Episode 322: Chris Edwards of Launchpad
In this episode, Fiona chats with Chris Edwards, who is a podcaster, a business coach, a mom, and a wife. She is also the founder of Launchpad, Honeycombers, and HoneyKids. They discuss the importance of community, content strategy, and the role of mentors in building successful businesses. Tune in!
Topics discussed in this episode:
Introduction
The experience of running multiple businesses and managing a remote team.
Dealing with the challenges of operating a travel-focused business during the pandemic.
Insights and tips on managing staff, delegation, and maintaining work-life balance.
Overcoming fears and uncertainties in starting new businesses.
The importance of networking and business communities
The need for continuous learning and seeking guidance from others.
Tracking content performance using Google Analytics and Google Documents
Innovating content to engage and provide value to readers
Pitching for podcast interviews and masterclasses
Seeking help from friends, mentors, and business coaches
Creating a family-friendly work environment and giving back to the community
Conclusion
Get in touch with My Daily Business Coach
Resources and Recommendations mentioned in this episode:
Chris@TheHoneycombers.com
“It's been a lot of trial and error. The key for me is hiring good people and being considered in the hiring process. I'm trusting. I don't love micromanaging. In fact, I often hire people going, “I'm not going to be on top of you. I want you to run with it.” I'm a massive fan of delegation. That's who I am because I do prioritize that lifestyle piece.”
—
Welcome to episode 322 of the My Daily Business Podcast. This is a small business interview and this is particularly interesting if you are somebody who wants to have multiple businesses, who does have multiple businesses, or you're somebody who is thinking of launching a business or creating something in a different territory to where you live. If you're interested in either of those things or you want an injection of inspiration around small businesses, stay tuned.
Before I get stuck into that, I want to mention two things, and the first is that Group Coaching is now available for enrollment. This is the next round of Group Coaching. This is a twelve-month program, we meet every two weeks for that entire twelve months, and we have peer support groups outside of that if you want to chat with people.
There's also a business book club and we run through all of the elements of small business from legal to finance to marketing. In addition to the Group Coaching program where we meet every fortnight for an hour on Zoom, you also have access to all of our courses for that twelve-month period including if you so choose to do the course and coaching program for Marketing For Your Small Business.
It is a jam-packed program, the group coaching program. It's about how to sidestep the hustle, how to build a business that's in alignment with your values and your beliefs, and makes you money without overwhelming and stressing you out. If you're interested in that, make sure you go and enroll over at MyDailyBusiness.com/groupcoaching.
The other thing is to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of this land on which I record this podcast and that is the Wurrung and Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. I pay my respects to their elders, past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty has never been ceded. Let's get into our interview episode.
—
I'm talking to the wonderful Chris Edwards who is a podcaster, a business coach, a mom, a wife, all the things and is also the Founder of three incredible businesses. In our chat, we talk about what it has been like to run three businesses, not just one, with up to 35 or more staff in different territories to run a lot of these things remotely and how she has built all of this up.
We talk about Chris's first business, The Honeycombers, which is a city guide in parts of Asia, and how she created that. This is in the days before social media and before a lot of people were using the internet. It seemed like a new thing. We talk about how Chris took the experience that she'd had in marketing and publishing to date and was able to create something that now sustains her whole family.
The other thing we talk about is what it's been like to go through a pandemic with a business like Honeycombers and HoneyKids, which predominantly are about city guides, travel, getting out, restaurants, and hotels. What was that like to build this business up to a point where it was doing incredibly well and then to go through a pandemic? What was that like mentally? What was it like financially for the business and how she got through that?
We also talk about Launchpad, her newer business, which is all about business, entrepreneurship, events, masterclasses, and all sorts of things. That's how I met Chris, she invited me to do a masterclass for the Launchpad and it was such a great experience to be speaking to people in Singapore, Bali, and Hong Kong, and how looking at the commonalities that everybody has when they're running a small business. It's exciting. Chris is launching the Launchpad into Australia and we talk about that as well.
The information that Chris shares are going to be so helpful for people, insights, and tips from challenging moments and how to get yourself out of a negative downward spiral through to how to manage 35 plus staff in different territories. What systems and things do you need set up as well as analytics and how to make sure that the content that you're putting out is working for you? There are many insights and tips that Chris shares. Here is my interview with the amazing Chris Edwards of Launchpad, Honeycombers, and HoneyKids.
—
Hello, Chris. Welcome to the podcast. How are you feeling about life at the moment?
Hi, Fiona. I'm feeling great. Life's good. Excellent.
Nice to feel that energy and positivity. You have many businesses. It's hard to be like, “This is Chris from…” You have so many things that you run. Can you tell us about each of them and maybe give us a backstory as to how they even came about and then how you went from one business to another?
My story starts when I moved to Singapore as what you call a trailing spouse. I didn't have a job to move to. I moved with my husband and I did that when I was 27 or 26. I found it hard to get a job. I ended up working in publishing for a little while and it was okay. It wasn't wonderful but I learned a bit about publishing.
I left that job and then started my first business, which is called Honeycombers. Honeycombers is a lot like The Urban List or Broadsheet. It's a lifestyle guide to Singapore. We expanded that to be in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Bali. My second business is a platform for parents called HoneyKids, which is a bit of a spinoff. It's just in Singapore.
My third business is called Launchpad. Launchpad is a community for entrepreneurs. It's a membership-based business where we help entrepreneurs upskill through masterclasses. We also do things like speed networking. We have these things called Ask Parties. We also do coaching and journaling and provide a forum. We have an app where people can ask any questions at any time.
The second part of your question, how did I go from one to the other? I have gotten to a point in each of my businesses where they've been steady and I've been personally looking for a new challenge. I've been looking for ways I can expand and leverage my existing businesses. When Honeycombers became stable and comfortable, which has been around for over fifteen years, but most recently we had our big up-and-down swing with Covid. Once I got through that patch, I was looking for a new challenge and that's how Launchpad came about.
I love how you say all of this calmly, like, “I'm in a different country, different culture, and I'm going to start a business.” I also started my career in publishing so I get that it can look glamorous and not be in behind the scenes. In that time, when you'd done a bit of a stint in Singapore working for somebody else, and then you're like, “I'm going to launch Honeycombers.”
How did you launch? As you said, it's like Broadsheet, Urban List, or even, for the US, more like Cool Hunting and their travel part, or Melting Butter that used to be around. How did you start it? Did you start it yourself by writing, “This is where you should go in Singapore,” or, “This is where you should go in Bali.” Did you do one city first and then build it up? How did you get it to make money?
When I started, I had a clear vision of what it could be and that's because I was inspired by a business called DailyCandy, which was from New York.
I met with the woman who started that in Melbourne.
She was my inspiration.
They were so good.
My husband saw DailyCandy, it sold for something like $7 million in 2007, and it hit the news. My husband saw it and he said, “You could do this for Singapore. In fact, Singapore needs this.” It was at a point where Singapore was evolving so much. One of the pieces I remember writing was, “Here are the seven coffee shops where you can get a good coffee.” It was information that everyone needed and everyone talked to each other about but there was nowhere to find that information. It was an obvious thing that he was like, “You could do this.”
My background was in marketing. When I was in publishing, I was a general manager of a custom publishing arm so I understood the business side of things. I knew what we needed to do to make it a business, which was producing content, building an audience, writing a media kit, going out to advertisers, and pitching to advertisers that they need to advertise their platform. I understood the fundamentals from my personal experience and I did that.
I had three business partners originally and two of us wrote content, the other two were developers with graphic design backgrounds so they built the site for us. Within the first twelve months, they all left the business. It ended up just being me writing the content. I used to get a freelancer who helped me with content. My husband used to edit everything and then I used to go out and sell it. I was doing the whole thing myself but I enjoyed it and loved it. It wasn't a chore. I would do it in the evenings and I'd be like, “Why watch television when I can produce content that I love and be proud of?” It just worked.
We have had a similar career path because I used to work in custom publishing as well. Also, in 2007, when you mentioned that, this is pre-social media. Especially if you are newer to business and you've just grown up with social media, there was a whole time before social media when places like DailyCandy and all these other places were like, “That's the only place I can find out about all of this.”
How do you do it all now? You've got three different businesses but I'm not sure if they're all based in Asia and you are based mainly in Australia. How do you build all these businesses, particularly when they're overseas or your staff is mostly overseas? How do you build that all and what systems or things do you have in place for them to run?
We have three entities in Asia. We have a Singapore, a Bali, and a Hong Kong entity. We have about 35 staff in Asia. I have myself and my HR manager in Australia. It's not how you would design a company, for sure. Probably, it'd be a lot easier if I was able to be in the office each day. In any other sense, I like it because it gives me a lot of flexibility and that hybrid work, which I enjoy. I enjoy working from home.
I enjoy popping up there and doing a crazy trip where I'm there. Usually, I go up for four days. I go up Monday and come back Friday. The whole business was designed around lifestyle and I feel like that's always been my priority. To answer your question as to how I did it, I suppose just slowly. I first hired a writer and then I hired an account manager and it did this organic growth. We've made mistakes along the way.
Whilst I have three entities running now, I've created another six businesses that I no longer run. I’m like, “I'll try this.” It's been a lot of trial and error. I suppose the key for me is hiring good people and being considered in the hiring process. I'm trusting. I don't love micromanaging. In fact, I often hire people going, “I'm not going to be on top of you. I want you to run with it.” I'm a massive fan of delegation. That's who I am because I do prioritize that lifestyle piece.
There's so much going on. Thirty-five staff. I feel exhausted in a way. It's great that you're also saying you're hiring people that are autonomous and you don't have to micromanage. It's also good to have that conversation upfront. I also talk to clients about when they're hiring people, they get a sense of how they like to be managed. Some people do like a micromanager. Some people like to be told, “You need to do this in this exact order.” Other people like to be able to figure out the solution themselves.
We've mentioned this in passing because I did a masterclass for Launchpad and you had talked about how needed it was in parts of Asia and where you'd witnessed maybe not the same levels of networking and business communities as you had seen in other parts of the world. Did you have any fear about starting Launchpad there? You'd been in there for a while and you had Honeycombers and you had that business acumen and experience. Did you have fears about starting a business networking education hub in a place where you haven't grown up and where you're not native to those areas, if that makes sense?
I don't think so because I understand the market well. I lived in Singapore for 11 years and had run a business in Singapore for 14 years. I had my own experience to lean on that there wasn't something similar there but I also didn't do a whole lot of research. I'm a bit of a believer in jumping in and going for it and you'll figure it out along the way. I have been running the business for over fifteen years.
I do remember having that fear when I started my business. I remember when I started Honeucombers, I was like, “Are people going to Google and use websites or are they going to move from magazines?” It's quite funny now to think about it but at the time, no one had smartphones. As you said, you got to imagine a world of no social media and no smartphones. People did just read the paper and read the magazine. Will people trust websites and use them as much as they would a magazine for knowing where to go?
I remember experiencing that fear and doubt and uncertainty, I felt like I was putting all my chips down for one concept. Whereas now, with Launchpad, with that experience, I feel a lot more comfortable. It doesn't feel as big a risk because it's not my only business. I know my consumer better because I am that consumer.
I did struggle in my entrepreneurial journey trying to figure out how to learn all these things. I started a MBA but MBA is not that helpful for an entrepreneur. You've got to be so good at so many things all at the same time. Knowing who to ask is probably the big thing and having someone to ask. I understood the need clearly with the Launchpad.
You were saying, like, “I wanted to get the business, Honeycombers, to a point that it was running itself and great and everything before I launched the next one.” With Honeycombers, it's about people not necessarily travelling but even living in those cities and where to go and all of that. With the pandemic and everything shutting down and locking down, particularly in parts of Asia, they had some of the strictest lockdowns, what were some of the challenges that you had to work through with that business? Did advertising stop? Did you have to lay off people? How did that all go?
It was the most stressful thing I've ever been through. Yes, advertising just stopped. Most of my advertisers are hotels, restaurants, and experiences like attractions. Advertising stopped. People would have booked in advertising but they would just bring us up and say, “I don't want to run it now. I just can't run it because no one can come to my venue.” We saw sales drop, it was something like 80% from one month to the next. It was terrifying.
On top of this, we, as a family, had made a decision that same month that my husband was going to stop work. I was in this perfect storm. I thought my business was completely over. The issue with COVID was none of us knew how long it was going to go for. If someone could have told me, “You need to weather the storm for 6 months or 12 months,” I could've had some comfort. We were looking into this total uncertainty.
At the same time, we made the decision that my husband should stop working and I was like, “Oh my God.” It was just so much uncertainty and so much pressure. It was a horrendous moment in time and I fell into a negative spiral. I went to the worst case on the worst case, which is unusual for me because I'm a positive person. I just hit this downward spiral of thought pattern, it was terrible. That was the biggest challenge in the most recent years, for sure.
How did you get out of that mentally? It doesn't matter what type of business you have. Yours was very much in the firing line, you're in the events, hospitality, and travel industry. It doesn't matter what type of business you had. I had the same freak out in 2020 where I was like, “What happens if my husband loses his job?”
I had money coming in, which is a great position to be in, and people booking in. However, I had a child that wasn't able to go to childcare who was seven months old and I had another one who was at school and I needed to homeschool. It was like, “How am I going to do this? I can't have a baby on my lap while I'm coaching people.” I also was like, “What happens?” Also, the identity, like, “Who will I be if I don't have this business? That's a huge part of who I am.”
How did you mentally get through that? What advice do you have for someone who's reading right now and going, “I'm in that uncertainty? I'm in that space right now.” Maybe it's the recession, maybe it's retail shops around them shutting down, and they don't know. We don't know if this recession is going to hit Australia as hard as it's hitting other places. How did you get out of that downward spiral?
There are two things I did and one was I went and got some external help. It was a phenomenal session with a coach that focused on EFT tapping, tapping on the collarbone. Reflecting on it now, I was in a mental pattern of negativity. The EFT and this one-hour coaching session were quite incredible. It pulled me out of a negative thought pattern and calmed me down a little bit and rewired my thinking. It was simple but it was using techniques of thinking about who's driving the bus. Is it my adult brain or is it my scared inner child?
This is all a bit woo-woo. This was one big part of it. I did this session and it was bizarre. I did it on a Friday and it was amazing. That weekend, I went camping and I spent the week in nature with friends and it was exactly what I needed. I wanted to reset myself. The other big thing I did, which was the inspiration for Launchpad, was I found people in my business community that could help me soundboard, think through ideas, or bounce ideas off.
I went into my own community of smart and savvy people that I could lean on and they could lean on me. I used personal relationships to help get me out of a negative space and into a positive space. My business has now never been healthier. COVID has been fantastic for my business. I don't even know why. Part of it was we changed the way we work and we reduced our overhead by reducing our office space, little things like that.
Also, COVID made you go through not just your team but everything you're doing and critically thinks through everything you're doing, and make sure that you are using your resources the right way. We've had the best year we've ever had. I look at the numbers and I feel like they're unbelievable. I'm like, “Are you sure?” COVID has made us better at business and has made me better at business, for sure. It has been a painful journey I wish I never had but we have a stronger business because of it.
I love that. Thank you for talking through what you did as well. The EFT, for anyone who doesn't know, that's an Emotional Freedom Technique like tapping. I've done lots of those. I've done past life regressions and Reiki and a whole bunch of things. It's great to sometimes look outside yourself and get a different perspective and one that's not systems and processes and that kind of stuff. Also, I love that you said it's created a better business because it's in those times when we are pushed to the crunch that you do start questioning things that maybe if you had a more easygoing or complacent period of business, you don't have to do that stuff so you just don't.
It's good that you brought that up. The other thing I was going to ask is why do you think that you are passionate about bringing people together, whether it's the city guide element of Honeycombers or HoneyKids or the business networking and community building in Launchpad. Did you grow up in a family that was big about community or did you have a big extended family? Are you somebody who's extroverted and always having dinner parties and everything else so you wanted to have that element in your business? Where did that come from do you think?
A little bit of everything. My family had a tragedy when my mom and dad were first married. My mom lost her father through illness and then she lost her mother and her sister in car accidents, it was two years apart. They were a family of 6 and they became a family of 3 within two years. They become close-knit. As kids, we always knew every Easter, every July, every October, and every Christmas, we would be with our extended family from my mom's side. We had a tight family because of that tragedy and still do.
Mom and Dad are both big on community. In particular, Dad is a big community person so he lives next door to me, which is also lovely. He runs a neighbourhood barbecue every month where he has ten families over every month and he loves it. He's community-focused. I am a needy extrovert as well so I love people around me all the time. More than anything, both businesses lend to my personal values, my upbringing, and also who I am. I'm a classic oversharer. I'm an absolute giver to a fault. I often give too much. It leverages itself to build these businesses that are all about sharing or oversharing and supporting one another. It's a natural extension of who I am.
I love that. Do you go to the dinners because you are right next door to your dad like these community dinners? That sounds awesome.
I have my parents over for dinner at least once or twice a week so I don't always go to the neighborhood barbecues. Also, my kids find it quite boring. It's in the paddock. All the neighbours love it because it's under a tree and they brought picnic tables in. It is gorgeous. My kids get a little bit bored down there because it's a lot of long lunching and lots of food and not too much screen time or young kids around. We don't go often. I get the low down. They came over for dinner. I hear all about all the neighbours’ news. It's gorgeous.
That sounds awesome and I love that. A lot of times, I'm not sure how old your parents are but I'm guessing a certain age, they may be in retirement or in that age group where a lot of people retreat back into themselves and can end up quite lonely and everything else. It's amazing that your parents are bringing the community in and being pillars of that. Also, it's trickled onto being an extrovert.
You put out a lot of content and part of the actual business for Honeycombers is content. Which tools or systems do you have set up for this and how do you or your team assess if the content is meeting your objectives? A lot of the time, people feel like there's this need to put out more and more content and be noisy and be everywhere and there's no actual objective set. In your case, I would love to know what you do to make sure that the content is doing what you want it to do.
What we do is track it. We use Google Analytics and Google Documents. We track each week how our traffic is going and how our engagement is going. We look at things like click-through rates on newsletters. We track high-performance articles. With Honeycombers and HoneyKids, the core strategy is SEO. We get 90% or more of our traffic through SEO. We have, in that business, four editors that run the editorial teams.
We have monthly editorial meetings where we look at what's performing well. The editors share and learn from each other through those meetings. We also look at what our competitors are doing and talk about that as well. It's tracking it. We have what we call a scorecard, which is a weekly document where we look at the stats each week. We don't go down per article performance except for that monthly meeting where we go a bit deeper. We usually get into the strategy more and we'll talk more about it.
We have some key cornerstone content that delivers a lot of traffic. We look at that across all the platforms and how's that tracking? We're also constantly innovating what we are doing to make sure that it's engaging and relevant and useful. For example, for Honeycombers, we launched sustainability awards.
What we wanted to do with that piece was create content to help our readers understand how to make better choices that are more sustainable with where they're spending their money. The feedback on that was fantastic. The comments we got were like, “I had no idea that you could get sustainable products in this category,” or, “I didn't know about this product that was available.”
That was an interesting content strategy and it was a values-driven piece but it delivered on traffic and also the engagement and positioning of who we are and what we want to be known for in the market. It's not too sophisticated. It is just Google Analytics and Google Documents. We also use some SEO tools like Neil Patel's tools. The key thing for us is we make sure that everyone's got great SEO skills and understands what a good SEO article requires so that we can create content that is going to deliver on reach and eyeballs.
For anyone who doesn't know what SEO is, it is Search Engine Optimization. I did have somebody early on in this podcast who said, “You talked about SEO the entire episode. I was hoping that you would say what it was.” I was like, “Yes, thank you for that feedback.” Anytime I use an acronym, I try and remember to say what it means. Search engine optimization is the way that you optimize your site or your content for search. Thank you for talking that through.
Even though you said it's not sophisticated, I'm sure it is. Also, sometimes people have a perception that a brand like yours where you're putting out a lot of content all the time would have like, “They must be using this and this.” It's nice to go, “I have access to those things too. That's what we can use.” Thank you for sharing that with content, another thing that you put out is a podcast, much like we do. You run masterclasses, events, and other things with Launchpad.
The people that are recipients of that are being helped but also the people who come in to run those classes or to speak on your podcast or to be seen as an expert in different things that you run and that can get them more exposure and brand awareness. What do you look for when someone is pitching to you? Do they pitch to you or do they pitch to your staff? Are there any tips for people who are reading and who think, “I would love to speak at a Launchpad event or I would love to be on the podcast?” Where would they start with you and what are you looking for?
The podcast is called Good Business and it's where I'm interviewing people that are running businesses that are impacting businesses. They're businesses that are focused on profit as well as people and the planet. It's quite a niche profile of businesses that I would interview on that podcast. Also, that podcast is predominantly for Southeast Asia and Australia so that's the scale I'm looking at for good business. For masterclasses, we have a list of topics that we want to cover for our entrepreneurs.
If you are an expert at anything that a small business needs to know about, you can hit us up and pitch. We have landing pages for the podcast and masterclasses on our website. You can go and find on our website a length where you can fill out a form to pitch. We'll have a heap of questions like, “What would you like to pitch? What would the title of the masterclass be?” We also ask you to submit some video footage of you doing some public speaking so that could be an Instagram link for example.
You can pitch away and that's the best way to pitch to us because that content then goes to the entire team and then the team looks at it and come back to you. If you have a business that serves entrepreneurs or small businesses, it could be anything at all if you can help entrepreneurs upskill them with any kind of tool. For example, one we did was how to use ChatGPT and that was a great masterclass where we had a marketing coach show us the best prompts and how to use it. It was a great walkthrough. Anything at all that can help small businesses or entrepreneurs, you are welcome to reach out and pitch to us.
Thank you. Good to know that it's all systematized as well. You've got your landing pages, your questions, and all of that. We're talking about then people helping other people in business whether it's ChatGPT or other things. Who has helped you in business outside of the EFT tapping session that you did? Have you had mentors or mantras or even not people, have you had books or things that have helped you build all of these businesses or even any apps or platforms outside of Google Analytics or anything else you've mentioned that you think, “This has been a game changer for us.”
First of all, I've had a lot of help from my friends to even my friend's husbands. I would talk to my friends about one of my struggles and they'd go, “Sit down with my husband on a Sunday afternoon. He'd love to help you.” I'd be like, “I am there.” My first message is, yes, I have got help anywhere and everywhere. I have used a business coach, which was super helpful. I read a lot of business books, I love them. Business books shaped my thinking.
Early on, I read Tim Ferriss’ 4-Hour Workweek and that was years ago. That made me go, “You could design it any life you want.” It gave me permission to think about what I wanted for my business. I've read books like Good to Great by Jim Collins, and Rocket Fuel, which I love, Traction, and Scaling Up. I've got a pile here on my desk. Killer Thinking by Tim Duggan. I love Tim Duggan. I get so much from business books.
I have a business community, I have business besties, and I have someone that I walk with every week, shout out to Odette Barry, who lives in Byron. We spend at least three hours a week. It's part normal friendship, part exercise, and accountability, but it's a lot of also, “What would you do in this scenario?” That is wildly beneficial to both of us. My message is there are many people that will help you, you've just got to be brave enough to ask for help and make those opportunities happen yourself.
For example, when I met Odette, she was speaking at an event and she spoke beautifully and I could resonate with what she was saying and her struggles and her challenges, and what she was doing. I walked up to her after the event and said, “We've got to do something together. We're going to either work together or do something.” I needed to be brave to put myself outta my comfort zone to reach out to someone with who I had no connection at all, except she was a speaker and I was a paid attendee at the event. That's been immeasurable to have that relationship in my business. Get help wherever you can.
Also, go up to people and talk to them. I was presenting and the last slide was, “You'll have to talk to people, people.” That's something we probably don't do enough. Even you thinking, “I'm in the audience and she's up there.” There’s some invisible hierarchy or something. I love that you went up to her and be like, “Hey.” Now you've got this great friendship out of it in addition to the business stuff. What are you most proud of from your journey with all 3 or 1 in particular in your businesses so far?
I'm proud of what I've been able to create for my family. For my husband, for him not to work gives us this space in our busy lives with three kids that he's able to coach soccer teams. He does mass coaching with my daughter every night. He's got bandwidth because he doesn't need to work. That's a wonderful gift for everyone in the family.
I'm proud of what company I've created at Honeycombers. We work a four-and-a-half-day week. We offer a lot of flexible work arrangements and we value and try and hire women in a part-time capacity. We give back to the community. In quite a conservative country where even sexual diversity preferences are not that comfortable for people, everything comes back to kindness. I'm proud of what we're creating there. There's a lot.
What is next for you and all the things you do and where can people connect with you?
The big thing is that we're bringing Launchpad to Australia. We already have twenty or so members here but we're going to be starting to do in-person events in Australia. That's the next big thing. I'm excited about that. I love connecting with anyone and everyone. You can email me directly at Chris@TheHoneycombers.com. Reach out to us, TheLaunchpad.group is our Launchpad website. Connect away. I love hearing from people who listen to a podcast or hear me speak at an event. It's heartwarming to know that you can make a difference by sharing your story and your journey. Reach out.
Thank you so much, Chris, for taking the time to come on and share so many things. I’m excited for your launch into Australia.
Thanks, Fiona.
—
Has that made you want to start another business or think about the way that you're running your business and create something that is more in tune with the lifestyle that you want to have? I find that inspiring that Chris is doing this. Also, I love at the end how she talked about the change in her family as a result of her business. It's incredible, plus being a female business owner, to be able to retire your partner. Unfortunately, that is a minority in this world. It's inspiring.
I would love to know what you took away from that chat with Chris from Launchpad, Honeycombers, and HoneyKids. I'm going to highlight two things. Of course, there were so many more but I'll highlight two that stood out to me. The first was when Chris was talking about the negative spiral and the challenges that came with the pandemic and running a business like Honeycombers, a city guide, when people aren't travelling, aren't staying in hotels, and how the advertising dried up for that in that period.
I love that she talked about stepping outside and seeking external help from the EFT tapping practitioner, which is slightly different and is more maybe an alternative way of looking at business, but a brilliant way of looking at business. I have done EFT tapping with a coach. I've done past life regressions and breathing exercises and mind work and all sorts of things, Kinesiology, and Reiki. There's a place for that. Also, the fact that she reached out and created and cultivated this business community.
Often, when we are going through a challenging period in our business, we can assume that we are the only ones going through it, and it might be some sort of fault of our own. The pandemic was different because everyone was going through it but I see it all the time with different clients where instead of looking at other people who are also going through this, they'll put it on themselves. It’s like, “Something is wrong with me in the way I run my businesses or business and that I'm in this situation.”
Often, when you start talking to people, you realize how many people are in the same situation as well. It's lovely that she's cultivated this community. She mentioned Odette and walking up to somebody after a talk and saying, “You're amazing. Let's do something together.” It takes guts and courage. Often, if you do it once or twice, you get used to doing that and it is less awkward each time. I love that was the first point that she went outside of herself to seek help and to seek community. I love that she was talking about her dad and the community, that sounds brilliant.
The second thing that stood out and it stood out because I feel so strongly about this is that she has created businesses that align with who she is as a person. Sometimes, when you try and put a square peg into a round hole, you can build a business and it can still be successful from various standpoints but it's not something that you feel truly aligned and fulfilled by.
When you create a business that is in line with your own personal values and in line with the world that you want to create, it makes a much more enjoyable and much stronger purpose-led sustainable business rather than a quick overnight success. I love that. I'm always preaching to my clients and even to myself, I'm constantly assessing what are we doing against the values that I want to be aligned to and the things that I want to leave behind as well and show my children and all sorts of things. I love that.
If you are keen to get in touch with Chris, I'm sure she would love to hear from you and what you took away from this regardless of where you are in the world, you can find out more about Launchpad at TheLaunchpad.group. You can also find everything about Honeycombers at TheHoneycombers.com. You can then choose different places or areas that you're particularly interested in like Bali or Singapore. HoneyKids, you can find that at HoneyKidsAsia.com.
If you found this useful, I would love it so much if you could leave us a quick review on Spotify or Apple or wherever you listen to this podcast and you might want to share this with a friend. Feel free to pass it on and maybe they are going to take from something that Chris has said and run with it in their business and change things for the better. That is it for this episode. A reminder, you can find all the information about Group Coaching over at MyDailyBusiness.com/groupcoaching. We'll be starting that soon. If you are keen, get on the wait list or email us if you have any questions, Hello@MyDailyBusiness.com. Thanks for reading. I'll see you next time. Bye.
