Episode 74: On Running A Purpose-Led Business: How Onegirlstudio Connects with the Local Community Through Brand Collaborations and Championing Australian Makers
In this week’s small business owner interview, Fiona talks to Lijean Beier, founder of Onegirlstudio, an Interior Design Consultancy, web-store and beautiful boutique in Brisbane’s western suburbs. In their chat, they talk about giving back to the community (where shop profits are donated to Outback Futures and Onegirl), brand collaborations with Australian makers and managing motherhood while running a business.
Topics discussed in this episode:
Introduction
Catching Up
About Onegirlstudio
Lijean’s upbringing
Supporting smaller makers, ethical products
On consignment
Finding artists and makers
On managing a business and a family
Thriving in the interior design industry
On finding mentors, guidance, courses
On shop donations
What’s next for Onegirlstudio
Connect with Lijean
Conclusion
Connect with Lijean Beier and Onegirlstudio
Connect with Outback Futures
Connect with Onegirl
Episode transcript:
I guess with my dad, I suspect he would worry less if I had stayed in the studio position or actually hadn't switched from a law to a built environment degree in the first place, but I've been lucky that he's only ever encouraged me in my chosen path, even when he hasn't understood it. So that's been a real parenting lesson for me now that I have children making career decisions. I thought back to our conversations and how he was so supportive even if you didn't agree.
Hello and welcome to episode 74 of the My Daily Business Coach podcast. I am recording this during the recent lockdown. Again, stage 4 lockdown in Melbourne. This is nothing new for us in Melbourne, but it is hard. And it's definitely brought up just the level of uncertainty that we are all living in. And I know that I have a lot of people listening in the UK and the US. And thank you so much. I love hearing from you. And I know that you in particular are doing incredibly tough right now as our listeners in India, who I've also heard from. Thank you so much. It means the world that I know a lot of people are stressed and anxious right now. And I hope that this little podcast helps in some way, if you're a small business owner alleviate stress or give you ideas that excite you and get you energized about your business, even though things may not be running as they normally would for you.
In next week's coaching episode, I actually talk through tactics that have helped me deal with uncertainty and in various elements of my life, including the seven months of lockdown last year, but make sure you hit subscribe so you don't miss that upcoming episode.
As for today's episode, it is an interview and I conducted this just recently with an incredible small business owner in Queensland. Lijean Beier is the founder behind Onegirlstudio, and that is an interior design consultancy, an online store and a beautiful physical in Brisbane's Western suburbs. Lijean has been doing this work in the interior space for almost three decades now, and she is a degree qualified, built environment professional, fully accredited member of the Design Institute of Australia, and just a beautiful soul who is really, really interested and curious into why people make what they make, and then helping the smaller makers in Australia get seen, get exposure and find an audience in Brisbane and all over Australia and the world. In addition to supporting her family and supporting herself through this business, she also donates a portion of the shop profits to Outback Futures and One Girl.
And in our interview today, she talks about why she supports those particular causes, but also how supporting those has led her to do brand collaborations and really connect with her local community. Now, Lijean Beier is a very humble, modest, small business owner. And I have to say that when I started this podcast, she was one of the very first names that I wrote down on my “I want to interview” list. And there's a few reasons for that one. She has a very purpose led business, and I'm very attracted to that type of business too. She really supports and champions local makers and Australian made artists. And I think that is something that a lot of places want to do. They don't always do it.
Well I think Lijean has done that incredibly well. And we talk about that in today's podcast, you know, how has she found the right labels to stock and how does she work with those makers? How does she reach out to them? And it's really interesting, especially if you own your own store or you're a maker, and you're really interested in how to get stocked in stores like Onegirlstudio. The other reason that I've wanted Lijean to be on this podcast is that years ago she sent a gift to me. It was incredibly lovely. It's a cup that I use all the time. It's a really, really nice, but at the time, and she's probably not aware of this, but at the time I was transitioning in my business and I was going from my parent company, which is Fiona Killackey Consulting, where a large portion of what I was doing was consulting to larger companies going in, working with marketing teams, building marketing teams, looking at the strategy for a company where they were, you know, going into another territory, things like that.
And I was moving much more into business coaching and working with smaller businesses and solo operators. And I was literally days, I think maybe I don't know, 10 days, two weeks off launching mydailybusinesscoach.com and moving everything away from fionakillackey.com. And it was a big I'd had, you know, the Instagram handle, but it was really kind of going out there and being like, this is what I do. And this is who I also had the shop component. So it was the first time I was launching, you know, e-books and online courses and all of that. And I think at any time when you're about to launch something big, when you are pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, you tend to have self doubt. And at the time I was thinking, is this website crap is, is the idea bad?
I was coming out with my first ebook. I was thinking, is anyone going to buy this? All of those sorts of things were creeping up and it was the end of a big year and I was pregnant at the time as well. So, you know, that also helps with all the kind of ideas that you have in your head. Anyway, it was just before I was launching my, my website, I went to the post and I got this beautifully wrapped gift from Lijean and in it she'd written a note to me. And it was the first time that somebody, I didn't know, I had no connection with, she wasn't a client. She hadn't come to a workshop or a speaking gig had sent me something with this note. That was just beautiful. And it was sort of saying, thank you so much for all the content you put out there.
It really helps small business owners like me. And I really felt like it was a sign from the universe. It was like, yep, you're on the right path. Keep going. And she doesn't know that, but she really, really helped me dilute that self-doubt circle that I was in. And ever since I have just been, you know, so appreciative to her for that small moment. And I guess that's a reminder that we can all go about our business and we can find things useful. We can, you know, really love a particular cafe service or something else, but we don't say it. We don't say to our barista, you know what I love the way you do your coffee. Thank you so much. Or to the random person that's helped you in the supermarket. Thank you so much. Or to somebody that you get emails from. Thank you so much.
So I just want to say another massive thank you to Lijean for that moment, but for all of her support ever since. And I hope that after you listen to today's podcast episode, you reach out to Lijean Beier. And if you're in Queensland, definitely go and hit up Onegirlstudio and see her physical space. Of course you can shop online at onegirlstudio.com.au. But yeah, I absolutely loved talking to Lijean. She talks about her background, how her parents work ethic has influenced her own. She also talks about the journey that she's been on with her partner and how they've lived in numerous locations around Australia. And I just absolutely loved hearing how she then built her own business whilst also raising a family. And if you are a parent and you are going through things right now like lockdown, and you're sort of making the juggle work, I feel like this will be quite inspiring to you as well. So here it is my interview with the incredible interior designer and founder of Onegirlstudio, Lijean Beier.
I am so thrilled to have a woman that coming onto the podcast. Hello, Lijean Beier. Welcome. Welcome. You are on my list from day one, and I'm really excited to be talking to you. How are you right now? We're talking at the start of 2021. And obviously it's been a big 12 months, 14 months. How are things going for you in your world?
Well, I think that if there was such a thing as a COVID luxury working in Brisbane would make us the absolute winners. 2020 was still pretty exhausting. Even for us. I had a son finishing school in year 12 and having to change the way we work with such immediacy and uncertainty just make the huge to-do list and a heavy emotional life. And while there was no directive, we actually closed that bricks and mortar shop. And up to ticker online, I need the six weeks.
It just felt like the right thing to do for us at the time. And it did force us to improve and develop that online store, which is still a work in progress that this has been a positive legacy from 2020.
Wow, and how's your son. Did he get through school?
Yes. He's gotten through waiting for uni to start say, I think it's the longest holiday, longest legitimate holiday. You get any life? The idleness is killing me. He's living his best life, but it's hard to watch someone do so much of nothing when you've got so much on. Yes. Oh my gosh. My kids, both of them haven't slept. Haven't been great sleepers. And my dad used to always say, just, you wait, they'll get to teenage wood and you can bang them. It's true. It's so true. I was exactly the same. Mine never slept and now they do nothing else.
Well, gosh, that's a massive fee. I really felt for year 12 students last year, it's enough of a stress. It was a bit rubbish. Gosh. I mean, well done to you like shutting down. So people have heard a little bit about Onegirlstudio in the intro that I just didn't right now and you know how much I think you're amazing, but yeah. Can you tell us a little bit about what it is and how you described your business and kind of how it all began?
So Onegirlstudio has two faces where in interior design consultancy, and I think were mostly nine as a little shop. So we have a bricks and mortar store in graceful, which is in Brisbane. And we also have an online presence I'd like to think beach full and functional artisan-made and Australia-made wares.
Did one come first?
Yes. So I've worked as an interior designer for that 25 years. And yeah, it does seem crack is leaving a pathway that you've invested so much in, but like with any life change, there are a number of factors compelling enough to make the leap time. One was that when we returned home to Brisbane, Adelaide, it became apparent how deficient our city was in independent retail options. So there was very little handmade product in local stores and certainly not nearby to where we were living. And we had moved many times for my husband's work. I think we've had about 15 addresses in each new place. I'd found community in workshops and classes and also in just frequenting businesses that I love. And I guess in some way I was inspired to recreate that culture in the area in which we lived that also felt very underserved, mostly and hilariously, I thought shopkeeping might make for an easier juggle with motherhood, then working as an interior designer, which is hugely inaccurate, of course. And here I am trying to do both
Gosh, and good on you because I, he and I have a few clients who have children and still like you and it's yeah, it's definitely not easier. You had mentioned that you've moved quite a few times and you've lived in Brisbane and Alice Springs and Darwin and Adelaide. Was that something you were used to like, did you have an upbringing like that?
Not at all, not at all. I lived in the same house until I left to go to university and I married young and I married a geologist. We felt like the rocks, essentially,
What, a beautiful way. And so your upbringing, like, did you have small business owner parents or were they super into like interior design? Is that what led you into that sector? Or do you have really creative siblings or I guess what was that upbringing like and how did it impact?
Well, on paper, I'm perhaps the most unlikely person to be doing what I am. I grew up in Ipswich, which is a satellite city to Brisbane. It feels like a really big confession to say that like all places it has its redeeming qualities, but it is generally speaking a small town with rice ICO, economic demographics, and the issues that usually accompany that. And to top it all off a little bit in the dodgy part. So it wasn't very designed rich at all. And my father was a migrant and still supporting his family in Malaysia. So very humbly and I had no real exposure to the design or architecture worlds until much later in my high school years. And my dad and brother and not creative, really in a traditional sense. But my mom and her mom, my granny who lived with us were quite amazing amateur artists and also made everything the making was really born of necessity. So it was more about budget and craft. But I know now that this is where the magic usually leaves at the same time, they handmade goods were a constant source of embarrassment for me, I just longed for store-bought items like everybody else that now of course I wish so much that I could tap into their making genius.
I hate so much on that level. My mum and I also grew up in an area that was, had a low socioeconomic at the time. It's definitely a lot more improved, but yeah, I definitely remember. I used to travel an hour and a half to my
School. Wow. Yeah. Each
Each way. So it was three hours and the train ride home, like you'd literally see it go down, you'd see it on. And all the people would, they're like nice private school bags and blah, blah, blah. And then you'd see it go down and go down and go down. I go down and then I'd get off the
Station. But also my mom
Made everything. She made all our clothes for awhile and it wasn't like do it or anything. But yeah, I remember like my year 12 formal, when you were 11 one, it just wasn't even a concept that we were going to go to a store and like buy a nice dress. It was, you can choose some fabric and you know, let's go to lean craft and get like a Patton and we'll make you a dress. And I wish like you, I wish that I had taken on board. Like my mum could so pretty much anything. And I wish I had
That, but yes,
I interrupted you about it.
No, it, it was exactly the same for me. And we were the same. My dad had a really good job. It was just all the other expectations on him. Culturally. I think that, you know, they came from quite a frugal background. Both of them say that just never went away. It did change a little bit. My mum actually was a small business when I was about ten two until she died. When I was 13, she had a little coffee shop and it was really well loved and really successful. So while I was quite naive about many aspects of business, when I started vanco studio, I did have some concept of the relentless nature of business ownership just from watching her run that little shop.
Wow. Oh my goodness. What a interesting background. And I'm really sorry that you lost your mom at such an early age really, really hard. And it comes across already in just talking to you. But one of the other things that I liked that I've seen just through social media and other things is the really genuine approach that you have to, everything you sell. Like, it seems like you really spend time, you know, finding the right labels to stock. And part of your process is that, you know, everything, you stop contact being made without having hurt anyone in the process. So I always am interested in, you know, I gravitate towards these types of brands myself, but how did you balance that with also needing to hit certain margins in the business to work? And I think, you know, both of you and I have come from hardworking backgrounds where it's not like, well, we can just, you know, we can just have fun and not necessarily worry about making money. How did you kind of balance that? And I guess what advice would you give to others who also want to support smaller makers and have sustainable and ethical products, but at the end of the day, we also need to make money.
Yes, well, firstly, I'm really so happy that the huge amount of time we spend finding and trading our stock is even a little bit evident where physically attempt C shop. So we do need to be careful in what we give room to say that forces us to curate quite tightly, much of what we buy is directly from the maker, H seems to have their own processes lead times margins. So navigating new terms and nurturing these relationships is also so time-consuming, but it's also become one of the most rewarding aspects of the business. And you're right. We did learn quite quickly that we would never be commercially viable if we only stopped Australian handmade as the market's just too small in Brisbane at the moment and good margins, almost impossible to achieve. So now we have a combination of ethically produced goods from factories and overseas hand-making and for anyone else considering stocking small batch makers. And I really hope you do because this fairly marketplace deserves to be far more interesting. I think we found consignment arrangements can be useful for both parties. So we've just found that consignment minimizes risks for both parties and also helps to keep stock dynamic. So for example, we find that what might not sell with us might fly with another stock list on the other side of town or in another city. And this enables the maker to control movement the stock, and also gives them freedom to explore new work.
Can you just explain if someone's listening to this and they're thinking they're making earrings say, and they're like, they haven't actually approached stockists yet. What is consignment? How do you explain what consignment is versus…?
Well, the way that wavelet consignment is that the Nikah often brings to us their selection of what they'd like to sell. And we put it in store at an agreed price and edit, agreed margin. And the maker gets paid only if that piece sells. So for us, we pay the maker every month, works out the previous month. And we have found too, because everybody has different costs associated with their work. The margins can vary and some makers need payment more regularly than a month where quite loose in the way we work at at the moment. But it's essentially that stock gets twin itself, I suppose.
Yeah. Thank you. Thanks for doing that. My second business after I used to make earrings and sell them at a market, I used to sew sweaters in my like little place in the Carlton and I used to have my sewing machine on the floor and it was on consignment. So yes, I learned. Yeah. And I think it's a great way for people to be able to work with stockers, but I'd love to talk to you about how do you even approach people to stock their products. Like when you got back to Brisbane and you were saying that there wasn't really anywhere, at least near where you were that had, what do you, do? You just know a whole lot of makers because of the 25 years in interior consultancy and design, or did you go out and find them and, and how did you start getting them the labels on board?
Well, my retail experience before the shopfront limited part-time high school work. So I didn't have any references to what made for a standard procurement prices. I'd been a good customer of many makers before stocking them, but really didn't have a relationship with many outside of that. So quite simply all about purchasing usually starts with an email to a maker or supplier that we admire. And in truth, this is usually proceeded with a fair bit of digital stalking to make sure where I likely fit.
Ah, yes, I love the digital stalking. And so I think that's really important, I think for people to hear that because sometimes people can think, Oh, you know, it's this giant elaborate process. And it's really nice that you're like, it's just an email. Yeah. And so talking of digitally stalking people, I, I follow you over on Instagram and you're just at one girl's studio for anyone who wants to connect. And of course we'll link to all of this in the show notes as well, but something that you've shared on there, I kind of memories and posts about your family, both the family that you grew up in and the one that you've made. And do you have two sons or one son? Same as me. So you mentioned in one of the posts that you have had such support following your dreams and I would love to, but it also sounds that you're very supportive with your, like following the rocks and all of that. But what advice would you give to say someone who's listening to your story thinking, Oh, I'd love to do something similar, but I'm raising children or I hope to have children in the future or, you know, gosh, you can't do both. What sort of things would you say?
Well, thank you so much for following me and for actually reading the writing. I often wonder if that happens. The whole truth, I guess, is that my husband and two boys really spent time actually working in the business. I have feel supported by them in the way they understand, or at least on of the neglect that they sometimes do because it's my work and the Slack that they often have to pick up. And I guess with my dad, I, I suspect he would worry less if I'd stayed in the studio position or actually hadn't switched from a law to a built environment degree in the first place. But I've been lucky that he's only ever encouraged me in my chosen path, even when he hasn't understood it. So that's been a real parenting lesson for me now that I have children making career decisions. I thought back to our conversations and how he was so supportive, even if he didn't agree.
So for me personally, I don't think I could have juggled this life of the shop in consultancy. If my children were much younger when my boys were little, my husband was often working away and they also lived away from family and established support networks. So I was really central to everyone's world. Working these days, parenting looks quite different and while it can still be intense, there are far less demands on my time and to behind supervising. So for anyone else in that very time intense parenting phase, I wonder if the partnership or having full-time staff could, would work or take some of the pressure, but I'm not sure to be honest, I can tell you that guys far quicker than you expect it to, like my children stopped meeting me before I was ready for them to do that. And I'm super aware that motherhood is loaded with complexity and circumstance.
Yeah, they are. It's interesting that you say that about, they stopped needing you before you're ready. One of my friends, she's got two teenagers and she was asking me about my kids and my kids are roughly at least 10 years younger than hers. And I said, what advice would you give to someone? Like, if you could go back and she said, your worries now is so different. She's like, all I wanted was them to be independent and me to give my time. And then as soon as they were, you're like, no, no, no, please, please need me. Yeah. And so, you know, well done for getting through racing them.
I think that's the parenting goal, but it doesn't feel great.
No, I mean, my dad, he used to always have this thing. And actually when we wrote he's a pitcher, this is the one that we started with. And he used to always say, be a parent first, then a friend. And they used to say, sometimes it's going to be really hard, but you have to always be a parent first. And if you can, your job is to get good adults into the world. And if you can do that, you know, you've succeeded at what they do. And so I think, yeah, there's a lot of work that goes into it. And I also like that, you're really honest and you're not saying, Oh, it's totally doable. I mean, I do think being things are doable, but I think at the moment who one of my clients has a young child and he's running a shop and she actually just hired somebody to work on a day. And she's like, Oh my God, just having that day back is incredible a day to herself. And Turkey has childcare for half of that day. And she's like, it's just opened up a whole world of possibilities. So the other thing that you have achieved, which is amazing is you've been in retail for some time now. And retail is a really hard business. What do you think has helped you survive and to kind of thrive in that space?
He turned five last year. We've also found that in the spirit of oversharing, we've found independent retail to be a very hard gig financially. And so it has been a lifeline having friends in business, you can relate to the struggle. And I know this is something you've talked about a lot and it's so true that it's been crucial to me to be able to share the wins and losses safely, or to collaborate on solutions with people who understand life and business firsthand, that's been important. Also essential for our survival has been the offering of interior design services. So just having that diversified income is essential, especially at the start.
And I think that while you can never be everything to everybody, we do offer quite a unique collection of products. So we find that when our true customer discovers us, we see them again.
Yes. I love that last part. I love all of that. And I completely agree with cultivating your crew and having people around and you just get it, totally get it. But I also think that last part, like, I think there's a statistic it's six to seven times harder to find a new customer than to retain somebody who's already bought from you or worked with you. And I think not enough people nurture that part. So, you know, going back to people that have bought from you keeping that kind of post-purchase activity alive because yeah, like you said, if people find you and they think it's a great place, they're going to come back every time they need a gift or every time they need a birthday present or something for themselves. So yeah. Really, really important. So what do you think has helped you most with like building the actual business skills? So whether in the interior consultancy or the actual shop, have you had mentors, have you done courses or had that have helped you?
We didn't cure design. I worked for big studios in the early part of my working life and that informed a lot of my processes that I've carried through to now, even the scale of my business is tiny compared to this, but that was really helpful. And I'm not sure if it's appropriate to confess on a business coaching podcast that I don't actually feel very skilled in business just yet. Thank you also for that word. And I promise it's not a construed answer, but in terms of input, I have relied on your weekly email, which has actually guided many of our processes and decisions. As I was saying to you early, I'm still incredulous that USI generous. It's truly the best freebie that's out there. It really is
Really makes all the effort with it to hear that it's helping people. So thank you. So, so many amazing things there. And likewise, I guess, has there been any parts of the business that you've had to upskill on or hire people, you know, finance or legal or, and again, I guess, any tips for people listening to this who might be interested in knowing, well, how did you get to where you are
Say not to starting the shop and realizing the date border obviously. And I did take myself off to tape and I did a certificate in small business and mostly, I didn't feel like I had a budget to outsource match. So I did try to do everything myself, which in hindsight ended up being a false economy really, and a initial path to exhaustion. So I wish I had invested in paying people for their expertise.
I completely agree. And sometimes it's like, it's that whole kind of cliche, but you've got to spend money to make. Yeah. Yeah. I've been in that, in that sense before where I've been like, Oh my gosh, you know, I could just do it myself. And then like right now, even with the editing of this podcast, like I, I recommend Scott all the time to people. And some people have said, well, you could just learn how to edit it yourself. It's, you know, it's not that hard. And I was like, no, you can edit stuff. And he is an expert and he knows exactly. And it will take him however long it takes him versus me spending the entire Saturday trying to figure it out. And so, yeah, totally happy to pay for that stuff. What's one thing, and I know you've been in the interiors game for many, many years, almost three decades, but what's one thing you'd done differently if you were starting out now, either in that space or in the shop,
Imagine there's so many lessons learned in three decades makes me feel so old that I think on the top of the list, it would work is hard building the online shop as the bricks and mortar. I think I underestimated what that could be for us.
[inaudible] especially. Yeah. I was going to say, I think that's a big one that a lot of people learnt last year, Chris crouch from happy Valley, which is story Melbourne. He was on the podcast a while ago and he said, I wish I had sort of, you know, cause he's like, we sort of did that by necessity. They had the online shop, but he's like, I really dove into how to use it and how to analyze its performance last year. Yeah. If anyone can take anything, do that, look at your online. It's only going to get more important as the years go on. And on that online, do you have particular, you know, tech tools or platforms or things you couldn't live without when it comes to you,
Instagram like you and many of your guests, I've got a love, hate relationship in Instagram, but while it's free and it's still our most powerful marketing and communication platform, it's a, it's a daily thing that we use. Other freebies. We rely on MailChimp and I love nights. I have endless listing nights and we do pay for a zero subscription, which is quite amazing for bookkeeping with that too much strife and has really good spreadsheet. So you can see where you're at at any time.
Yeah. I use zero as well. I sometimes feel like this podcast should be sponsored by zero. It's not, but there you go. If anyone's listening from zero, come and say hi, so many people use zero. I would say majority of like 90% of the people I work with ECRA and I just think it's, user-friendly, it's such a fantastic tool for business. And so I can assume some things that you might feel proud of with your journey. And I do tend to feel like you're somebody who's quite humble and modest, but I would love it. If you could really think about like, what is the thing that you're most proud of from the journey owning and running these small businesses.
I'm actually really proud of the community and the human connections that have been built through the shop, especially through our 2020 experience. It was clear that we've become more than just a place to purchase things. And we've landed amongst a group of really big hearted, outward looking people. So I'll be forever grateful for the enlargement at the civil business has brought about for me, both professionally and personally.
I love that. And I love the idea of community. I feel like along with money and you know, going online, it was a really big driver of people's success last year or just survival. Last year, you do a lot in your business to help others. So I'd love if you, if you don't mind just talking through like what you've done to help, you know, who, who else the business is helping. Obviously you've got your family and the makers, but I know you do some other support work. And if it's not too embarrassing for you or thanks for the opportunity to give us
A side project, a little plug, because we believe that good business supports change. We do support or donate to a couple of charities that mostly to Outback features. So that features an organization who provide allied health services to rural families. And this is a really simplified explanation of their work. So I hope you'll listen as might take the time to look them up or find out more about the work 80. So we would team up with our shop friends and favorite cafe, three girls skipping and do dinners and other events. But in a COVID year, it was really tricky to fundraising the way we had known how previously. So we decided to design and sell custom linen and tea towels, and all the proceeds are sales, go to Outback pages. So they also have printed by Ecuador designs. He's a local maker that we stuck just around the corner from the shop. It's a lovely little community project. And our second tea towel in the collection is underway. So it'll be around to be extra saying, thank you for letting me talk about that.
No, not at all. And I think more, we can like actually see what different people are doing. I think what's really nice is that one you've teamed up with other people like three girls skipping the cafe and you know, these makers. But I also think that sometimes people feel like, Oh my business, isn't big enough to make a real difference. I have to go big or after, you know, build a school somewhere. And I think it's really nice to actually just be like, well, what can I do with what I have?
You were aware that the money that we've raised is a small drop in what they need for their work. That it's still a drop.
Yeah, it is. And of course we'll link to Outback futures in the show notes. Do you have advice for anyone that's listening who might want to do something like this? I mean, how did you come up with, okay, we're going to support Outback futures. Is it you had friends in rural areas or …?
When you look at the needs in the world, it can be quite overwhelming. And I remembered a book I read by singer called the life you can save. And he talked about supporting an organization that was close to home and one that was far away. And so I guess we've looked at that model from the start. So Outback features is our close to home charity. Um, the founder of that charity is a friend and we watched that family's personal and professional sacrifices. They started that charity up and it was incredibly inspiring and yeah, it was great just to be a part of that. Somehow our far away charity is one girl for obvious reasons, we share nine, they
Help fund education. Wow. I love that idea of one local and one far away. Cause I feel like sometimes we can just almost get caught up in the far away and not, we've got a whole lot of things with, you know, closer to home that need attention as well. Even just I, at the moment, I just think my God, what are all the people that are homeless doing? Yeah. Like my husband and I worked in a homeless shelter, volunteered in a homeless shelter for a few years in London. And I mean, I'd volunteer. My parents were very much into volunteering, but it really showed me in London. Like it could be anyone, anyone could be out to be around you. If you have, you know, your marriage breaks down and then your extended family breaks down and you lose your job and you get one big bill that you didn't expect, you could be out.
Like it's not that far for a lot of us, someone has written about the number of steps that it actually takes. And it's not very many for most people to end up in that situation. It's really not. And I feel like, you know, even the reason I was saying that it's just, you might be walking past people that are homeless and it doesn't necessarily, it's always cash. You know, sometimes it's a book and this isn't to make myself feel good, but you know, like you buy socks for people if it's winter or go and buy them some shoes or talk to them, get a coffee and actually treat them as human beings, like hear their story. So I think sometimes people think they need all this cash to make a difference and it can be a lot smaller than that.
That's amazing. And so I guess what's next for you and where can people connect with you if they've heard this today? And I hope that they, you know, take a minute to reach out to you and let you know what they've taken away from it, but what's next for you. And I guess where's the best place to connect. Is it Instagram?
Yes. Instagram or email.
I would love to hear from people. Um, I guess the one goes quite simply. I just hope that we'll continue to play and that as a business at the survival scale. Yeah. Well, thank you so, so much for coming on the podcast. I am literally sipping my tea from the cup so kindly all those years ago and yeah, I think what you're doing is amazing and you're so genuine, authentic, and I really hope that a lot of people listening will get in touch and let you know what they took away. Thanks. Thanks so much for having me. It's been such an honor while you're so welcome.
Bye!
I absolutely loved chatting to her and I know that it would have been quite useful for so many small business owners listening, whether you're in retail, whether you're in the interior design space, whether you're a maker or a wannabe maker, maybe you're working in corporate right now, but your dream is to be a maker. She just gave so many insights and tips as to how her business has been built and how it continues. So if you want to connect with Lijean Beier, make sure you go and follow her over on Instagram - @onegirlstudio is the handle. You can also find out more about the business at onegirlstudio.com.au.
I would also love to know what you took from this. So don't be a stranger. I'm just @mydailybusinesscoach on Instagram. Two things for me that really came out were one - I love the transparency that Lijean had around motherhood and her shop. And she said, I wouldn't have been able to do it with young children. And I've been able to build it into what it is because my family lifestyle has changed as well. And I feel like we don't often hear that. And it's much like the Oprah quote that I said, which is you can have it all just not all at once. And I definitely think you can have it all. You know, I have young children, I have, I work in my business three days a week, but there are other things that I would love to do that right now in this season of life that I'm in. I'm happy to put on hold until I have more time or I'm happy to have different priorities. And I think sometimes we can get fooled into thinking that, you know, we have to be a hundred percent the best parent, the best business owner, the best is the best friend, the best daughter, the best sister. And sometimes we have to come back and think, what are my priorities? What are my values? How can I most live by those? What am I trying to achieve with my business and my life? And then how can those things integrate? I'm not a huge one for work-life balance. I do believe in more like work-life integration that they have to integrate into one another as opposed to it always being balanced. So I loved how honest and open she was about that.
The second thing that I loved is that she really gave us insight into, you know, how does she work with makers? And I absolutely loved, and again, you don't really hear so much about this, that she's such a human person, that she was really, I know that sounds a bit silly, but she's, she was really caring about those makers and really investing in building relationships with the labels that she stocks in her business. It's not like, Oh, that's just nameless, faceless brand.
I actually know the person who made that. And I'm able to tell you about that. And I think that's the magic of small business things you don't get in a department store. You know, if you go into a department store, you talk to the average person in there and you asked for a particular brand half the time. They may not even know what you're talking about. If you go into a small business and you pick up something that's handmade and you asked that the person in the shop about it, chances are, they can tell you the whole story. And that's what we love. We engage with each other through storytelling and also it's good for business. It converts people, it builds up a likeability factor. So I, the way that she talked about the brands that she has in her shop Onegirlstudio. So again, if you want to connect with Lijean Beier, you can do that over on Instagram @onegirlstudio all through the website, onegirlstudio.com.au. And of course we'll link to that in the show notes, you can find a full transcript.
Thanks for listening to My Daily Business Coach podcast. If you want to get in touch, you can do that at mydailybusinesscoach.com or hit me up on Instagram at @mydailybusinesscoach.
