Show Transcription: 

Jo

Our lovely guest today is the wonderful Donna Han. So here's a little bit about Donna. dipping your toe into business at the age of 19 and the children's party entertainment industry, Donna's first business paid her way through university in Western Australia. After a long overseas, adventure and brief hiatus in the fly and flat construction industry, she made her now-husband Troy and moved to Queensland, which she now calls home. After the birth of her first son, Donna saw a gap in the market as a new parent and felt inspired to open a business combining her love of the great outdoors and innovative family camping products. After a few years of building an online shop and local retail store, Donna sold the business and the family expanded with the arrival of his second son in 2017, with a three year old and six-month-old daughter returned to her love of performing arts and opened a dance school, which quickly grew to 300 students tuning a six-figure profit and supporting a staff of 10 to 15 employees. It was highly successful, but came with an unbalanced load of late nights a heavy dose of mama guilt, overwhelm and burnout. That was until Donna began to change the way she did business. Now strategically shaped as a business by design. Her six-figure business runs seamlessly without her and she has a beautiful balance between business, family and self-care. Taking the learnings and experiences of starting and growing three successful businesses. One three kids two with kids in tow, Donna street she is his strategies for being intentional and shaping a business, where to spend your time and how to minds how to mindsets you choose can have an incredible impact on your lifestyle and success of your business. She is the creator of she's in business and ready to rise online course. And Donna has built a community of moms who are made for more I can't wait to speak to her.

 

Well, I'm so excited. today. We've got Donna Han joining us on the Business and Sequins podcast. I'm so excited to have you here. Donna. 

 

Donna

I'm really thrilled to be here. Jo, this is great. Thanks for inviting me. 

 

Jo

Well, thank you for coming along. Now, I did a quick, I did a quick intro of your bio just at the beginning of the year, but I would love you to be able to talk to the listeners and tell the listeners just a little bit about yourself in your own words, and tell us what you're up to.

 

Donna

Okay, well, my name is Donna Hann, I have two businesses. So I have bricks and mortar business, which is a Dance Studio, which has been running now for about six years, very different to running an online business, which is my second business, which I only started about 12 months ago, that's called She's in Business. And I run a online course, that's called Ready to Rise. And the whole purpose behind it is to really empower women to be able to run their own business, juggle a family, and try and get more of a balance between, you know, being that savvy entrepreneur, you know, being more present with the people around you, the ones that mean the most to you, and also having time for self care. So that's really the backbone and the purpose with the online business. But I think ultimately, I feel like I was probably put on this planet to instill confidence in people in general, because with my dance's studio, I started that to build confidence in young women using dance as kind of like the tool to do that. But there's so much more that happens underneath that. And then I think with the online stuff, it's about empowering and building confidence in women, in balancing business and family. So I think that that's my purpose of being on the planet, at least what I've discovered so far about my journey of being here.

 

Jo.

I love your purpose. I absolutely love your purpose, because you're so right at bricks and mortar business compared to an online business to absolutely different businesses. So what made you go online, rather than just, you know, buying another bricks and mortar business?

 

Donna

Um, well, I think, well, if I, if I go back a little further, before that, when I started, it's called Dance Kicks, my bricks and mortar business. Like I said, it was to build this super friendly, inclusive, nurturing dance experience for people to grow their confidence, and learn social skills, and all of that kind of stuff. And pretty much from the day that we opened the doors, it was really, really successful. And I'm very grateful for that. Like, we had 300 students, two locations, a team of teachers, and it happened really, really quickly. And through that, being such a hands-on kind of business as well, because it's very, very service, obviously service-based. And so I quickly found myself feeling quite overwhelmed and stressed. And I had a three-year-old and a six-month-old at the time that I opened the business. And it just, it wasn't that easy to juggle, but I knew that a stay at home mom, it just wasn't enough. For me, I tried it on a few occasions, this is the I'd actually had two previous businesses before the dance studio. So I tried like not, you know, close that business or sell that business, and I'll just be a mum for a while. And it just, it was just never enough for me. You know, and know that you've said this before to Jo, like, I just kind of felt a little bored by it. And so, you know, they would sleep, I would work and then you know, the, the babysitter would turn up or my husband would get home from work. And I'd high five them and go out to teach at the studio. And then I'd come home from there and be back doing the behind the scenes admin stuff till the wee hours of the morning, and then I get up and do it all again. And so, you know, I was just absolutely on that path to burnout. And the other thing that was happening, like that the overwhelm that was becoming quite suffocating was also affecting my relationships as well. And so, you know, I was exhausted my relationship was starting to fray with my husband. And I was lucky that the dance studio wasn't my first business because I knew that I needed to change the way that I did business. So I started to, like, reshape what I was doing and put systems in place and you know, start to delegate and get people in the right seats within my team juggle all of that sort of stuff around and, you know, paid attention to my profit and loss and I started to see the benefits of that happening where profits were going up and stress was going down and that was really, really great. So it's all starting to work really, really nicely but the had been, I guess, in pretty major cracks in my marriage over that time. And it wasn't just from me running a business. Like there was other stuff involved in that too. Like my husband works really, really big hours. He's a shift worker. So no weeks ever really the same whether he's on days or nights like it's, it's, it's pretty, we manage a lot within our little family. And we also live away from our family. So we don't have grandparents on hand, his family's in Victoria mines in Perth, and we live in Queensland. So like it, you know, I think a lot of families go through it. When your kids are particularly small, you know, it's really challenging to do all of that sort of stuff. And I think we both got to the point where we realized we weren't living our best life. And I think sorry, this is a really long winded answer to your question. 

 

Jo

It's a great answers, you're giving great stuff here, Donna.

 

Donna

The other thing that has so this is a few years ago. Now, the other thing that happened around that time was, I read this book, and it was called one life. And it was written by a lady called Tina tower. And you and I have both gotten to know her a lot since then. But back then I'd only just kind of gotten to know her, she just come into my orbit. And it was really impactful and super polarizing, because it was how I was feeling like knowing that I wasn't living my best life. And through reading that book, it kind of introduced me to the online business model. And it just sparked a few ideas in my mind. But I didn't take action on them straightaway, they were just there. And then I think the big pivotal moment came for me was March, April of the last year 2020 when I found myself in a little bit of a pickle. So COVID hit. And in Australia, around that March, April time, we were forced to close the studio for three months. And we took all of our classes online, also, so that was pretty stressful. Also, at that time, my husband and I separated. So there was like a, you know, within a week of COVID happening, we decided to live in separate homes. And that lasted for about five months. So it was really crazy. When I think back to that time, I actually don't really know how I got through it, to be totally honest with you. So yeah, and I'd been thinking for a long time about the business, the online business side of stuff. And I decided that, you know, I needed to somehow create a different revenue stream, because my bricks and mortar business was closed. And I didn't know how long that would go on for. I also didn't know whether it was a thing that would come and go over the next couple of years, which kind of has. So I thought, oh, maybe the online stuff could be something that I could look into as a separate revenue stream. But also, I found myself facing being a single mum. And so I needed to have income that would also survive a pandemic for, keeping my children and keeping myself. And so yeah, I guess that was kind of how it sort of forced me to go, Okay, I need to do something, what am I going to do. And I knew after going through, you know, reshaping my business, to be much more independent of me being the linchpin in it, and also being in the position where my husband and I were, you know, really at this horrible point where we knew we didn't want to separate but we just ignored the cracks for too long. I wanted to be able to provide some online support to women in business, juggling a family that could really help them. And so that's pretty much how it kind of came about, really, I was sort of pushed into it a little bit. But I think the purpose Like I said, I think my purpose on this planet is to help other people, be it young women who are growing up to be, inspired empowered women or, you know, helping those who do feel like they're made for more to do what they were born to do.

 

Jo

Well, Donna, your story is just incredible. So can I just circle back a bit? So did you start She's in Business in that five months that your husband and yes, gracious? Yeah. Wow. So you've got a bricks and mortar business that is shot and not bringing an income because of COVID. You've just separated with your husband. So you've also taken on being a single mom and kids at home all the time because I'm assuming you were in lockdown. 

 

Donna

Yeah

 

Jo

And starting a business. 

 

Donna

Yeah.

 

Jo

And credible. Really incredible because that is the time when most people would like to just curl up and lay on the floor and think Poor me, 

 

Donna

yeah, I did do a little bit of that. 

 

Jo

Not completely. So good. But oh my goodness, Donna, that is incredible that you were able to soldier on and just have that mindset and mentality to be able to not just get through your day to day stuff, but also start creating and have creativity in that mindset as well. Because creativity in that mind sees in that situation that you were in is, would be quite hard.

 

Donna

Yeah, I think in some ways that actually got me through it, though, because I had something else to kind of focus my attention on a little bit. So I think in that way, it was really good for me, but yeah, there were days where, yeah, like, if it hadn't been for some really key people, some really great friends that lifted me through that, you know, I had those moments, which I think a lot of business owners do, where you just want to give up and you just want to close the doors and, you know, go and get a job somewhere and not have to be the one that is the face of the business and be the one that you know, the buck stops with you. 

 

Jo

Where did you find that strength? Where did you find it? Where has that strength come from Donna to be able to pull on that and get through that adversity where we come from.

 

Donna

I know, I think like my, I watched my parents build a business. So my way emigrated from the UK when I was about six. And I watched them move countries away from their families with, you know, they had nothing basically, and they built a business from nothing. And then I also watched it fall apart when they divorced. So I don't know whether that kind of pushed me on to be like, no, don't give up, like, you know, and I'm from a divorced family, and it was not a nice divorce that my parents went through. I didn't want that, for my kids. And so, you know, my husband and I, we worked really hard, we went to counselling, and we worked really hard on, you know, understanding and communicating with each other on a much better level. And I can say now that like, we are healthier than ever and more in love than ever. So I'm just, I think, you know, the challenges that we sometimes faced with, even at the time, it feels like the worst thing ever, and you do want to crawl up into a corner and you know, just totally shut the world out. But I look back on those things now. And they were the best things that could have happened to us, like we are so close, now, we value each other so much more we we see things from each other's perspective, in a totally different way than we used to, and we would never have known how to do that, or, you know, be where we are now if we hadn't have gone through what we've been through.

 

Jo

I think because, um, you know, I think sometimes when you can come through things, adversity like that, it does make you stronger as a unit. You know, I know, for my husband and I, when we went through COVID, he went from being away two weeks out of the month to being home all of a sudden, 24/7 with me and the children. And through that whole COVID time, you know, we were pivoting our business. And I thought to myself, you know, we're not actually going to make this if we don't get some outside help. And so my husband and I also went to marriage counselling so that we could, you know, figure out how we both fitted back in together, and we still go to work every six weeks now we rock on up to there to our council of a marriage counsellor. And I tell you like you don't know, we've never been so strong. And we've never been more in love with each other just really taken, you know, we have a lot more grace for each other now than we ever have and our whole relationship. And I think it's because, you know, we just accepted that we did need, we do need help. It's like being in business, when you need help you go and you get a coach or you get a mentor. And being in a relationship together you when you need help, you've got to go and you've got to the right experts who were there who knows who can give you the tools in order to be able to make your relationship better. So I just I think you're amazing Donna, that you and your husband have now gone off you've had help from a counsellor and now you are just stronger and better than ever.

 

Donna

Yeah. And I think it's something that's not spoken about enough. You know, like, it's this thing that if you have to go to marriage counselling that it's shameful, and you know, you're failing and all of that kind of stuff. But actually, it's like, you know, it's just like, it's amazing that you're still continuing on with your counselling because it's like you take your car for a service every six months or every 12 months. And if you don't, it breaks down. And it's the same with relationships. I think it's a continual work in progress and not just working together on your relationship, but you've got to continually work on yourself as well. Like, that's massive.

 

Jo

I'm so sorry, sorry, Donna, you know, carry on Sorry, 

 

Donna

I was just gonna say like, I think that, in being in business as a woman, you also have to continually work on yourself as well. Because if you don't, the wheels will fall off, no matter how hard you try to keep them on. Like, you've really just got to continually work on yourself and keep touching base and, and, and, you know, not neglecting who you are in the whole scheme of things. Because I don't know about you, Jo. But when I first had my kids, I really lost sense of who I was for a long time there. And I actually attached my self worth and my identity to my business, like with the dance studio, like that was me. But that doesn't sustain you like this, you can't maintain that. And you've really got to strip that back and, and work on yourself to really honor who you are. And yes, your business is a big part of who you are. But it's not who you are. It's trying to think of the right words to describe it.

 

Jo

Well, it's just a reflex. What does that it's like a reflection or a, it's a small part of who you are. But yeah, it's funny because it happens. When you're younger. And you've had your baby into as you said, you know, you get caught up in who your children are, you can very much emulate who your children are, and, you know, go with their friends, circles and things like that. And I found to that it also happened a second time in business when our daughter who had turned 16, or just about to 16, left to go overseas. And I'd spent so much time in her world and helping her get to be where she wanted to be in her goals as well. That when she left it was, again, it was a bit like, oh, who am I? Yeah, what makes me tick. And I think as women because we give so much, it's really easy for us to give everything and then there'd be nothing left in the tank for us at all. Yeah. So many people say, Yeah, I always do my here. And I always put on makeup. And I always try and go with something sparkly or something. They might just say why do you do even when you're doing your work from home? Why do you do it? And I for me, it's just a bit of self care. And a bit of, you know, just that I, I feel like I'm still I'm doing something for myself. 

 

Donna

Yeah, absolutely. 

 

Jo

And so just coming back to, you know, you've got, obviously, you've got your kids, you've still got your bricks and mortar business, and then you've got She's in Business, how do you go about allotting your time so that you're able to carry on growing your She's in Business growing your bricks and mortar business, but also to looking after your family?

 

Donna

Well, if I separate them out, I think that's probably how I manage it as well as I look at them separately. So my bricks and mortar business, I have an absolutely amazing team that wouldn't the business wouldn't run without them. So you know, making sure that the systems and processes are in place for them to follow, but also supporting them. And really, my role within that business now is to unblock any roadblocks that come up from for them. But other than that, the business pretty much runs without me majority of the time. And that's you know, I'm six years in now with that business. And that was a conscious effort that really probably started from maybe like year three of the business. There was a word that I used at that time, which was actually my word for like two years running, which was intentional. So I made sure that everything I was doing within that business for that business, any opportunities that came my way, I only said yes, if it was intentionally growing the business or serving the business in a way that like, tuned into my vision. And so, yeah, I guess, you know, my team is the crucial part of the, the bricks and mortar business with the online business, I guess, because it I feel like it's, you know, you have your first baby and you learn all the things about being a mum from the first baby, and then your second baby year, you're just a little bit more wiser to it, and you know, what you've got to do and what works and what doesn't. So I feel like it's that with She's in Business. It's like, you know, my second baby. And so, with that one, I have been much more, again, intentional about the way I'm building it. So I'm building it in a way that's sustainable, long term that also works around my family. So rather than me, like the business running me, I'm running it and I'm being careful in what I'm doing what I'm yes to what my boundaries are around the hours that I work and the things that I want to do. So that's a very conscious thing that I do all the time and then with family. You know, I make sure that I also have family goals as well as business goals. And that was something that I probably really put into place maybe a year and a half ago, because I'm really driven by business goals like and my husband said to me, sometimes, like, you're so focused on that, that everything else falls away like you literally get the blinkers on. And I do, I was like, Oh, yeah, that's so right. That's totally what I do. So I'm more self-aware of that now. So I also build family goals, which I know probably sounds a bit silly, but it works for me. So on my whiteboard, I have all my business goals for the month. And I also have all my family goals for the month. And like one of those is making sure that I work only between school bills, that I don't work on the weekends. And that, you know, we, I have a dinner with my friends once a month. And sometimes it's a coffee, whatever works at the time for all of us. And we like to as a family, hook up the caravan and just go somewhere. And it doesn't really matter where we go. Obviously, with COVID, it's changed that a little bit. We tend to stay in our own state. But that's really important. Because when we're away, and there's no housework to do, and you know, I'm not tapping into the business. And my husband's not at work, we can just be a family. And there's a beautiful simplicity to that. And we all love it. So that's probably the way that I, competent compartmentalize the different parts of my life. I guess.

 

Jo

I love that. Donna, I absolutely love it. And don't you think because you were a dancer? Yeah, you've been in that kind of how I think dancers just have such a special mindset and just such a special mind. Because I find that no dancers are able to have that really very driven, you're able to have that kind of blink kids. You know, these are my goals. I'm going for it. And so how I think, you know, changing it from sort of dancing to being an entrepreneur, I think they've they actually being a dancer has sets you up well to be an entrepreneur. Yeah,

 

Donna

I think you're probably right, because as a dancer, so you've got to be really tenacious about what you're doing. And, you know, depending on what I know, you were saying before that your girls dance as well. And you know, if you're doing competitions like that's a whole nother level again on dance, but you know, you've got to be self-disciplined, because no one else can do it for you. You know, it's your body. You've got to teach it to do the things. And yeah, you're probably right there. And it's probably haven't thought about it from that perspective before. But yeah, I've dance since I was really young about six. And it's been a part of my life, every year of my life. Like I've never really been without it. So yeah, it's probably just ingrained in me, I guess.

 

Jo

Yeah. I also think too, that dance teacher are some of the most patient people in the world.

 

Donna

Yeah, it's funny, I can be really patient with everybody else's children when it comes to my own. Not so much. They just know the right buttons to push.

Jo

I think it's just a mom. I think that's just a mom thing. I think there's just a mom thing where you're always really good with other kids, other people's kids but your own? They do. You're so right. They know how to push the buttons. But yeah, I just think dance teachers are some of the most patient people in the world because you're constantly dealing with just so many different personalities, and problems and all sorts of things. You've really got to be able to multitask, I think, yeah, I think that everything has just put you into good stage for, and She's in Business. But I'd love you to tell us a bit more about She's in Business and add to you know, your, your podcast and your course I would love to hear more.

 

Donna

Okay, well, my signature course is a 12 week course called Ready to Rise. And it covers a whole range of different things. What I like to try and do is infuse what I call the three different sides of you. So the savvy, entrepreneurial woman, the present in the moment, devoted mom and also the, you know, grounded, wholehearted woman that stands on our own two feet knows who she is and honors who she is. And so, you know, it's integrating those three sides of you. And so the 12 week course is a real holistic look at that. So there is a big portion of it, which is about business skills and training and knowledge. You know, we go through the five core pillars of success within a business and we talk about, you know, really getting into knowing your passion and your purpose behind why you do what you do. We look at, you know, setting goals for greatness and managing your time and we look at branding and marketing. I love branding and marketing. So that's a really great part of the course that I really enjoyed putting together and then I also have a module around managing the net. So, you know, the things that I've learned in my mothering journey and also in my journey through my marriage about, you know, important things that should be communicated and ways that you can outsource and insource within the home to, you know, take the pressure off, it always being the mom’s job. And then also, I have a whole module around self-care, and the five different ways that you can bring self-care into your life, and the importance of doing it. So yeah, it's a real holistic, 12-week course. And with that, I also do a weekly, small group coaching session for answering questions and also sort of walking you through the modules, because I feel like that's really important. The community side, you know, building, the community that goes along with the course, is just as important, because I feel like a standalone course is one thing, but to be supported by women who are like-minded, if they're also during the course alongside you, but also to have a business coach on hand within that community. So we have a Facebook group, just for the people during the course, you know, you can tap into that and use the collective knowledge of the group, you can ask questions, you can put your hand up and say I'm sinking this week, I don't know what to do, I just need to vent. You know, it's kind of for all of that. So that's the 12 week Ready to Rise course. Also launching a podcast, which should be coming out in August. So I'm guns blazing towards getting that happening. And that will coincide with the second launch of my Ready to Rise course, which is happening on the 31st of August, as well. So there's lots of things happening at the moment. But it's really exciting times, like I just can't wait to help as many women as possible to live their dream and, you know, not lose the ballots and not get to the point of burnout or not get to the point where your marriage is in tatters. And, you know, that's, that's just something that I don't think, you know, every woman should have the opportunity to do what they dream of doing. So yeah, that's. 

 

Jo

Donna, what was the name of your podcast?

 

Donna

It's called, She's in Business. 

 

Jo

Great, excelent. And for anyone that wants to have a listen to it, they'll be able to find it just on Spotify, and all of the usual podcast channels,

 

Donna

Yeah, all of the usual podcast channels, you can find my podcast. And if you want information about the Ready to Rise course or the programs that are offered, if you just go to donnahann.com, it's all there.

 

Jo

Great. We'll pop them into the, into the notes as well. But I just wanted to just ask on it, anyone that finds themselves self in that situation, any of our listeners that are currently listening at the moment, and if you're finding yourself in that situation that Donna was in where she was feeling under pressure, she had just so much on her plate, and felt like you know, something had to change? Do you have any tips Donna that you could give our listeners for anyone that might be feeling the same way? How they can go about getting off that kind of hamster wheel, you know, and making a change?

 

Donna

Yeah, I think, um, you really need to tune into yourself and ask yourself what it is that you're really wanting to do with your business? Because I think sometimes what we start out to create is not necessarily what actually comes about, like it can morph and change. So I think the starting point is to go, okay, where is my business? Is it actually what I intended it to be? And if it's not, what changes do you need to make to realign that. And then I think it's about like reaching out, if you can find a business coach or, you know, get on to a course that really helps you to move through that. Surround yourself with like minded women, get yourself in a community where you can get that support. And also, you know, just look at your business and look at ways that you can simplify things, look at ways that you can systemize and automate so that you're not the one who has to do all the things you can start to delegate it out to, you know, other people in your team or, and it can be as simple as outsourcing, you know, getting a cleaner into your house, or, you know, getting someone to come and do the gardens or something like that can really shift and change the dynamic of how heavy everything feels. And journal like I, I journal a lot, especially when things feel really heavy. The best thing that I do for myself is journal. And just keep working on yourself. I think like mindset is super important. And it's been a real like my best personal growth has always come through looking at how I can improve my mindset and taking steps to make that part of my daily practice.

 

Jo

Do you ever go back and read your journals that you've had from? 

 

Donna

Sometimes. Sometimes I do and you're like, Whoa, yeah, it's intense, you know?

 

Jo

Yeah, it's a bit like you know, you never want to watch yourself on video. So you kind of just, you know, just carry on because I was sent to us, because I look at my journals, I think what do I do with them? You know? Yeah, I yeah. What do I actually do with them? And I never read like, I never watched myself I never go back and, you know, listen or anything like that I just try and go live because otherwise I'll be critiquing myself. Yeah, yeah. And I'm sure that if I read my journals, I'll be going, Oh, why did you write that? Why were you feeling like that? Yeah, so I've just thought I can't talk to myself.

 

Donna

Sometimes I think, um, I journal, I've kind of got two journals on the go all the time, I've got my journal that like I just let all of my thoughts just flow out onto. And then I have a gratitude journal. And so my gratitude journal is just like, dot points of things that I'm super grateful for. And so you know, it's not always that I'm writing like doom and gloom. And, you know, that kind of stuff. I also make sure that I'm balancing that out with practicing gratitude every day as well. 

 

Jo

Oh, my gosh, I love practicing gratitude. It is one of actually I'm looking, I'm looking at writing a course actually on 21 days of gratitude. 

 

Donna

But that'd be amazing.

 

Jo

I just love gratitude so much. And I just think that it's just so easy to be thankful. Yeah. And being thankful for something just totally can change your whole world. I've got a friend that is such a beautiful woman, and she has had some adversity in her life. And she just told me that, you know, every week, she just bought one new thing, even if it was a wooden spoon, she said, or a tea towel. And she said, in that week, she would sit there and she would look at the wooden spoon and just think how thankful she was for who wouldn't spoon and yeah, but she cooked for it with it. She just looked at it and go, how thankful she is to have this wooden spoon that can store really, you know, really well. And even with her tea towel, she said, You know, when she was widely hailed, she was just saying, I'm so thankful this for this tea towel, but I've got to be able to dry my head. And she said slowly, over time, her thoughts just became so positive and everything was thankful. And at that point in her life, she didn't have a lot to be thankful for. So many things were happening. And I just thought it's just so brilliant. To be able to it's so easy to be able to be thankful.

 

Donna

Yeah, I agree. And I think when you are thankful, the other stuff that's happening, maybe not the not so good stuff doesn't seem so bad, because you've got something to be thankful for. And there's always someone who's worse off than you. So you've got to be grateful for what you've got. Because, you know, I just Yeah, I just think it's so incredibly impactful to really helps you mindset. And I think it's important to show your children that as well. Like we do a little activity around the dinner table. Sometimes it's called our high lows. And now I like I can just say right, let's do our high lows today. And the kids tell me you know about something that they're really grateful for, that went really well for them. And something that maybe didn't if they had a low point in the day. And one of the reasons that we talked about the low point is to make sure that we're always open with our conversations. And it also gives me a little bit of an end because they're only like five and eight. So it gives me an end to then go Ah, so who was that that you were playing with at school today and what happened there and kind of, we can then open up the conversation because otherwise, they don't really tell you a lot. So we do the high lows, and then we thank each other for sharing each other's high lows, um, you know, my husband and I, we do it as well. So it's a really lovely way to practice gratitude with the family and teach young kids how to do it. You know.

 

Jo

We do it on our birthdays as well. We do the highs, the lows of the year. And it's always really fascinating to hear what the kids have said what the highs and lows were for the year. And we've also just implemented it into all of our, our mentoring and our coaching sessions as well. Whenever we start now it always celebrates the challenges, challenges and wins. Yeah, awesome. Yeah, although now we're thinking one of our groups is getting quite up there. And we're thinking, by the time everyone goes around and gives the challenges and wins we're in to like, you know, an hour and a half or think, you know, we're gonna think of a way that we can do it, you know, a bit quicker. But I think you're so right in regards to challenges being able to actually talk openly about what is what, what is your what you're not feeling so good about what you do need help with. 

 

Donna,

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yep. 

 

Jo

So I love everything that you say, Donna, you're just such a wealth of knowledge. And can you just let everyone know about, about your business and coaching?

 

Donna

Yeah, sure. So she's in business is my online business. So I do a weekly coffee and coaching session, which is completely free. And that happens yet every Wednesday at 10am Australian Eastern Standard Time. And you can just find me on my FaceBook page or my Instagram page. And I just jump in there live every Wednesday at 10 and share some business advice or tips or you know, something has come up for me that week or I've been had a conversation with a client that week that I feel is relevant to share, then I just get in there and share it. And people can also ask any business questions that they might like me to answer. Live in the chat.

 

Jo

I love it. And that's She's in Business pages. Yeah,

 

Donna

That's right. Yep. So yeah, if you look up, Donna, if you go to Donna hand.com, there, you can grab my Facebook and Instagram handles from there. It's probably the easiest way.

 

Jo

Great, I love it. And then just a couple of quick other things. So if you were to pick a color for sequence, what color would you be? 

 

Donna

Hot pink. 

 

Hot pink, love it absolutely love it. And on the Sequins, timeline timescale of kind of one being not someone to sequins and team being really into sequins, we were on that line.

 

Jo

You can probably guess because I'm a dancer, right? We're actually in the middle of ordering costumes for our annual performance. It is like sweep sequins everywhere around me. So like 100%, the sequins gal. 

 

Jo

You're hitting like, 

 

Donna

Oh, I'm off the scale. Yeah,

 

Jo

I love it. I can't wait to ask them that question. I love, love, love it. Well, thank you so much. I mean, thank you so much for being so open and so vulnerable with us. And thank you so much for sharing. Your story is incredible. I can't wait to watch your business. She's in Business, just boom, because it already is starting Donna does some incredible things on Instagram, she shows up and she is there. And she's just so supportive. And so I can't wait to support you and your business as you're going through. And for anyone that's in our membership as well. And you know, when Donna is opening and launching her course, we will be putting that through the membership so that you guys can see that it's open and that it's here if you guys are wanting to go and join Donna, because Yeah, what she watched on the nuggets that Donna gives for business is just incredible, and for life in general. So thank you so much, Donna.

 

Donna

I thanks, Jo. I've loved being on the podcast. And I think, likewise to you, like so amazing that you're sharing this with the women in, in your group and you know, in your membership, because it really you know, when we band together as a collective of women, and we support one another, we can do really amazing things together. So yeah, I fully support you in doing that. 

 

Jo

So thank you, especially if we all were a bit of sequence. 

 

Donna

Oh, yeah, totally. I don't know why I didn't think to put on some Sequins before the podcast today because I've got like a whole cover of them.

 

Jo

Yeah, I love it. Thank you so much, Donna.

Donna

Thanks, Jo. Okay, take care.