Episode 86: On not being afraid to carve your own path, having confidence in your ideas and living the life you really want; An Interview with Maritza Barone, co-founder of Conscious Conversations
In this interview episode, Fiona connects with an old colleague and friend, Maritza Barone, senior producer, presenter and the co-founder of Conscious Conversations, to talk about her transition from production and media through to becoming her own brand, co-founder of a social enterprise and host of her own well-being podcast,. Things You Can’t Un-Hear. In this episode, Fiona also talks with Marita on how her move to Fiji has been a great decision for her family and why they decided to go.
Topics discussed in this episode:
Introduction
Catching Up
What Maritza Does and he creative ventures
How Covid affected her business
Being in Fiji
Becoming her own brand
Her Podcast
Getting in front of a camera
Getting products into the media
On being approached to talk about their products
Moving to a new place with different cultures
Mentor recommendations
What tools does Maritza use for her business
On partnerships
Doing things differently today
What Maritza is most proud of from her journey
Connecting with Maritza
What's next for Maritza
Connect with Maritza Barone
Episode transcript:
So I wasn't winning at anything and I felt it emotionally and physically, I was cloudy all the time. I was moody, I was sort of just short-tempered with everyone, like at home. And it just wasn't - we weren't winning at life. Let's just say that, like, we were making money. Yes, that was great. But money doesn't buy happiness. I think we've all worked out by now. So I definitely had to make some changes. And the key to that was just sort of following the breadcrumbs to finding what my purpose is and why I actually wanted to use my voice in the first place.
Welcome to April. If you're listening to this in real time, it is Thursday, the 1st of April. I cannot believe we are here. And by here, I mean a full year away from all of the start, at least in Melbourne last year, where I am of covid-19 and the whole oh, my goodness, what's happening? Is this going to last for a while? Will this be over in a few months? It was just such a crazy year last year. And to think that that was a full 12 months ago, sort of on one hand you can believe it because last year just felt like ten years. But on the other hand, you're like, wow, how is the whole year gone bust? And also how resilient and amazing because we've largely, especially where I am in Australia, have gotten through so much of that. And I know for so many small business owners, myself included, there was such a rocky start to 2020. And this time last year, I just remember thinking, how am I going to function? How am I going to help small business owners? And also how am I going to actually physically do my work when I have two kids at home with me? It was just really tough.
So I want to say, if you haven't already, you know, take a few minutes and really acknowledge how far you've come and the different skills that you've had to learn because of what we went through and what a lot of people are still going through. And I know that when I talk about this from my perspective in Australia, I'm incredibly privileged because Australia, in comparison to so much of the world, has really not been impacted anywhere near as much as parts of the US, Europe, UK, parts of South America. We really need to count our blessings. But yeah, I just wanted to start with that because it is April 2021 and in April 2020, a lot of us had no idea of the ground underneath us who is going to stabilise. So just congratulate yourself. You've done incredibly well to get to this point.
So today is a small business interview and I'm really looking forward to hearing people's thoughts on the incredible business that I'm talking to today. I was lucky enough to meet Maritza Barone when we both worked together at First Media. I was at the time the editor of Fashion Journal and David Jones Precinct and Stu magazine, and she came in working with the PR team, PR and media. And just from the first time I met her, I just remember thinking, who is this pocket rocket? She is just hilarious and funny and beautiful, just inside and out and just really a lovely presence to be around. She always had a really positive energy, even if she was sort of, you know, talking about something that wasn't working so well in the business or anything else.
She did it in a way that was sort of, I don't know, just captivated you. And there was just this really great. Yeah, energy is the right word around her. So it certainly probably worked at first media together for maybe two years. She was in a different building to me. So it wasn't like we were next to each other all the time. But we definitely socialise. We had lunch, we had coffees, we we talked. And then as things do, I actually left Fashion Journal and went to work from instead of magazines into book publishing. And Maritza left First Media and she moved into kind of account executive roles and then later on into TV presenting a TV hosting, producing being operations managers for production companies. She also in that time developed her own maternity range, which actually I completely forgot to talk about with her, but I bought when I was pregnant with my first child from the UK, I bought some of her pieces. She had a really great little brand called Rockmelon, and it was kind of these cool pieces that you could wear while you were pregnant, but also could carry over into your normal wardrobe once you had the child. But yeah, she always sort of had that entrepreneurial spirit. And so whilst I saw her doing a lot of kind of TV hosting, I think she hosted what she did, host a show on Foxtel for a long time. She was doing so much in that space. But I think that it was probably always destined that she would really go out on her own just because she she feels like that sort of person that has that drive to want to do things and to do them in a way that really, really aligns with her values. And yeah. So after all of the TV production and hosting a couple of years ago and we talk about this in length in the podcast interview, Maritza decided to create her own podcast, which is called Things You Can't Un-Hear, and that is often ranked really high in the kind of health and wellness space. And that's really about introducing people to ideas and concepts and mindsets that really open up their thought process and their mind to a new world of well-being and to personal life growth. And that is what just lights up. It's really obvious from our chat today.
And obviously, any time you look at social media or anything else that she's really on a mission to help people discover their inner self and to feel confident bringing that inner self out into the world.
About a year ago, a year and a half ago, she co-founded Conscious Conversations, which is really a movement born from a community of minded men and women with a passion for connection and living life on purpose. And as we go through this interview today, she talks about how that came up, how they validated their business idea and what it's like to work with two other people as partners in a business midway through 2020 when most of us were kind of bunking down and thinking, oh, my gosh, life is just, you know, has gotten a whole lot smaller. Maritza and her partner, her husband Charlie, and her two beautiful children decided to expand and they actually moved overseas.
And in this interview, she talks about why that was and what that move has done for her family as a whole.
So I'm really excited to be chatting with Maritza. We have had a history and I just love watching how people have developed and evolved and really stayed true to who they are. And Maritza has definitely done that. So I'm so glad she agreed to come on to the podcast. So here it is, my interview with Maritza Barone, senior producer, presenter and co-founder of Conscious Conversations.
Welcome. Oh, my goodness, how long has it been? How are you?
I am so well, I'm so incredibly happy to be here and it's been I can't even tell you. It's definitely been more than a decade since we have connected. And it feels good to see your face.
Good to see you, too. I was just saying, before we hit record, you don't age, it's just looked the same as when you walked into the general offices. Was it twenty six? I'm so bad at remembering actual dates and years. Everything always seems like a few years ago. But then you realise how long it's actually been and how old we are.
We are so old. I was there 24 to 27 and I feel like you came midway through. Maybe.
I think I was only there for a couple of years, two and a half to three years. I was definitely a newcomer and you welcomed me in with open arms and I sort of always looked up to the to the work you did. And we were just saying before you were in the other section, then we didn't get to work directly with one another. But I always sort of longed to be in that area that you felt like such a cool creative hub that you had put together over the garage.
Really? Yes. We were working in the dungeon. Yes. Actually, that has become a cafe. Now, I don't know if you has it. Yeah, I didn't know that. I'm going to go check it out when I come back to Melbourne. Yeah. Nice little cafe there in Richmond. But we here to talk about your business and I love actually I was just thinking then back to when you first came into F.J. and every time you'd come in, you'd always be uplifting and positive and like bright and bubbly and just like, yeah, I love it. And I can see so clearly now how you doing what you do, because you just have always been like that. So on that note, can you tell us a bit about your various businesses so people would have just listen to the intro and me explaining them, but I'd love to know how do you describe what you do and all the different creative ventures?
Oh, thank you. Firstly, thank you for saying that. I was bright and bubbly and positive.
It's always interesting to hear what people perceive of you. Yeah, it's nice to hear that. So I think if you look at what really mean that. Oh, so I am I always find this question so difficult to answer. It's interesting. I'm not like I sometimes just wish I was a chiropractor and I could just say I'm a chiropractor. So simple to answer the question. But what I do, I've I work in media and production and I am a producer and a presenter. A few years ago, I made a decision to put more purpose behind my work and now my mission and my own personal purpose is to create content that inspires and elevates humanity and creates a positive impact on the world. So all of the content that I build and create myself, I have that purpose in mind and anything that I'm approached on, I consider that and make sure that there's a strong alignment with that before I agree to partner with anyone. So it's my choosing work a lot easier and made creating things a lot easier when it ties back to why you actually want to do something and what the purpose is behind it. And that's all of what you do every single day. So I'm sure that means a lot to to everyone listening here today to also launched a podcast in twenty nineteen. So pretty much exactly two years ago. What's the date was nineteenth of March.
It's a 23 yet. Oh happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to things. You can't end here.
And I know the date because I literally manifested my podcast and I wrote down what I wanted to achieve the thirty days in a journal and I put the date of when I wanted it to launch. And then a year later I actually, I launched the podcast and everything was going really well and I was feeling amazing. And I thought to myself, oh my God, this is actually the show that I had manifested in my journal. So I went back and tried to find the date that I launched this podcast and no word of a lie. It was because in my in my manifestation, it was like the nineteenth of a month in twenty nineteen. It needs to be the nineteenth of the month. And I'd completely forgotten about it. And I had launched this on March the nineteen twenty nineteen.
So this just gives me tingles. I love that stuff. Like I know sometimes people are like, oh and we're going to get more detail with, with when we talk about all the stuff that you do. But yeah, I completely agree. I've gone back to old diaries and being like oh and it was like twenty, sixteen goals for the next three years and. Yeah. Oh wow. Like oh my gosh. Quite a few of them.
Exactly. And you know what, if you're not comfortable with the way we were in the manifestation side of things, you can call it goals. It's sort of the same thing I the same thing. It's setting intentions and setting goals for yourself. And this was just really specific. It had dates and had feelings involved in what the outcome was. So I think that's the main difference with benefits I. He's putting a feeling behind it horribly, so we could I could talk about that for three hours if you wanted to, but that's how the podcast, the other business that I've got is conscious conversations. So it's a social enterprise that launched about a year and a half ago as well, based around wellbeing type events. And our mission with conscious conversations is to spark five million genuine and meaningful conversations over the next five years. So the three of us met my co-founders and I. So it's Ashley and Tamsin and Marissa. Three very difficult names to remember. So I feel sorry for that community having to remember that we came together one day over a chai latte and decided that we were all sort of working towards a very similar goal in our businesses and in our careers and decided that we should perhaps do something together and make a bigger impact with the community that we're trying to build. We launched with this really incredible event, 2020. Actually, it was just before maybe 2020, and we had one hundred people in the room and we were talking about mind body Connection had a panel of brilliant speakers and we walked out of that room going like, there's something here, there's something amazing here. And we saw sort of people come to life and have these incredible deep connexions and conversations with one another. And we realised the world needs more of that. And if we can do our part to spark these conversations and have people feeling seen and heard and leave with a sense of community, then we're we're doing our part for humanity and elevating humanity in some type of way. So it's been been going really well over this time. And covid we launched an event based company right before. So probably wasn't the ideal thing to do. Right. We managed to take it virtual and grow our community and our more globally and internationally and in all areas of Australia. So it worked really well for us from a community building standpoint. Yeah, we're going really strong at the moment. It's nice to see us evolving over this time.
Amazing. I love that you did it with other people, but also that you almost validated it by having that first event and. Exactly. It's going to totally work. And I was actually going to ask, like, how has it impacted your business? And you've touched on that a little bit, but also your life, because, you know, we're going to get into it a bit. But you're not in Australia anymore.
And it's had a huge impact on me, probably in a positive light. I've felt all the emotions of covid. And obviously I was in Melbourne the entire time of lockdown. So it was all up about eight months of lockdown that we were in there to face. I'm sure you felt the pain. I think I had a memory pop up on my Facebook feed yesterday, and it was the first day of home schooling lockdown a year ago today. And it was just like all got deep breaths. It was so triggering, saying that time when we were locked in and just having to retreat back to our own spaces for such a long time, I still get triggered.
Do you still feel triggered by it?
Well, I actually think I feel more this is going to sound a bit weird, but so years and years and years and years ago, round about fashion time, I got a number four tattooed on my wrist. And I often think of like this for directions for seasons. And also it's a reminder that when things are good, you know, enjoy it because they might not be good forever. And when they met, you know, that it would pass. And actually, I got a memory from Facebook as well, the first day, eighteenth of March, twenty twenty, which is when we took Layby out of school. But I actually got in like, wow, you survived. But also we could go back there because at the time I honestly believed, oh, by the time Easter holidays are over, they'll be back at school.
It's just going to be I believe that too.
I had so much travel booked for 2020, I was supposed to be going to the States for a kindness experiment function that I'd been invited with twenty people from around the world to attend the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation conference. Oh, and it was meant to be in April the 20th of April 2020. And when this was all happening in March, I was saying I'll be over by April, over by April and maybe three in time. I wasn't thinking very clearly, but you just it hasn't.
It's totally legal. And also I think it's just that uncertainty like I think a few months or not even a few months ago. What was it a month ago when Dan Andrews, a premier, looked everyone down again just for five days? But instantly I went straight back to like it's not going to be for five days. Yeah, yeah. So it is day four.
So I think everyone felt like that. But it was so good, actually. I felt mixed feelings being here in Fiji and not being with family and friends who were feeling the exact same way that you were. And it hurt. I was feeling the hurt for bit, but thankfully it was only five days. And it seems like life's starting to get back to a bit of normality and you're circulating out into the community a lot more, which is good.
Yeah. And of course, we're so lucky, both of us, just that we're not in the UK or the US or India, Brazil or the different parts.
Exactly right. But in terms of my work, going back to what you asked earlier, I mean, as a presenter, obviously that work has minimised significantly because you can't go out on set and we can go out on set when I'm still in Melbourne. And so a lot of production work would come more significant in my life. And it's been quite great because a lot of the work that I'm producing now can be done virtually. And actually a lot of the presenting work that I'm doing is is able to be done virtually as well. So there definitely has been some amazing opportunities to reach global audiences, not only through conscious conversations, but of course, all throughout any other platforms and and businesses that I tie in my work with. So it's still going there is an element of know. It's not the same feeling when it's virtual. And you being able to actually connect with people physically, it's just a completely different feeling and a completely different take away. But at the moment it's working for us and the connection is still there with people. And if I'm connecting with 20 or 30 people a day through different zoo meetings and conversations, at least I'm having that human connection in some way. And now I think we're just going to have to take it as we get it right. Yeah, totally.
And it's actually interesting in my job for years I've had to explain what it means to people. So when they book and I'm like, so Zoom is just like Skype. And other than that, we have this whole instruction video and now it's kind of nice. So it's almost like I get it. I get it. So obviously we talked about it before that we've met a long, long time ago. And you after you were working in the kind of PR and media space in the same sort of place that I was, but for different projects as well. And then you went down the path of producing content and modelling and doing TV and more. Can you tell us about what it was like moving from the sort of media and production space into really going out as a brand and literally being the face of your business? Like, did you do that and was there a catalyst for you doing that?
I think if there were a few catalysts, definitely I remember just getting to a point of being handed script after script after script and just reading them and memorising these words. That meant absolutely nothing to me and thinking to myself, why? Why am I doing this? What is the like? Why do I want to be on camera? Why do I want to work in this industry? Surely there's more to my voice than just reading outwards that someone else had typed to sell a product on a page. And I just remember really trying to find that purpose behind my work. And I mean, it was a whole range of over a couple of years where I've tried to discover what my purpose in my life is in work and in life. And there would courses and retreats and podcasts and endless books that I had endless conversations and endless mentors that I'd spoken to. And slowly, slowly the pieces started to come together. And I remember also I mean, I worked as a GM for a start up, a global set up, and it grew significantly, quickly. And I had absolutely no work life balance at that time as well. And my kids were really young. My husband was travelling maybe three to four days a week. We were like ships in the night. We never saw each other. And it was just all the conversations were all logistics. You you here for this? Are you home to this? You travelling to this is just life was just like running around in circles. And I just stood back and I was just like, this got to be more to life than this. Like I was I was a shit parent, I was a shit wife, and I was pretty shit at work as well.
So I wasn't winning at anything. And I felt it emotionally and physically. I was cloudy all the time. I was moody. I was sort of just short tempered with everyone, like at home. And it just wasn't we weren't winning at life. Let's just say that, like, we were making money. Yes, that was great. But money doesn't buy happiness. I think we've all worked out by now. So I definitely had to make some changes. And the key to that was just sort of following the breadcrumbs to finding what my purpose is and why I actually wanted to use my voice in the first place. And when you go on this journey of trying to find yourself on a deeper level and going within, I found it really hard to keep these learnings to myself. And I really wanted to start sharing them with other people. And so I did. And it just started resonating with a lot of people. And, you know, they kept reaching out to me. And and I remember I was working in radio at Southern Cross Austereo and otherwise, imagine having my own TV show, like Oprah is one of my mentors. So many people look up to how she has worked in the industry. And I always imagined myself doing a talk show or something like that. But to finance something like that is very difficult to to get the funding behind starting something like that. And when I was working in radio, I kept seeing people create podcasts and I that a podcast, maybe I should do a podcast and doing that was sort of the starting point to being able to share my voice. My opinions, my thoughts, my ideas, my learnings, everything that I gained throughout this journey of trying to sort of find some more meaning into what I was doing, I was able to start sharing it on that medium. And it was and it was working and people were listening pretty much from the get go. And I was like, OK, people want to hear, maybe I should just keep going. And I did. And it's been two years. And then from that, people have just kept coming and coming and coming and wanting to engage with me about the messages that I'm sharing. So it's been an interesting journey.
And I'm I sort of keep my eyes open to who comes and quite aware. And it's like I have a little smile on my face looking at the type of people that I'm attracting sometimes and knowing that I'm definitely on my on my right path. Working doesn't feel like work to me anymore. Working feels like it can't differentiate the feeling between work and play because I actually love what I'm doing so much. And I think that's when, you know, you're you're on purpose, right?
Totally. I feel the same. I've got little chills because so much of what you were saying, I was like nodding along like. Yup, yup. Totally been there. And I loved actually that you and your husband, Charlie, that you guys recorded a podcast for your podcast, Things You Count On. And he and you were both so open about kind of that whole period.
So it was a very difficult thing for him to do. I remember we were sitting we just got into Fiji and I'll explain how we got here and why. Soon we were sitting in our bedroom and I said, But I feel like your journey is going to inspire so many men who are struggling. He was like having major corporate burnout and decided to just make that change and literally rip the Band-Aid off and just totally try something new and been working for a company for close to 20 years and know he'd been through his own journey. You can listen to the podcast in full, but he'd been pretty much like seeing me going through my exploration of purpose. He went through the same that he does things on a much more amazing level than I do. He just goes really hard into learning and is just so consistent with what he learnt. So it's amazing watching him do that. He shared all of that and it was all I remember. We finished recording and he looked at me like, we cannot do that. We feel like there is no way you're sharing that. And I said, no, that was amazing. He was so open, so honest. Like this is going to help someone. It doesn't matter if you're putting yourself out there.
Yes. People haven't heard this side of you before, but I promise you, this is going to help people who are in this situation. And we shared it and I called it a changed man. And he could not believe the amount of phone calls that he got from that podcast, from guys that he worked with, guys that had gone to school with guys that he hadn't seen in years saying, mate, I am I'm feeling the exact same way. I'm so inspired by what you've said. I'm so proud of you for opening up. So he had numerous conversations and he felt so, so proud of himself opening up and just like feeling that discomfort for a while because he knows he now helped people and he was able to connect with people on such a deep level. And I think when we share our journeys and experiences and our pain pain moments and out all of those struggles that we have, it's not just because we want to share it is because it can help someone out there. And that's exactly what it did. So I'm really proud of him.
Yeah, I loved that. And actually, it's funny because sometimes, you know, this doesn't make you feel uncomfortable, but you and your husband, a very good looking couple, always tend always, always seem like get out and about and enjoying life to its fullest. And it was interesting to hear that and be like everyone goes through their problems like everyone. And yeah, I started my book in a similar vein talking about how angry and annoyed and not a great life partner I was when I was working in corporate and my last job because I just didn't enjoy it. And I think if you don't enjoy it, it just suits out every other part of your life, which was absolutely also a big reason why I started my business to help people start their own business and scale. But you have talked a bit about storytelling and obviously you're quite good at it. And that's what your whole career has been on, content and storytelling and kind of sharing the essence of brands and of people. And like you mentioned, aligning that with like what you're doing in your own businesses now and making sure that when you are working for other people, you're working with brands that you respect and you're a complete natural at being in front of people sharing and storytelling. What advice would you give to other people listening, say, small business owners, who perhaps feel like they just can't nail it? They are lacking in confidence. They perhaps feel lacking in skillset. I don't know how to share or even just practical things like they get in front of a camera and they get really nervous, like, is there any way they should start first?
Thank you for saying that, actually, I've struggled with the confidence side of things as well, and I like that you say that you think it comes naturally to me, it hasn't always been. So I've done a lot of work in order to be able to share so confidently. And I still get nervous. I absolutely still get nervous all the time. I don't know. I've found a way to push past it. And I think a lot less what people think, because I know I'm being true to what I'm saying, words that are true to how I actually feel. I'm not making anything up. And it's how I feel. I know there's always I know I'm a good person. I'm not going to say anything to hurt anyone so I can share my voice truthfully and authentically in any way. But I love this question. I love how I mean, I've interviewed hundreds of small business owners and entrepreneurs over the years, and I haven't found one that wasn't nervous in some way. Even even those who do speak on camera or on radio or anything, publicly and constantly, there's still an element of nerves that come in. A lot of the people that I've interviewed really wasn't anything like they were petrified to get in front of the camera. But I think the thing with fighting that and finding the solution to that is about evoking the feelings in people.
So I think when you're when you're sharing your business, when you're sharing what you want to give it from a product or service, share the feeling, share the story behind it, and then people can really connect and resonate with it. Selling is all about storytelling in my mind. I'll give you an example to make it really clear. So this is a friend of mine who launched an active wear and lifestyle brand, and she'd been slogging along for a couple of years trying to get a name out there for this business. And she'd got all this amazing stuff that no one was buying and she was about to give up. She was literally what I don't know what this all is for. I'm just going to go and sell to the op shops and just be done with it. Just before she did, she decided to launch one post. She said to herself, I'm going to do one post on my social media platforms and on my website, and I'm going to tell the story of who I am and why I started this range in the first place. So she spent the time. She crafted this incredible background story to her business. That was the reason why she wanted to do it in the first place and what it meant to her. And she threw one hundred dollars behind the post. She paid a promoted post. The one hundred dollars behind it clicked and put it out there and she went out for a walk with the kids and didn't think about it for a couple of days, jumps back online, gets to her emails and she had like fifteen orders of product being ordered online. And she's like, oh my God, what have I done differently? And I said to her, you should who you are, you should. The story behind the brand. You shared the feeling like the hot behind the brand. And that's what people want to buy. They don't want to buy a pair of leggings that look cool. They do. But if they do that and also buy a story and make make someone feel good in the process and and know that they're connected with a brand on that level as well, it feels so much better. Right. And it cuts through your marketing as well. So, I mean, that's a huge example. And then just something so small of just being so open and honest and authentic about who you are and why you started something can create so much of a difference in connecting with your audience.
Oh, I completely ten thousand percent agree. And actually, just a quick tip for anyone listening. Sometimes I'll have clients that say I can't write that story or I don't know where to begin or whatever. And I often either just send them a Google sheet with like a bunch of questions or I say get someone to interview you. So, like, get me a friend to, like, go into a magazine, find the questions they would ask and then ask you those questions. Just record you talking naturally because that's going to be the most natural and you'll be amazed at the story that you can craft from just your answers even.
Exactly. And, you know, build a story around your business. Like I said, I mean, people don't want to hear about your product directly. They want to hear about you, how you solved a problem in your life, perhaps with your product or your service, and then how they can go on to then solve that problem in their lives. That's that's the bottom line for me.
I think probably I agree. And also just people get so worried about all this competition. Like your friend might say, there's a million and one athletic brands out there or athleisure with, but there's only one of her. And it sounds so cheesy, but that's the point of differentiation. It's you quite often. Exactly.
And yeah, just give it a go.
Yeah. And speaking of giving it a go and getting your stuff out there, you have also worked in PR and like you said, you've been asked by brands to come in and be the model for them or talk about the product or work with them as a producer and an influencer. I don't know if you hate that term. Yes, but are there any trade secrets that you can share about kind of getting products into media or getting your personal brand out there? If someone is listening who wants to do something similar to you? How did you know I was going to hate that term? I feel like a lot of people who influence don't like the influencer, so.
Definitely don't see myself as that, but my tips don't try and sell to people, because I can see straight through that, I can see straight through you trying to sell to them directly and also believing what you're promoting is a big thing. Don't just take on anything and try and sell it because you're going to get paid for that. Try and take on things that you actually believe in and that work and resonate with you on so many different levels. Otherwise, I would suggest not even bothering partnering with anyone unless they align to your beliefs and your values.
Yep. Thank you for that. And then on the flip side, is it the same like if someone was like, oh, I'd love someone like Maritza to talk about my blah, blah, blah, like, is there a good way to approach people like you is? There are, I'm sure, these crappy ways to do it too. But is there anything that you look at for is it like you've talked about the fact that they align to what you are talking about already?
Yeah, I think that's a really good question and asked me that before. But I think on my website, I've now made it really clear on what the important aspects are to what I do. And I think that now attracts a lot of the people that come to me. So I think having having that clearly defined on all of your platforms, whether it be social media or on your website, that will attract the right people into your life. And people come across on DMS, on Instagram or they'll email me or that would be a phone call. It doesn't matter how they approach me, but if their underlying purpose is similar to mine, that's when I'm like, yep, that's a no brainer. Absolutely. I'll go for it. Yes. I think making sure all of your your keywords and all of your platforms are tied in perfectly with what you're trying to attract.
Oh, I love that advice.
Thank you. So we touched on it before that you are talking to us in a pretty spectacular part of the world. And when we were on the video just before I hit record, you wearing a singlet and talking about how hot it is. Lovely and surrounded by palm trees because you and your whole family moved to Fiji in the middle of a pandemic, which seems kind of crazy.
Yep. That's what everyone was saying when we were telling them.
And it looks so beautiful, though, on Instagram. And we'll, of course, link to that in the show notes so you can go and feel jealous as well. But what prompted that and what has it been like sitting up again from scratch? I mean, we had a very small well, quite different. We went to London, met my husband and lived there for four years and I'd gone to London before earlier. But London is very similar to Australia speaking the same language. It's very similar culture. And we didn't have kids when we started. So it seems quite hard from the outset. So what advice would you give to someone listening who might want to do the same? And also, I guess the big thing, why did you do it?
Yeah, well, we were sitting together, so, you know, how Melbourne had to down periods and we had three weeks in between the lock downs and we thought it was all over and we were like the kids back at school and we survived. We did so well. So we sent the kids to school at the end of the first lockdown and we said to each other, let's go to lunch and celebrate the fact that the kids are back at school and we can now have a uninterrupted conversation. So we went to lunch and we got a glass of wine age and we were just sitting there having a chat and we still can't remember who said it. But we have friends who live here in Fiji and we've been here a lot of times before and stayed with them. So we've seen the lifestyle that they live and we can't remember who said it. But one of us said, why don't we just go to Fiji for a year and say, just I'd been wanting to move somewhere for a long time in my head. It was more like New York or Singapore, Hong Kong, like I'm a city girl. But I imagined in my in my mind. But that was not going to happen for a long time based on what was going on around the world. And so we literally threw the idea out there and we talked about it that entire lunch, like we were so excited and we'll brainstorming how we're going to do it and, you know, if it's ever going to happen.
And we were like Googling properties and we were just getting so excited.
And from then till so that was June and November we left. So we didn't actually know if we were leaving until the day that we left because we didn't get that stamp of approval to come into the country to at the airport. So it's incredibly stressful. We'd moved out of a house we had rented our house at. Our lives were packed into nine suitcases. The kids left school like everything was just a big question mark. And we were praying every single day that things would work out. And as we got to the checking, yep, we got the stamp of approval and everything worked out perfectly. And we got here and it's been four and a half months since we've been here. We came here with zero plan, absolutely no plan. We had a few life savings that we had intended to use while we were trying to figure out our next plan of attack. And I've been successfully running my businesses from here on line, which has been a life saver for both of us and our family. It's been amazing being able to do that from somewhere else, working from wherever I like to call it, and that whole digital nomad lifestyle. And at the moment I'm sitting on my bed. Sometimes I'll sit outside, sometimes I go in a cafe and work. But I'm really enjoying that flexibility in that variety of life and just working in thongs and a singlet every single day. It's been amazing that it's been hard and it's been amazing at the same time, like the kids have had their ups and downs, not so much the little one. She's just thriving here. The older one is missing her friends a lot and has the ups and downs and wants to go back home, but then loves it. And so it's been that support for her. And just we've become so much closer with the kids because with spending so, so much time with them than we did in Melbourne, we were so busy back at home, so, so busy running around. Like I said to you before, we hit playing the I was just chasing at constantly and running from school event to after school activities to work at it. It was just non-stop and we didn't didn't have time to actually spend with our kids on a different level. Even last night I was just sitting outside with my 11 year old and we were just having such a nice conversation. And it's because we have the time. I don't know, we just feel so we've slowed down a lot since we've come here. And life is very different. It's it's literally an island with eight hundred thousand people, eight hundred and fifty thousand people. And we're in Nandy, which is the tourist side of Fiji. So Suva is the city, which is really hasn't been affected too much by everyone, sort of the majority of people of locals live there. And it's the city hub and the business hub of Fiji. But we're on the other side and it's really quiet here because this is where the tourists will come to. And it's it's hard seeing all of the results. So quiet and longing for people to come through the doors and people are struggling because financially it was built so strongly on tourism in Fiji and that's been the main the main issue and impact of it here it's been has been the lack of tourism and the borders being closed health wise. Thankfully, it hasn't been a huge issue because I don't think the health system here would really cope with a big influx of covid-19 patients. The hospitals aren't really great. So thankfully, it hasn't been a big issue with transmission here. And it's been there's no cases for the last three hundred sixty something days over a year that hasn't been AKCA out of quarantine. So they've managed that really well. But in terms of us as a family, I mean, we honestly haven't been this happy so long. We just feel, we feel at peace and I don't know how long it's going to last. And it's going really well at the moment, but I'm feeling really happy to be here right now.
Oh, my gosh.
I can just feel how many people will be listening to this going, oh, and then Googling Fiji to move to Fiji. And has it been hard to make friends look and also, I guess, do people socialise? I think before you were talking about how this kind of thing hasn't really impacted them too much. But you do have a curfew there.
Yeah, we've got to live at 11:00 pm curfew. So 11:00 pm to 4:00 AM. And just quietly, I absolutely love it because I know I'm going to be in bed by eleven thirty. It's brilliant.
I don't think I'd love it if I was twenty or twenty five years old, but I'm loving it at this age. You know, I think that's a lot to do with crime because a lot of people are financially struggling right now. So it's not it's sort of a transmission type of curfew, I believe. I think it's more crime focussed. So just to make sure the streets are safe and there's no petty crime going on out there in those hours in terms of making friends, we've been really lucky. We had great friends here that live here and have been brought up here. So we live in the same street as them and they've really taken us under their wing and introduced us to all of their friends. And it's been amazing. And plus many people with like three children. It's so easy to do. It's wonderful, actually. So when you kids are in school, you know, meeting the other parents and connecting with them, it's been really great. I said to my sister the other day when I was chatting today, I was like, I actually feel like I've got the deep connexion with people now. Like at the start, it was very surface level. And what do you do and what did you come in? All of those standard questions you ask when you trying to get to know someone? And now the relationships have become deeper and it feels it feels a lot less superficial than what it was when we first came here. So there are a lot of experts who, believe it or not, to who said they wanted to come four years and seven years on the still here.
Wow. Well, I've been following you on Instagram and saying that you're also seem to be talking to a lot of people there that also work in a similar kind of place of wanting to help others. And and I've seen some very nice looking charity events and stuff that you went do. And it seems like it is just a really purposeful group as well.
It is. And a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners around here, Nandy as well. So it's really nice to connect with those mines and have them as my mentors as well. Yeah.
And speaking of mentors, great Segway. So you've been doing this for a long time, but what do you think has helped you most with building these different businesses? Do you have any mentors or.
I think maybe five years ago someone asked me who my mentors were, and I literally I was like, I don't I can't think of anyone. Why can I never find a mentor?
That was like I literally had no idea of how to select or find a mentor. But then and someone said to me, they would like you find your mentors would come to you. And now when I think about it, like through the books and courses that I've done. Lisa Nichols, I did a Lisa Nichols course. You can look her up. She's incredible. But she she pushed me to take action. So it was doing her course was literally like two hands behind my back and pushing me. She would set dates and goals and strategies on when we had to take action on what we wanted to achieve. And that was like so uncomfortable. But it really, really helped me and push me to take action. I think Michael Singer, Michael Asinger and Oprah taught me to surrender. So reading the surrender experiment and and just listening to Oprah, I think one day she said you can do everything in your power to reach your goal. So educate yourself, plant the right seeds, get the right training, get the right experience. And then once you've done everything in your power, stand back and surrender and just let it come to you. And I absolutely loved that because that is what I do. From now on. You can't you can't just surrender and things will just magically happen. I believe that's very lucky people that may happen to you, but that doesn't happen to me. I took that advice really strongly and I use that every single day now. So I just do everything in my power, make sure every box and then you let it go. Over push anything, just make sure you've done everything in your power to to reach those goals in terms of our minds and our thoughts. I think Joe Dispenza and Louise Hay were probably big ones for me. They taught me that our thoughts create our reality. So I think that positive mindset always been a big thing for me and the power of positive thinking and being optimistic, that really works for me. And if you're thinking something horrible is going to happen and and if you're really crap at something, then, you know, that's that's how it usually ends up rolling out. So positivity and optimism of big things in my life and what I try to teach my family and kids.
I love that it's funny you mentioned the ladies, hey, I found her book in an op shop right after my mom had passed away and then I was going through my mom's stuff and I found all these notes she'd written on the radio and recording and stuff.
And I was like, oh, my gosh. You know, she was you know, she's been around since the 70s. Yeah. Yeah. And it was just a weird, weird kind of those moments where you're like, oh, yes, this is I'm on the right path. This is what I'm supposed to be.
She is a pioneer of that type of thinking. Yeah.
So and I love also that idea of like, you do everything and then you surrender because I feel like I mentioned it in my book as well. And I call it Manifestation Station. And I often say people sit down at the station station, not necessarily manifestation, but they expect a train full of their goals to come along without them doing anything. And I'm all for manifesting vision boards and stuff. But I'm also like, you need to do the work and then the universe. Me too. But yes, I love that idea of like do everything and then surrender.
But don't just sit and think you can't can't completely surrender and just go lie on a tropical island and do nothing we wish we could.
And so the other thing I wanted to ask you is especially because you're in Fiji and you're working remotely for lots of what you're doing, what tech tools or platforms, could you just not live with that when it comes to running your businesses and your podcasts?
Yeah, obviously. Zoom big one. We're using it right now as well. So that's just been an absolute lifesaver in terms of the other platforms that I use. Definitely Google Drive keeps us all keeps our teams and everyone on the same page with all of the changes that are going on and doing that live. That's been amazing for uploading files as well and getting to people really quickly. Even though the Wi-Fi here is incredibly slow and seems to be quite effective in doing that and transferring files at the same time. So that's been my absolute life saver in terms of scheduling for Instagram we use later. So that's been a really effective tool and we use humanity as well to schedule events. They're an amazing platform to to share events, their social enterprise as well. And they're incredible people behind that. So they're probably the main ones that we use and of course, MailChimp to distribute information to our community. The big ones for me, definitely zoom in. Google Google Drive.
Yeah, we have the same ways. Obviously, like you said, we're on Zoom now and we were using Dropbox. And then in the last we were using both Google Drive and Dropbox and in the last kind of 12 months, trying to move everything to Google Drive, because I do feel like it just sinks quicker. I do tonight. I just feel like with Dropbox, sometimes people be like, oh, that link hasn't synched or this hasn't. I just feel like there's more issues that come up with Dropbox and I prefer to keep everything in one place.
I think it's a lot cleaner and tidy. I'm not I'm not the most organised of people. I'm trying to really work on that. So the other thing that I actually can't live without my co-founders, self-conscious conversations.
Those two are the most incredibly organised, efficient people that I've ever worked with. So they've been absolute lifesavers for me. So big shout out to those legends.
And actually, can I ask you a question about that?
Did you at the three of you like you went and did the event and kind of I'm sure there was a lot of learning from that first event in terms of who's going to do what and roles and responsibilities. But I know that often I hear from say someone will contact me and be like, oh, I want to do business coaching. Actually, it's about my business partner. Like, we have got to a stage where we just communication breakdown. And often they've never actually sat down at the start and sort of figured it out. You're going to do I'm going to be. How has it worked for the three of you if you don't want to question?
No, no, no, no. That's a really good question. I've been in partnerships before where it hasn't maybe worked out because we're too similar in terms of our skill set.
When you partner with people with the exact same skill set, which is quite a common thing to do if you think about it, because you like you so like minded that you like, let's partner up and you know, the two of us together is going to create double impact. But really, that didn't work for me very well. So what the beauty of working with Tam and Asheville's was that we all came from quite different backgrounds, but we had a similar goal in mind. So ashes and mindfulness meditation and yoga facilitator, she's got a marketing and advertising background. And then Tam is a senior events producer and also has an ad agency background. And then I was sort of the face and the the speaker side of things and then the media and production side of side of the coin. And and so each of us brought something very different to the table and what someone was really good at someone else selected. So I think that is like the perfect marriage when it comes to looking at finding your your perfect partners when it comes to starting a business together. That's been a real pivotal thing for us that has worked really well. Is the different skill sets in marrying them in together?
I love that because I do agree with you that often, you know, you think that. I'll think like you, they'll act like you and even I have to get people to do 16personalities.com. Oh, wow, I haven't done that. I'd like to do that. You should definitely do it. And you should get the other two to do it as well. Because the reason that I even started that was a friend of mine and I had done these events together. And one particular event kind of we both got to the end. We were both a bit short with each other and a bit like, OK, I thought you would do it this way. I would do it that way. And we my friend, she did it, not me. She was like, we need to hash this out like something's going on here. And so we sat down and had breakfast and we both did this extreme personality style contest. And we realised we come for two things from very different ideals. She's led by certain things that I'm not led by. So if she sees an opportunity, she just goes after it. Whereas I'm like, oh, no, everyone needs to be consulted. And so we just neither of us was wrong or right, but we just had very different personalities and didn't realise that because we were good friends, we were like, oh, no. And I was like, no, she'll totally do the same way. And she was thinking the same with me. So, yeah, I think it's really important what you said, to look at where the skill gaps and then how could that person fit in versus the two of you having the same skills?
Yeah, I think communication is key, too. I mean, we've definitely had a testing moments and disagreed on things, but with a business called conscious conversations, you have to be open.
You absolutely have to be open. You can't hold your emotions back. And we share openly and fairly and we held space for each other to do so. I think that's really important, especially in this company, which is that's the reason why we exist.
Yeah, I love it. So is there anything you would do differently if you were starting out now?
Look, no, I would say definitely not. I mean, the only thing I probably would do differently was is to sort of take the plunge into following my dreams, because I, I have set on things a lot in my life. And like I said, I've been wanting to travel and live abroad for twenty years. So it took me a long time to sort of get the courage to do it. And I read this quite the other day and I shared it on my Instagram and it said, in the end, we only regret the chances we didn't take the relationships we were too afraid to have and the decisions we waited too long to make. So that's the only thing that you can regret, right. Is not not going for it completely.
Oh, yeah, I really love that.
And it's just yeah, it's very I feel like it's such a great way to live your life because you don't have that much of it. It goes by so quickly. Yeah I know. How am I. Forty one already. I know I was. You look so young but also I actually just bought this product the code for K I think that's the brand name anyway. It was like something that came up on Instagram but I was like oh the algorithm knows me so well. It was, it's, I've seen lots of people do it but it's this print you can buy, you can put in your birth date and you can put in either eighty years or one hundred years. I put in one hundred years because I'm optimistic that I'm going to live that long. And what it does is it actually sends you all four thousand squares and it shows you how many you've lived, how many is still to go.
Oh wow, that's intense.
Yeah. But I really like it because I went to a conference once and this guy called the bucket list guy or something and he put up something and said, if you're in your 30s, this is basically you've done half of your life. And I was like, oh my gosh. And it's a bit morbid, but it's also both of my parents have passed away. I've seen first hand. It's it's not forever. This is going to end and you want to do what you most feel called to do and leave a mark when you leave. So I'm that really morbid to to bring it down. But it's reality, isn't it?
I love that. And, you know, it's just inspiring to go for it. Just go for it. Just start plant one seed and see what happens.
If that's that lingering, you know, passion in your mind, that something that you haven't you haven't you think you don't have the time to do it because you're far too busy, but maybe just do one little thing towards that and see what happens and then follow the next little thing towards it and see what happens. And then the like.
Start small, but start. Just stop. Yes, to start. And on that note, what are you most proud of from your journey in small business so far?
I love asking that question. We asked that question in our conscious conversations sessions. What are you most proud of? Is such a good question. I'm most proud of actually going for what I wanted to do and having the courage to do that and having the courage to stand up after every failure that's happened in my life and not feeling humiliated by it and just continuing and continuing and continuing and being consistent with what I'm trying to achieve. I'm also really proud of the messages that I get from people when they've listened to my podcast or been a part of some of our events. And it's shifted them in some way. It's changed them in some way for the better. That makes me feel incredibly proud.
Yes, I agree with that. And it's such a great feeling like that's all you're doing, all the stuff that you're doing to help people. And so on that note, where can people connect with you? Because I'm sure people listening to this. I'm sure it's OK for me to say that I'm sure Maritza would love you to connect with her and let her know what's resonated most with you. So with the best channel is that Instagram is.
Yeah, probably Instagram is where you'll find the day to day activities, a bit of an overshare. I'm trying to work something out there, but it's that's @maritza_barone.
And I've just launched a new website, which literally today, so you can find me there as well. It's separation dot com. I'd love to have a chat. I'd love to see if any of this resonated with you. And if I don't wants to come to Fiji, just let me know because I would like some friends here.
You coming, Fiona? Oh, don't tell my husband. He will be there in a second. As long as the surf can be surfing, you can. Absolutely can. You'll be like, yeah, let's leave tomorrow. We're going to go and have some surfing lessons over Easter, actually. So I'll send you some pics. Yes. Actually he proposed to me in Fiji. Oh, really beautiful little island. This little space where this woman had met her husband, who was Fiji, and in Sweden, where she was from. And then they got married and then he was like, come back. And you realise he was part of this, you know, this kind of family that owns this huge plot of land in Ireland. And they created a bed and breakfast and. Yeah.
Oh, my God, how beautiful. I remember when you started dating this international model and she's just like, oh, just by the way, this is my new boyfriend.
Oh, that's so funny. Yes, those are the memories I remember starting at FESTINGER, actually, that's how we met, because I had to take photos of, like, good looking people at big day out festival. And I took all these photos of him and just kept my drawer. I do the casting director that dated the model. Well, pretty much. But he wasn't a model then. He just I think people had said, oh, you should not use the model. But anyway, we've mentioned how people can reach out to you. Where can they go to listen to a podcast? Of course, we'll link to all of these. But is there anything else going on sort of soon that you'd love people to know about?
There's always something going on with me. I honestly cannot stop. I need to sell myself out.
But there's definitely quite a few things on the burner at the moment that are going really well, hoping to produce something here in Fiji on television. So stay tuned. I can talk about it yet, but it's just something that I've been working on for quite a while and I'm really excited about it. So, yeah, there's definitely a lot happening in the next couple of months.
Amazing. Well, we will link to that. We'll link to conscious conversation and also your podcast Things You Can't. Yeah. Thank you so much for joining me and taking time out of your tropical lifestyle over the to chat.
Absolute pleasure. And hopefully we won't leave it this long before our chats again.
I know. Well, hopefully maybe we'll get over to Fiji for holiday when things open up, the doors open, the doors open for you. Thanks. Bye, darling.
How lovely is. She's lovely now, as I remember her on her first day back in gosh, it must have been like 2004 or 2005, but yeah, absolutely love chatting to her and really, really inspired by her bravery in making the decision to move to a completely different country in the middle of a pandemic. So I'm sure many of you listening may have more questions about what it's like and may even be thinking that could be a destination for our family to move to. So if that is the case, make sure that you get in touch with Maritza.
And of course we'll link to that in the show notes. You can also find out more about what she's up to at www.maritzabarone.com/, as well as check out her well-being podcast, things you can't hear wherever you usually listen to podcasts.
And if you are interested in understanding what's happening with conscious conversations and where you can find an event, you can definitely go over and follow them.
On Instagram, it's underscore conscious conversations. One word or check out the website, which is Conscious Conversations Live.
So two things really stood out for me from that conversation with Maritza. The first is her willingness and I guess eagerness to really create products and businesses that she could one hundred percent get behind. And also her enthusiasm and courage really to step out and say, you know what, I'm only going to work with brands that really, really align to what I want to see happen in the world and to my values. And you can definitely see examples of those brands over at www.maritzabarone.com as someone in her space of TV production, TV hosting modelling, it could be very easy to just look at the pay packet and what she's getting versus what this brand or business is giving out to the world. So I really commend her for doing that.
It takes guts to do that in a position that she's in. The second thing that I really found interesting, and I think it's going to help other people listening to this, particularly who are going into partnerships or potentially already are in partnerships or thinking about collaborating on events or other things is the idea of not always looking for somebody who's exactly like you, looking for people who have the skills that you lack and vice versa. And I love the way she talked about her co partners with conscious conversations and that they really, really complement each other, but they're not in competition with each other. And I think it's that latter part that I've seen break down partnerships with is sort of an underlying competition that's not healthy or that's not talked about. And so people end up kind of resenting one another or feeling like you're getting to do the fun part. And I'm getting to have to do the kind of tedious parts of the business. I loved how much she really delved into the three of them sitting down talking about what they could bring to it. And then, you know, one step further, validating that by actually creating an event and seeing what worked well, what didn't work well, and seeing as well that there was a huge market and a real hunger for what conscious conversations is doing. So that is it for today's podcast.
A full transcript of this, along with all of the links that you'll need to contact Maritza or get involved with Conscious Conversations. And you can find that at mydailybusinesscoach.com/podcast/86.
If you know someone who would benefit from this episode, please hit the share button. And if you have benefited from this episode, I would love it so much. If you could take ten seconds and leave a review for us on iTunes just really, really helps everyone else find this podcast as well and hopefully help more small business owners.
Thanks so much for listening. Bye.
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.
