of you who don't know what an IBM is, you've obviously been living under a rock. So the B Corp assessment is split into two sort of parts I guess basically you've got your operational score which is just doing our day to day running the business. We do some good. And then an impact business model is essentially where you can prove that you're going out of your way to create more positive social or environmental impact than you are required to do as a business. And so you got the mission lock, one which everyone has to do. So you don't really get any shout out for that. I suppose you do because you're probably one of the first actually to do that in New Zealand to adopt that. So the mission lock is updating a constitution or creating a constitution if you're a small business that didn't have one with a purpose clause and a stakeholder clause. So really bringing the idea of stakeholder capitalism to life. But you scored quite a few points, I think it was like 20 odd points on the impact business model under environment. And that's basically because of what you do essentially, wasn't it? Because you're helping to educate people around environmental issues. So go.

Yeah, it's quite cool when you look at my business model because yeah, as you say, it's not just that the whole story has a positive impact and is doing good, but actually our mission is to go out and help a whole lot of other businesses do good too. So that's where you pick, I guess, those impact business models. And yeah, the environmental one's pretty important to the work I do obviously, so.

It kind of makes sense. Any big learnings from going through the B Corp journey? Was there stuff that you're kind of like, oh that's, that doesn't make sense or oh wow, I had no idea that Was a thing. Anything that kind of like sticks out for you?

Oh, I'm trying to think.

I think a big one for me, which I don't know whether it's just from the. The sort of the B Corp journey or just the business startup journey. Full stop. Is actually just the amount of, you know, documentation that you need to have and make sure you put in place. Um, yeah. And I think with the impact assessment, the biggest thing for me probably was like to record everything as you go. Like, so when you're working through it, make little notes in the comments section about, you know, what document or what you're referring to or what you're thinking of at the time. Because there's so many different questions. You'll forget what you were thinking of of the time and go back to that. I think keeping those little notes all the way through and attach. If you. If there's a document that supports it at the time you're going through, like, attach it because it look. Save you so much more work further down the track to go back and retrospectively go back through all that. But yeah, it's. And it's really cool. Like, as you say, like, I've now set the business up with a structure and the sort of level of support around it that allows it to grow now with it by using the impact assessment. And it's probably. If I just.

Started up a business without that, I probably wouldn't be in the position I am now, where I've got all of that background policy and documentation and sort of even just the way of working that enables us to grow in a much more easier and more sustainable way.

Nice. Super cool. And so, yeah, what's the future hold? Gonna start something else. Because clearly being a mum, a farmer, that having a business and a podcast, I mean, you've got a team on the podcast. That doesn't really count. Like. Yes. What are you gonna do on Fridays from now on? I mean, I'm skiing. Well, ski season is almost over, so. Yeah. But wait, what are you. What are your plans? Obviously double down on the whole story. It's clearly doing some good stuff. You're enjoying it. Yeah. What's sort of the next bit for Becks?

Yeah. I am super loving the whole story. Like, the work just energizes me. So. Yeah. Along with kind of. The kids are kind of getting a bit older and I'll have two at school soon, so hopefully a little bit more time to really sink my teeth in the whole story more. There's a. Just about to start up Some online workshops trying to reach people remotely. I've got a lot of people who are engaged with the whole story from around the country. So trying to create some kind of flexi time workshops around that. Yeah, that's kind of, I guess the next step.

And just really, you know, put a whole lot of passion and time and energy into those one to one farming clients that I've got to make sure that they're smashing their goals and hopefully podcast season two.

Nice.

Yeah, I've got some good ideas and new plans for that one. So hopefully we can keep the podcast seasons rolling over because yeah, I, I didn't anticipate that would be part of the business model when I started, but the opportunity to create impact is, is pretty epic through the podcast. So I really enjoy the process to get to speak to cool cats.

Nice. Yeah, you're going to be dangerous when your two kids go to school so that's going to free up a bit of extra time. Like watch this space. There's going to be.

Time when the third one goes.

It's like, whoa, she could be a one year old wrecking ball. Yeah, super cool. I think Jamie was tuning in in the group but he hasn't dropped any questions. He said he was in the car so hopefully he's not driving and trying to live chat at the same time. So if Jamie's listening in, if you've got any questions before we sort of close up. But pretty much that's, I think that's a probably a good place to, to put a line under it. But yeah, I guess any words of wisdom or advice for other people out there going on the B Corp journey or in a business environment, you know, trying to, I think Jamie, you know, Jamie was our last live stream we did and you know, to reflect on him. I think you're quite similar, you know, sort of very family focused person. Jamie's, you know, his, his business partner is his wife and his dad. You know, in, in a business that kind of didn't really exist before, like, you know, what you're doing is pretty niche. No one's really been doing it before. You've got a lot of other stuff going on. Like yeah, what, what advice would you give to other people? You know, in the small business business for good purpose based, trying to change the world. Like what's the, how do you do it?

I think if you're passionate about it, just do it or just get started, take small steps. I mean the whole story was founded while I was working full time as a vet, but it was founded at that space between 5 o' clock and 7 o' clock in the morning. So you just carve out time for the things you're passionate about. But the rewards of doing something that fulfills you, so worth it. So I think, you know, it seems hard at the start, but take that first step because what it does to your soul and your level of happiness, which enables you to serve the world better, is worth it. And the world's missing out if you don't 100%.

100%. If you don't do it, what doesn't get done? Yeah. And that's. That will that sort of negative projectioning forward as to, well, if I didn't do that, what might happen? That's actually a really powerful tool to kick you in the ass and get you out of bed in the morning as well. Well, on that sage piece of advice, I reckon we'll. We'll end the live stream there. So, yeah, thanks so much, Becks. That's been really cool to get to know you a bit more. Understandable more about what you're up to and yeah, just all the awesome stuff you're doing. So, yeah, thank you so much. We'll put links obviously everywhere so people can find you. But, yeah, thank you so much.

Awesome. No, thank you, Tim. It was working.

Catch you soon. Let me see if I can work out how to stop the live share. It's been a while since we've done that. There we go. Stop live stream.