Julie Perkins - Founder of Wyseminds

Jason sits down with Julie Perkins to talk about her journey from being raised in a family owned business to going out on her own, why women need a lot of support when they are starting a business and the health event that changed her outlook on life.

 "There's only one great way of growing business, and that's your way of growing business. "

Key Takeaways:

1. The Entrepreneurial Spirit: Julie's background in a high-paced entrepreneurial family and how it shaped her career.
2. Transition to Empowerment: The pivot from a 30-year career in a family business to founding Wise Minds.
3. Supporting Women Entrepreneurs: Julie's mission to accelerate the success of women in business.
4. Overcoming Challenges: Insights into Julie's personal challenges and triumphs in starting her own venture.
5. Valuing Your Journey: The importance of personal values, purpose, and envisioning growth on your own terms.
6. Learning from Failure: Embracing failure as a stepping stone to success.
7. Mindset Matters: Unpacking the critical role of mindset in entrepreneurship, especially for women.
8. Ultimate Ownership: Julie's upcoming project focusing on instilling internal motivation in young individuals.

Whatever your business problems, Julie Perkins has lived them and learned how to look forward and survive. From picking herself up after sixth form to witnessing the ins and outs of a business founded in a spare room and launched onto the world stage, from surviving cancer to writing books (The Wyse Way) and hosting her own podcast, she is sought after for her advice and guidance, not only as a business leader but as a thought leader.

https://wyseminds.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/wyseminds/
https://www.instagram.com/wyseminds/

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Transcript

Jason Frazell: 0:11

Hey, everyone. I am very excited about this one today. We've been trying to make this happen for I don't know, Julie, maybe a couple of months. And here we are halfway, not halfway around the world from each other, but I have on today, a very special guest, Julie Perkins. She's a founder of wise minds. Good afternoon to you, Julie. And I say that from somebody that's good morning here on the East coast. My time is 9 AM. Julie, good morning. Good afternoon. And where are you joining us from today?

Julie Perkins: 0:36

Well thank you very much for having me first Jason. And, and I think it's going to be well worth waiting for, for me. I've looked forward to speaking on your podcast, having listened to my cue London, even though I'm based in Amsterdam. I came over to London this morning. So I sort of rushed with my podcast equipment in hand and, and London has delivered, it is truly raining. So it's certainly the London welcome weather that one, one loves at this time of the year.

Jason Frazell: 1:06

So what a great day to do a podcast when it's raining, we can do a podcast and hopefully it'll let up and you can go out and enjoy some of the London early evening. But Julie, I'm, I'm so glad we're making this happen. You have a fascinating story and what you do now is really important. And we're going to talk about that. So I thought we would kick off today and start with having you share with us anything you'd like to about your past. It's led you to hear because and folks, folks listening can read your bio and everything, but I'd love, I always like to hear it from the person. So what would you like us to know about you and what's important for us to understand contextually as we talk about what you're up to today?

Julie Perkins: 1:41

I think there's very few people in life that could say, I love my working journey from start to finish. I come from quite a hard high paced entrepreneurial family. So doing business and being out there was always part of the way that we've grew up, which was I think sort of painted the natural way into business growth that I've taken. And after working an incredible 30 years. For an optical brand, optical and hearing health brand. Which is a family, family business. After poor health, I decided to start up my own business, taking what I've learned from an incredible 30 years and thinking, I wonder if I can translate this into a great support program for women entrepreneurs. Who are in that early stage of growing and perhaps shorten some of the timescales of the learning that I had and support them to creating this joy in growing businesses. And, and doing it quicker and smarter. That was my objectives that I sent that I set myself. And here I am today loving life and hopefully helping a few more women love theirs.

Jason Frazell: 2:57

Yeah. So Julie, thank you. I have, I want to, I have a question that came up around the 30 years in the family business and then pivoting to do your own thing. Do you remember what it was like? That's a big shift. And Do you remember what it was like or when you had that aha and most entrepreneurs that I know had that aha of When you get the call to do your own thing, especially for somebody That's got to be especially striking for somebody who grows up in an entrepreneurial family and is in a family business. So you have emotional ties, you have relationships there. Do you remember that moment?

Julie Perkins: 3:33

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we still have very good ties, but the family I still support there. And I think it's something that's always been within me. I think growing up in an entrepreneurial family you absorb. Some things that some dots that you're going to take forward, you know, coming from a strong parental entrepreneurial couple, you're picking up good ways of doing business and, you know, the strength of partnership, which is what our company is completely built on and that growing businesses is fun. So there's an always, always seeing things that you can do better. But I think the pivotal moment was that I was at a pitch event and it was for women entrepreneurs being on the stage sort of selling their life and dreams. So I think for 10, 000, it probably wouldn't have even bought them the next couple of months. You know, we're there. Maybe

Jason Frazell: 4:31

attorney fees. Yeah.

Julie Perkins: 4:35

Yeah, exactly. And you're sat there and you're actually paid to go and see these, these guys. And you know, each one of their ideas was incredibly special and had such an important part in community. I automatically knew which one was going to win. Because when you're there with investors, you want the shortest runway. There are things that they're looking for. I thought to myself, what happened to the four women who had equally good dreams that probably will really support communities to, to, to grow well. And I thought, you know, do they go off and just think, Oh my goodness, that's it. And I thought, I want to set up a company. For all of those businesses that investors and venture capitalists and things they don't want Yeah, because they such a key role in society or perhaps that they don't know that they want yet And I thought to myself Could I set up a company that either supports women to grow their business beyond that sort of, very sort of death zone time or be able to knock on that door with a stronger knock so that they're heard better or a different stage of their business growth? And I've always loved that. I've absorbed so much experience from my parents and the people that I've worked with that it just was just such a beautiful give back. And then I thought, Oh yes, I'd love to do that. And then poor health stopped the previous one. And when I came back, which wasn't when I came back was during that recovery. I just thought, well, there's no greater time than now. You know, you have time to reflect when you're lying in that bed. So and then I developed wise minds in my thoughts. And then when I was strong enough. and went into remission. It was born and I just thought every part of my life has been waiting for this moment. I love it, I really

Jason Frazell: 6:36

do. Yeah, that's so cool, Julie. Question for you about learning from your parents, and I'm asking this a bit selfishly. It's not selfish, but I did not grow up in an entrepreneurial family at all, and I am an entrepreneur myself now, and it doesn't mean that my parents aren't great people and know a little bit about no business. But I didn't grow up with that, like drive and building businesses and making money. What are some things that you picked up as a child? And these might be things that you didn't realize until you became an adult and started working in a business. And some of these, you may be, cause you know, cause like some, you meet some kids that are like, I want to start a business and they're like 12. And other kids, it takes a while, but I'm curious about that. What are a couple of things that you picked up that you're realized now that you picked up as a child? Like I hear the work ethic. I hear that it can be fun. What else did you learn?

Julie Perkins: 7:32

Yeah. I mean, well, the first thing you learn is that there is only life. There's not work. There's not this, there's just. Life and it's busy and there's always people around the house and, you know, and, and it's, everything's integrated. There's no separation or anything like that. And of course there is, you know, separation, but it's just getting busy and everybody plays a role and you just get on with it. I think that's really the first, the first lesson you subconsciously learn. And then you sort of start to realize that business is really fun. Because everyone comes around to the house. And often when they're at a house, it's normally a party or a celebration or, you know, and you're constantly looking at challenges where your parents come in. No one says they've had a bad day at work. No one's angry with their boss. So this kind of self managing style, you're picking up and you know, these are the things, these values in life that you're, you know, very consciously absorbing. And I think it's always in, in you. And I never thought at any stage in my life that I would have a miserable career. I, I, it just never, and when it was time for work, it was like, Oh, it's now the era of work. And, and, you know, I was always a little one of those little entrepreneurs that had a little stall at the end of her garden, telling things for the RSVP. Yay. And you know, I used to raise funds by sort of, I think, robbing my parents cabinets and reselling it on the street, in a good way, of course. But, you know, obviously all joke in part, but I, I did, I always liked to be out there and selling things. And, and I think that comes from, you know, that you're born like that. I think it's what you see, what you, this is what, what you see. This is what happens. This is what life is. And, and I think then as you grow older, you start to learn about business, what works, working partnerships, the mantras that our parents, well, my parents told me, you know, share, success is shared. And that, that reflects into the, we've never owned anything because the company, it's all done on partnerships in, in our schools. And I think that's, These lessons are such an important little thing. And of course, as a teenager, every teenager is, I don't want to learn anything. I know everything. Yeah, of course, of course. So, but those little things like, you know, my dad would carry a little A4 piece of paper in his pocket and he said, I'm always thinking of the customer in five years time. Always. He said, whenever I'm asked a question, you know, he would note this down. In this sort of spiral notebook, just with a biro. He never had a brief, just this in his pocket. And I just, it's little things like that. Always being a step ahead for the customer. It's just. you know, so many life lessons.

Jason Frazell: 10:31

Yeah. Brilliant. Brilliant. Were you, were you, was it a foregone conclusion? You're, you were going to work with a family as you got old enough to go into the workforce.

Julie Perkins: 10:41

Well, actually funny enough, I first worked out, I worked out in the States. I worked in Baltimore for on and off for two years, on some accounts, I was a lifeguard there and I knew him as a teacher, it inspired me so much. I always remember this little boy came back and he came back and I was there for the second season. He goes, He said, Jules, I've named my hamster after you. I thought, oh gosh, you know, to touch a child's life with everybody that surrounds them. And he's chosen you to be, to call his hamster that, you know, and I nearly became a teacher. And I suppose in many ways I am, you know, coaching women today. I love to give people something. That helps them live a better life, which I think is teaching and learning is all about. And and, and then I really didn't know what I was going to do and I just fell in love with serving customers. That was it. I, I, I loved the mix of people. I loved the people I work with and that's where at Specsavers, everyone starts on the shop floor. Certainly back in the old days, I loved it. I had such a blast and well, as they say, the rest is a fantastic 30 year history. It was wonderful. I nearly became a teacher. I, you know, nearly became a teacher.

Jason Frazell: 12:05

Yeah. That's very cool. I want to talk in a few minutes about the, some of the, the ethos of your business. Some of the, some of the things you believe in some of the things you work on with women. I have some really interesting things in there before we do that. I want to ask you about some of the challenges you had. When you started your own business, because you are now coaching and teaching others and this is something you didn't, it sounds like you didn't really have to do for 30 years. Like you didn't have to go through the very early stage and then you did that. So, Julie, what, well, and this could be, what are some things that surprised you? What might have been some challenges? And what did you learn about yourself? Any entrepreneur I talk to, it never goes as expected, no matter what, as they say, best, I think it's, you're a countryman. John Lennon's like life is what happened. Life is what happens while you're making other plans. I believe John Lennon said that. So what are some things that were surprises to you or that the obstacles that maybe you hit when you started wise

Julie Perkins: 13:05

minds? I think when I started WiseMinds because I actually did start the family company completely on its own, but we'll, we'll come on to that one because failure is a great learning for me. When I started WiseMinds, I think it was, it was so tough coming from a corporate situation that I built in the Netherlands where you have So many people sharing you know, that journey with, and then suddenly you're on your own and what you relied on everybody with, and you're like, oh my goodness, that's me.

Jason Frazell: 13:39

It's me. Yeah, it's me.

Julie Perkins: 13:41

I, you know, my first social media post. I mean, I was like, shall I press the button? It was so, those, those sorts of things of you know, what is that very, very first step? And I, I think it's wearing every single hat yourself. And realizing that I had to go back on my own course that I was writing, because of course you're writing it, but your foundation is the fact you had a team of like 90 odd people. So you have to go back and kind of go right. Remind yourself really strong values. I'm going to come on a little bit to that. I'm sure for women, but I think it was, how do I manage to wear every single hat. And not lose myself again. And I think that is, is absolutely key. And reminding myself to have fun and, and, and to have joy with it. One thing I was very good at was iterating very rapidly. Because. When you've got a small team and it was me and I had well, I still have this fabulous ops manager, project manager for two days a week when it's just two of you, you know, I love that startup mentality. And I had that when I opened up the Netherlands, that, that iteration, what's working, what's working, the excitement, the whole thing. And I think that was something That I'm glad that I had the startup background from for sure. Yeah. But I think for me it was how do I deal doing this on my own? How do I deal with the loneliness? How do I deal with the fact that I only answer to myself? How do I deal with, yeah. Not turning on Netflix and getting on with the job when I,

Jason Frazell: 15:29

well, there's a great new show out. Come on. You could not, yeah, it's

Julie Perkins: 15:33

no's waiting for that. It's. It's doing the things I was super uncomfortable doing. And I'm glad I've done it because I think it's just broadened my viewpoints of different viewpoints of how people look at stuff. You know, like, well, I've had to learn for communications and social media and what it's like to see through young people's eyes, be in their shoes. You know, I had 20 people to do that. I had to learn that. And I'm so happy I've done it. It's given me, I think many new levels of life, but it was tough. You know, it was tough.

Jason Frazell: 16:14

Yeah. Yeah. I had a similar, I, I think. Most people I know that have started their own thing had a similar experience. I Worked at a couple of very large companies early in my career. And I worked in sales and I'll never forget when I decided to go out on my own and I had like the first day where I took myself seriously and I said, I had this realization. I'm, it's probably the same as you. I'm like, no boss is going to email me. There's no meetings on my calendar unless I put them on there. Nobody's asking for reports or activities. It's just me and Mike. And it was like, wow, I've got the most relaxed boss, but also the biggest asshole boss all at the same time, which is me, it was such a mindset shift. And I realized, and I don't know if you realize this. But what really struck me, Julie, was how much I had been reliant on other people, people telling me what I needed to do and how, and, and when you work at a big company, you know, and how to do it. Here's the way you fill out this report. Here's the thing you, here's the way you go to the marketplace. And now I'm like, well, the sky's the limit and that is not always a good thing.

Julie Perkins: 17:23

I felt I had to write apology letters to black people. I've just gone, Oh, could you just go on the website and just alter that please? You know, I went, Oh, right. That's why you can't just, you know, I thought it was like a dog that they just typed in. I mean, it

Jason Frazell: 17:39

was like, dear everybody. I'm just so very sorry. It's such a, such an interesting experience. Let's talk about some of the, the values that you really, Stand for in your business. And I'm a S I don't know enough about you to know this, but I would assume the values you stand for with your clients are similar values to how you, how you run wise minds as well. I want to start with one specifically. And then from there, you can let me know what other else is interesting, but I'm really interested in the thing about sole ownership. I'm assuming you mean do not take investment or do partnerships with people where you equal, but don't take on like venture capital or. Private equity or things that have you give up part of the business. I'm so curious about that. And now that you just shared that story about being in that meeting and watching people pitch, I'd love to just hear your thoughts on that. And maybe how you, where that comes out for you. And, and I do a lot of work in the tech community, which is that's, it's all about that. That's how you, but you need to 10 X. Or. You go out of business and then you don't get to make decisions anymore. And suddenly your board is filled with people that are in the line of your values. And I think most people who listen to this podcast understand the risks there, but how do you look at that? And then is there anything specifically as it relates to the females, females entrepreneurs that you work with, that's different than maybe a male owned organization?

Julie Perkins: 19:03

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think the most important thing I always start the women entrepreneurs. Who I'm working with is to ask them what growth means to them, because it's, it's like any leadership position, you're leading a brand, but you, you have to be able to lead yourself first before you can lead any direction. And you know, quite often we have a conversation. And part of my course is about what's your relationship with money and success. Yeah. You know, there is definitely a want to grow, but the question I always put back on them is, is that because of what you read and what does growth look like to you? There's many ways of growing businesses. And I think one of the most important things is to get the picture clear for the entrepreneurs I'm working with. That is absolutely essential because, of course, as you're growing, investment is absolutely key. Sure. You have to be, you know, very clear about what that looks like. You know, even though it can be a real challenge to get the funds, You could be looking for a resource. You could be looking for a partnership. You could be looking for alliances, etc. What is that very first investment that you're going to make? And it's not always money. So we get this whole point about growth is in a series of waves. And the company, the company I previously referred to, you know, it turns over 3 billion a year in 12 countries. It's never taken a loan. I'm not saying that that is the way, but I'm saying, be clear about what you're looking for, because if you're clear with yourself, you'll come across stronger. You'll come across much, much clearer to whether it's the investment in the bank, whether you're looking for giving away shares, I kind of emphasize, be sure, because I don't want you to fall in love with the first person you meet. You know, in terms of the first person who wants you particularly we quite often get in startups with the need for digital, the need for a website. And I'm saying, do you really want to give shares away to tech? You know, what's your greatest partnership to have not now, but maybe in two years or one year. And is there any way so we get them to budget really for investment? And the answer can be that, but I want to see the bigger picture, not just this picture of now. And I think that's very important. We spent a long time looking at who are you, what's growth mean to you? And how do you translate yourself into that growth? And what does it mean? Who needs to come in and support you on that first growth wave? And just budgeting for resources and investments is also a really important part of that growth journey. So that you can be confident and you know, I've got to admit, sometimes we sort of say it's the fear of failure, but with a lot of women, it's the fear of success. What happens if I am so big? What happens if I'm not there for my family and all of these society rules start to build up on us. And, you know, so I, I actually do a training part of that training is to say, what do you do? I'm a founder of my own company and then full stop to it. You don't have to justify, you've got kids and that you feel, you know, that you're fulfilling every role in your life and everything. So it is about self confidence, but it's only self confidence when you can paint that picture that's good for you. And that's such an important part of that growth journey, even before they're even thinking about, you know, money or venture capitalists or investments of any sort, angel investment, whatever, you know you, you, if someone's going to offer you a hundred thousand, you want to be pretty clear what you're going to spend that hundred thousand on, where it's going to be spent. Totally. Where are you going to fit? I think I wrote a blog once going onboarding your most expensive employee, your bank or your investor.

Jason Frazell: 23:15

Yeah. Yeah. They're also going to require the most management.

Julie Perkins: 23:21

And they have the greatest ability to hurt you

Jason Frazell: 23:24

the most. And they're actually not your employee. They're your boss in most ways. Well, Julie, what I was, when I'm working with. People that are talking about money, whether it be in a corporation, like, oh, I'd like a promotion for more money. Great. For what? So that I can XYZ. Great. So that what happens when that happens? Then what? And then at some point you run out of the what would I do with the money and you run into what does the money mean to you? I am, if I, if I have somebody that says I want to grow up to a unicorn status company, and I'm willing to take a venture capital because that's what I want. And I truly want it. Wonderful. I was just having a conversation yesterday with a friend of mine who was telling myself and two other people that we've been friends for a long time. And she's, she's a coach and a trainer, and she's written a bunch of intellectual property. And she was telling us how she's sitting at a, at a cabin on a lake and down in Georgia because she's writing a book. And she said, you know, I'm kind of living my retirement life because I have this passive income through intellectual property and I work what I want And I said, yeah, you have a lifestyle business She said yeah, it is it's a lifestyle business. She said and I want for nothing and she's not independently wealthy She has family. She has a young children and a husband, but i'm like, are you happy? She goes I couldn't be happier because I get to do whatever I want And she goes and and for her And i'm sure you run into a lot of people that you work with like this She goes for me to bring this to the next level would be so much time and effort You Because it would require digitization and scaling. And she goes on, I don't want to do it because I've made enough where I know this will sustain my husband and I, our kids are going to be fine and we'll get to retire, do what we want when we get older on that, I think there's something really powerful about getting to that point. And I've known her for years. She's the happiest she's ever been. And it's not because she's making 2 million a year. It's because she's reached that point. I think that's something that you work with a lot of your, your clients around. And I want to go into the, and you, I know you listened to my episode of Laura, Laura Johns, a few weeks ago, she talked about this as well, female owned business and all female business, which we talked about on the podcast. She has all female employees. I think they were trying to hire her their first male employee. I said, that's a brave person. Whoever that man, whoever that guy is. Is brave. I said, I don't think I could do it. But you know, and she talked about this. She's a mother of young children, working husband. What are some of the things that women especially are up against when it comes to the story of entrepreneurship, as much as we'd like to say in 2024, it's all equal, to be clear, it's, it's still not, it's about here in America. It's not, I don't know what it's like in the EU and England, but here in the U S there's still some, Long held beliefs and systems and ways of working. So what are some of the things that you see both around the practicality of running a business as a woman, but also some of the mindset work that you have to do, especially if you're a parent and a parent or a wife, there's some things that come up there. And as you've seen, I've had a lot of women entrepreneurs on the show and I've heard from this from numbers. Well, what do you, what do you see both for yourself and also for any clients you work

Julie Perkins: 26:33

with? I mean, I think it's, you know, it's module one. It's the very first thing that we work on. Yeah. Is the mindset you come through, because it's not necessarily a smooth path. It's not, I've got an idea, I want to make it happen. And you know, my dad's always taught me, he said, don't put half the world in a big basket and start claiming big headlines. And I do agree. There are some fundamental things that I think it's really important to talk about, and that is the importance of trying to understand what your values and personal purpose is. We spend a massive amount of time doing that. And then how do you live those values and purpose in all areas of your life? Because what happens is, you know, you're starting to juggle plates, kids, family. business, friends, and you're just juggling. But Then you start reading magazines with titles like work life balance, which drive me nuts. But I hate that terminology because I just, it won't be achieved. You're creating you know, as they say in mindfulness, you're creating artificial capsules. It won't work. Yeah. The most important thing is to find out how you want to live all areas of your life. And your purpose, your values, what's that touched you want to put on parenting, what's the, you know, thing you want to be for your friends when you turn up, what do you bring to the table and who are you for your business? What's the essence of you and your business and the space between you and all of the roles in your life is incredibly powerful for a woman founder. Because. It can't be measured by time in your business or you know with your kids because there is just life and you You can't control it. So you can just control who you are in each of those areas And I think that is the very first important part that we do is separate them often from their business you know, they've got the family and then they're building the business around them and then they're sort of holding on to both and sinking right down the middle. So we spend a lot of time separating the founder from their business to leave space. How do you translate yourself into your company and how do you translate yourself into your family, your friends? And don't start counting. That's the last thing you need just to make percentages or more charts. It's just. Yeah, exactly. And that's probably what, you know, your friend that you refer to, she has this beautiful fulfillment. So she's not counting the bigger, the size of the growth. She's just. Fulfilled, you know, she's, I would, without even meeting her, I can imagine she's very clear on the person. She is purpose and values. Very clear. Yes, she is beautifully. It's a great example. Of what the outcome is. Yeah. What next? She doesn't have to grow the business. She might want to grow volunteering or she might just want to grow more time with family. It's, it's, it's just, it's the plethora. of roles that we play. And I think that's one of the very first examples that we do. And then we work on undoing the social rules that we have absorbed in our lives. What's a success to us? What's that relationship we have with money? And quite often, if you come from a very conservative family where And everything's right, time to move on where, you know, your dad's gone out to work and your mom's stayed at home or vice versa, or your mom's always done pick up or whatever. There is a subconscious thing that's given to you from that role model. How do you create your own mantra towards success? That fits in today's world, fits in with your family. You know, we managed it in a big entrepreneurial family. It's like But then, oh, well, maybe I'm a prime example. I've absorbed that success about running around being busy. And I work on having to slow down. So it's good to undo those maps that perhaps you've you've taken on board subconsciously. So that's, those are the first two things about mindset. So you're, you're, you're, you're stronger and clearer. To, to work forward and, and that's why you say, how'd you do it differently? I said, we spend more time on that and the entrepreneurs who find me allow us to spend more time on that. Yeah. They know it's a pain.

Jason Frazell: 31:05

Yeah. Well, Julie, one I'll say is. This is coaching. This is not consulting. This is not, here's how you scale. This is coaching because the things that you just mentioned, you don't have an answer for that client because it's unique to them and everybody, you know, related to the money thing. One of the things that is so interesting about money and like our, we all come with a story about money from how usually how we were raised and how we saw her, our parents operate with money is we all come with a story with money. And you see this all the time with folks that. You look at them and they're affluent beyond any reasonable measure for most of us. And they're still complete jerks about money. When it comes, you see stories about these really rich and famous people who don't tip in the United States or people they're like, they're stiffing, you know, vendors, even though, you know, it's, it, it wouldn't even matter to them, it wouldn't even cause a thing because of the story. And you also see people that that there's also history is littered with the stories of folks who grew up affluent who ended up broke because again, they bring in a story about it. That's really beautiful. So the really beautiful the work you're doing. I love I love the idea to have. Who are you being? I hear the coaching in that of who are you being in your business? What's the essence of what you bring? There's so many programs focused on what you do. How do you grow this accounting product? How do, and there's nothing wrong with that. People, people need sometimes to know how to do it, but what you're, it sounds like the work that you're doing, at least part of it is the soul work. I call it the heart and the soul work so that you can have fun in your business. Because if you're, I don't know about you. I'm gonna, we've only known each other for 40 minutes, but I'm gonna guess based on what you've told me about yourself, that you don't like being told what to do. I hate it too.

Julie Perkins: 32:59

I hate it. I always have. Yeah, totally. And I think, I think what I was thinking, I realized going, oh yeah. I don't like being told what to do.

Jason Frazell: 33:09

It's terrible. Well, you know, and I'll just say this already, if you've had this experience, I'm, I'm sure you've had clients that have tried other things that just didn't maybe work for their business or it didn't resonate for them. And it doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with those programs. I'm not saying anything's wrong, it might just not be for them. But the thing that I find really interesting about, Entrepreneur, entrepreneur space and business owning space is most of us who do this. It's because we don't like being told that to do, and we don't like having a boss. And then we go out and we hire people who tell us exactly what to do that. And I'm speaking for myself now. And then you go, ah, this doesn't really resonate. And then I, I know my experience. I got frustrated until I realized I'm like, I actually want a coach who's going to help me uncover what's true for me and how I can best be in the world, not tell me the way to do a thing. And so. This kind of leads me to start to wrap up here for today is What kind of people do you love working with? Like, obviously you're, you focus on female entrepreneurs, but how do you know that they're, I like to ask this of anybody who's in this sort of space, how do you know they're ready to work with you and actually do the work? Because, and you don't have to say, but haven't you had somebody hire you that's not ready? And you get on and you're like, you're like, this is not working.

Julie Perkins: 34:29

No, there are. I mean, of course, with any coaching situation, you know, it's really important that you have that, that strong relationship. And I'm putting one thing I find with entrepreneurs is they need to do things on their own terms, which is. Part of motion. I say, grow on your own terms. We always put the entrepreneur first. That's why most of our program is online. And I keep putting more of it online because you can get up at three in the morning, seven o'clock at night, and then they can call upon me when they need me. And that's very, very, and You know, we always put halfway through, don't forget to call on your guide, don't forget, it's not always me, it's they could need something else. And I think that balance is very important because you, you become an entrepreneur because you've got this incredible idea that you believe that something can be done better. But you want to be guided. And you don't want to be told how to make that happen because you know how to make it happen because you've got that picture in order to make it that journey, that vision of change. And I think that's why that balance, I suppose, reflects also someone who can't bear being told what to do. We're trying to put as much of it online as possible. And I'm trying to, with women not half the world in a box, but majority of my situations, my relationships I've had with founders is. Being in charge, having that confidence to be able to take that journey and to pull upon the tools that you need. So the biggest change that I often have with women entrepreneurs in early stage business growth is the importance of turning passion into a purpose that other people can follow. Because quite often you are so passionate about your idea. How do you take that idea without losing you and put it into practice? Something that other people can follow and this is this first step to making yourself redundant off that wave. Yeah. So you're not trying to hold on to everything. And yeah. And this is such an important point for, for, for the entrepreneurs I work with is one you're in charge of your own journey. I am a guide. You call upon me, you don't have to call upon me. Here are all the tools. I'm going to inspire you to use those tools by giving you a partner that you're in control of, and that's called the Powerball. That's, they can measure how aligned they are to, to things going on as they journey through. So someone can start a course and I might not see them, you know, one or two times maybe. The most important thing is there's only one great way of growing business and that's your way of growing business. Yeah. As a woman entrepreneur, you know, often they come, they're like, Oh my gosh, what should I do? And I go, first things first, businesses grow in a similar pattern. So you're in exactly the right place, wherever you're feeling now, it's not your fault. Your business is fighting you. Because you're trying to hold onto it like a small child and it's growing up to be a teenager and you won't let go. So we are, you know, it's, it's, we're, it's not your fault. You're in the right place. And once you reassure them of that, it's like, Oh, thank goodness. I thought it was me. Then they open up and take the tools, but they're still in control of their journey. Which is why sometimes that ownership. It's pretty tough. You know, you don't want to be owning these businesses because the journey to get onto that next wave, which could result in owning that business, you know, they need to be strong when they turn up to that. What growth is to me, what am I looking for and, and what do I believe needs to change so that, you know, change that. And

Jason Frazell: 38:25

you mentioned something there. It's. Really apropos from for my life and a lot of people that I work with is the What's true for you today is probably not going to be true for you For whatever that next level or the next wave is like how you how you feel about things but more importantly like It's actually okay to change. It's not even just to grow as your skillset, but it's okay to be like, you know, that thing I was so passionate about in my business last week. It's not resonating. It's actually okay to release that and go with the thing that feels more right for you. But I don't, I don't know about you, but you, you know, it's somebody who spent 30 years in a corporation that doing your thing, there's probably, you could probably point at a variety of times when you held onto it for too long, when you knew it wasn't right. Yeah. I mean, and any business person can held onto it for too long. And be like sunk cost or, Oh, like we've always done it this way. It's work. We can get it back. And you see this in business all the time is, and it's not about it, even about innovation, it's just about, there is a better way, but I'm so, but I believe that I'm right, but what if you weren't right? What if there was no right? And instead it was what's true for you.

Julie Perkins: 39:37

Definitely. Yeah. A series you know, of mistakes and successes, and you just have to learn how to iterate very, very quickly. You know, Quite often, just as mentioned, just to build on that point, I often get women entrepreneurs that go, but they're passing me, they seem to be growing faster. It's because you're too heavy to climb. You haven't let go. It's like trying, you're at camp four, and you're watching everyone go through, and everyone's sort of letting go of the food and stuff that's got them there, and you're trying to carry, Everything, plus oxygen, plus everything else, and with a whole lot of people that aren't fit to climb with you, and you're wondering why you're burdened. And I think it's a beautiful thing, I think we have to learn to let go. of what doesn't serve us. And, and that's a big part of, of getting onto the next growth

Jason Frazell: 40:31

wave. That's really cool. Well, Julie, I want to wrap and I want to make an offer here to you to share and you can do it confidentially, or you can actually share the names if you want. I leave that to you. They're your clients on some of the businesses that you've worked with that are, that you think are doing like really good things in the world. And Again, keep it high level, name them by name, whatever's true, whatever's going to work for your business. But I'm really interested to hear about, I'm always really interested. What are some cool things happening in the world from female owned businesses? So what, yeah, what, what comes to mind?

Julie Perkins: 41:03

Well, you're in tech. I probably I mean, that's part of everybody's journey at the moment. I work with a lot of women who work in sustainability goals. So and that gives me a huge, a huge kick because we need super human minds to think of the world differently and mended with Agnes, she's, she, she recycles genes men's genes, resells genes, and. If you think that in the Netherlands alone, 10, 000 pairs of jeans a month are thrown on the, you know, it's the national uniform after the time of Europe. Right, yeah. How do you keep these great clothes in play? Yeah. And, and, and not, To sort of waste material, not just keep creating material after material. And she's, she is making incredible grounds on that. One by encouraging people to mend what they've got, but the more often people spent a lot of money on genes, people want to extend the lifetime of their genes as well. Sure. Puts it back onto the big companies to say, what guarantee are you going to give me? And what happens when they break? How are we going to get them mended? So she's doing a super job there. That's cool. And also working with Paul and Paulina and they're doing an amazing job on online education in low economic. Groups where education's fallen apart to a certain extent, where people can't get access to jobs and school and education. How do we teach online sewing, how to run a business, cooking, mending mobile phones, so that people become self sufficient, places like Jordan Rack. On raising money and fulfilling business after business and plastic free. It's the beautiful thing about them is everybody thinks of these great ideas. It doesn't matter if they're big because the larger companies can look at those ideas, go, that's great. I want to connect. I want to, and you don't have to own this business for 50 years. You can own it for life, build upon the idea and sell it. Exactly. Yeah. This is where good ideas are coming from. And it's really gives you hope for a good future. I know everyone's very easy to talk about the negative, but when these ideas are growing, every little step that we take will make for a better world if we all come together, for sure.

Jason Frazell: 43:32

Beautiful. Last question for you, Julie. I actually have a couple more questions. I'm curious for you as somebody who does this work, And don't mean, don't mean to put you on the spot, but I, that's actually not true. I'm very happy to put you on the spot. What, what are you working on? What's next in your journey around your development and your mindset? Because as somebody who works with us, you know, the work never stops for us who are doing this work for others. We're always working on our stuff too. So what's next for

Julie Perkins: 43:55

you? Well obviously I'm putting my whole course online which takes people sort of into up to business canvas level, just to read, I mentioned the mountain. So there'll be able to get up and back and call upon me. That's just an amazing experience. But my personal project at the moment is called ultimate ownership. And the work that I've done with young women founders, I've actually started to work. I booked together, sorry, with a behavioral sort of psychologist. And I said, but if it's helping young women in terms of their business to really find their motivation and their purpose in life, can we adapt the way that we work with young women for young people as a whole and work on trying to support them to become more internally motivated rather than externally motivated all the time. So our program is nearly finished. So, and it's very short, but it's just to get. Young people, you know, 17 early twenties just looking at who am I and how am I going to represent myself in this world? It's very simple. It's not like a lifetime study, but it just gets people on the right track about personal purpose and values and who you surround yourself by, who do you follow and where do you get your energy and people from to follow the path that you want. So that, that's a personal one for me. So I'm looking forward to the next

Jason Frazell: 45:20

couple of months. Very cool, Julie. Well, I want to thank you so much for coming on, spending part of your London afternoon with us here. Really appreciate it. How can people connect with you and find out more about all the things you're up to in the world?

Julie Perkins: 45:34

Well, firstly, thank you so much for having me, Jason. It's been an absolute pleasure and well worth all my disorganization waiting to speak to you. So big thanks for that. It's been great.

Jason Frazell: 45:44

It's been all good, Julie.

Julie Perkins: 45:46

And people can get hold of me on wiseminds. com, which is. Probably the best way and it's wise with a Y LinkedIn or just reach out for a virtual coffee. All of the ways of connecting are there. So it's a really good start. And if you want to have a bit of fun with your business, early startup, completely free, you can try the growth evaluation. Which talks a little bit about some of the balances and purpose led growth we've talked about today, especially for where the founder is positioning themselves. So that's a lot of fun.

Jason Frazell: 46:18

Awesome, Julie. Well, thank you so much for being on. Really appreciate the good work you're doing in the world. I love talking to people and for those who are listening, Julie and I didn't know each other until 55 minutes ago. I always really appreciate, and I think most of my, almost all my guests are like The purpose based of your business and making a difference for people outside of just the way to do something, focusing on the heart, focusing on the purpose and focusing on what might be in the way from a mindset perspective to get your clients and The thing we didn't talk about. What's beautiful about this is if your clients have employees, it affects their employees too, because founders with a good mindset generally will hire employees with a good mindset. Laura and I talked about this too, and, and knowing that you're creating a cascading impact, even if you don't know these people personally. So I just want to thank you for all the great work you're doing and look forward to talking to you again soon on here. Thanks,

Julie Perkins: 47:09

Julie. Thank you. Thanks. Cheers.

47:14

Thanks for listening to another episode of Talking to Cool People with Jason Frizzell. If you enjoyed today's episode, please tell your friends, follow us on Instagram and Facebook, and give us a shout out, or take a moment to leave a review on iTunes. If something from today's episode piqued your interest and you'd like to connect, email us at podcast at jasonfrizzell. com. We love hearing from our listeners because you're cool people too.