September 21, 2024 • 36 mins
Today, I’m joined by the amazing Lucy, founder of Any Little Thing, a home help service making waves in Essex by transforming the lives of elderly individuals. In our chat, we dive into the often bewildering world of healthcare and social care, shedding light on the challenges families face while trying to navigate these complex systems. Lucy is on a mission to change that, offering one-to-one consultations to help carers find the right support for their loved ones—an absolute game-changer in the care industry!
Lucy’s passion for empowering the elderly to live independently is truly inspiring. Plus, she’s cooking up an exciting retreat day focused on self-care for caregivers, who often carry the weight of so many responsibilities.
We also explore the critical role of communication in the care sector. Poor communication can have serious repercussions on health, making it essential for effective personal care and medication management.
Join us for this lively conversation as we share unique perspectives on our social media personas, the hurdles of being working parents, and so much more! You won’t want to miss it!
Notes
To find out more about Lucy you can find her on Instagram or her website
Prepare for PR and download 'Get Ready To Achieve More Exposure For Your Business'
Join the ‘Bravery Behind The Brand’ Community On Facebook
The ‘Bravery Behind The Brand’ Motivational Song playlist on Spotify
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hi, I'm Amanda Jayne andwelcome to the Communicate
With Confidence podcast. Myaim is to take the fear out of
communicating and make it easyand fun. On this podcast, I'm
going to be talking abouteverything to do with good
communication, how we canconnect with our audience, get
better at speaking and givingpresentations, increase
visibility and ultimately getmore sales. I'll also be
(00:21):
talking to some incrediblepeople about their business
and I'll be getting theirinsights on how they view
communication and howcomfortable they are showing
up in person Helloeveryone and welcome to the
Communicate With Confidencepodcast. I'm your host Amanda
(00:42):
Jane and today my guest isLucy Piper. Hello Lucy. Hello,
nice to meet you. Nice to meetyou too and your business is
any little thing and you helppeople find the right care for
elderly loved ones, is thatright? Yes, that's right. So
the home help service, anylittle things are home help
service here in Essex. Sowe've been running for about
(01:04):
seven years and on thatjourney I've learned that
there's not an awful lot ofhelp and support when it comes
to finding the right care foryour elderly loved ones.
There's a lot of people outthere that think it's in a
need of a little bit of aLittle bit of extra help. Well
(01:31):
we will find out a little bitmore about that later on but
before we start have you had achance to think about your
motivational song? Well I wentto an event years ago and this
song whenever it comes on theradio always makes me feel
really Like I can take on theworld and all of my mad
(01:53):
entrepreneurial and personalideas are always going to work
and that's the Katy Perry Rawsong. But I can't tell you
why, it just obviously must besomewhere in my brain that
goes, oh, we like this song,you know, yeah, come on. It's
activated. I love that one.That's a really good way to
describe it. Something justtriggers in your brain. I can
(02:14):
even sing you know! I lovethat description, something
just switches it on and yourentrepreneurial brain but yeah
it does make you feel like youcan take on the world doesn't
it when you hear that that onesong and I love the fact that
this podcast has this playlistthat we can all just sort of
whack on whenever we'refeeling a bit low but yeah I
love that description and whatabout a motivational quote? So
(02:38):
I like life as a journeybecause I think there's a lot
of times in life where wereally do feel low or we might
need a bit more encouragementor support and I just think
You know, there are ups anddowns and don't get me wrong,
(02:58):
there are people that havemore downs than ups and vice
versa, people that have moremoney, less money. There's
very individual circumstances,but it is a journey and I
think we can learn from everysituation in life, whether it
is something really, reallygreat or something really,
really bad, we can learn fromour mistakes, we can learn
from Things that fail, whetherthey're businesses, courses
(03:23):
that we take, it's notfailure, it's progression,
isn't it? So I just like thatsaying, because I think it's a
reminder that life is ajourney, you know, there's no
right or wrong way to do it.It happens and we just have to
jump on for the ride, don'twe? Yeah. Yeah. I love that.
And it makes you think thatit's a journey that just keeps
(03:45):
going. And that's, you've justgot to keep going. And I like
the way you described it. Youknow, you're always going to
be doing, trying something newor doing a new course or
there's always a new thing.And it might sound a little
bit cliche, but you know, youreally don't know what's
around the next corner, but Ilike the fact that you've made
me visualize a sort of neverending path. That it just
keeps going and, you know, youjust never know what's coming
(04:06):
up, do you? So I really likeyour description, the way you
describe things. It can go upin any way, can't it? Yeah.
And I think that's, that is anice way to think of it
because, you know, sometimesbad things do happen and you
need to always have that hopethat you just don't know
what's around the corner. Andit's nice to cling onto that
because it's simply that lifeis a journey and you've just
(04:29):
got to keep going and keepgoing and keep going. So do
you read? I never used to readand I blame a school teacher
way back when I was insecondary school and I used to
love, I'm a horsey girl and Iused to have my own horse and
(04:50):
I used to love reading GinnyElliot and Black Beauty and
Black Ebony and all the otherhorsey books were out there
and the teacher turned aroundto my mum and said, It's great
that Lucy's reading, howevershe needs to read something
different, something otherthan horsey books and stuff
about horses. I don't knowwhether it was that or not but
(05:13):
I think from that day on Ididn't really fall in love
with any other books becausemy mum did what the teacher
had said and I'd do the samewith my son. And I sort of,
she said, oh, you know, youcan't read horsey books
anymore, you know, readsomething different. And I
just didn't really have aninterest in anything else. And
I've never really sort of beenthat into reading unless I go
(05:34):
on holiday or, you know,Something really captures me,
a bit like those horsey booksback in the day. I don't read
them anymore. So in morerecent years, especially
since, you know, all thelockdown, schmockdown stuff, I
have a lot of businessacquaintances that have
(05:54):
written their own books. Andrecommended books for personal
growth, business growth andthings like that. So I've kind
of found a love for readingagain and also been a part of
a book as well, or a couple ofbooks, so over that period.
And so it's really sort ofhelped me fall back in love
with reading again. So yeah,of late, I've tried to read
(06:21):
different things other thanpersonal development books. It
was a shame for that teacherbecause I would have thought I
would have let a kid readwhatever they wanted. As long
as they were reading it didn'treally matter. My youngest,
she discovered Harry Potterwhen she was nine. And
(06:41):
everyone would have been like,oh, you know, it gets a bit
grim around book five. Andobviously she was growing
older as she was working herway through the books. But to
this day, she still lovesHarry Potter and she was
reading them and reading them.But unfortunately, you were
dissuaded from reading. But,you know, I was the teacher. I
would have said, well, as longas she's reading, doesn't
(07:01):
matter what it is. What ashame that put you on. I think
I must have been About 14, 15.And if you think about it, no,
maybe a bit younger, maybe13, 14, year eight, year nine.
And that's quite aninfluential age. Yeah. think.
And you probably could haveprogressed onto the Jilly
Cooper stuff, didn't she?Right. Even though I still
(07:26):
would have been reading BlackBeauty at 14 years old. Oh,
what a shame. Well, I'm gladyou've rediscovered it anyway.
And wow, it's been part of abook and you've got business
acquaintances that havewritten books. I have as well,
and I always like to try andsupport them by writing their
books. And I just think, wow,I know someone that's written
a book. It's just incredible.So moving on to you and your
(07:48):
business then. Can you give usa brief overview of what
you're currently working onand what it is you do? So I've
got any little thing in thebackground, I've got business
partner Lisa, we work on thattogether and we've really made
a difference locally toelderly people, the elderly
generation and how they live.So we empower, we give people
(08:14):
So we will go in and do a lotof the things that care us
back in the day when we set upthe business 2016 at the end
of 2016 I think.Care companies that didn't do
what we did. So we do a lot ofcleaning, we'll take people to
appointments, pick upprescriptions, household
(08:37):
chores, be an extra pair ofears and eyes and support. We
don't do any medication orpersonal care needs. So that's
where the care companies are.But over the years, care
companies have started doingmore of what we're doing, but
they don't really want to dowhat we're doing. So we're not
threatened by that at all. Themore people that are helping
the elderly generation, thebetter. And in that time we've
(08:59):
had a lot of questions, we geta lot of people that just
don't know where to go, theydon't know what to do, so at
the beginning of the year I Istarted up a new project which
is kind of related to thatwhere I work with people that
either are busy professionalsor have busy lifestyles or
(09:19):
they own their own business,anyone really, but mainly
those people and they haven'tgot the time to research, they
haven't got the time to lookinto where their loved ones
Should be, could be, what ifs,you know all of the things and
I will look at their situationand work with them one-to-one
to actually get them on theright path, get them where
(09:41):
they want to be so that we canrelieve that kind of stress
and anxiety around finding theright care and because there's
a lot of people that don'tknow what they're entitled to
and they don't know how theycan help their parents and
they don't know how to get itSo that's the idea. And I've
got a wonderful day coming upat the end of the year, but
it's not the end of the year,actually. It's not far away. I
can't believe Christmas isn'tthat far away. And in
(10:05):
November, very beginning ofNovember where I'm doing
aspara treat day. So I promotelooking after yourself before
you look after others, or atleast at the same time,
because you don't look afteryourself, then you haven't got
the time, the energy or thehealth to look after other
people. So That's the reasonwhy it's been held at a spa.
(10:26):
And I'm really looking forwardto that. So that's an
in-person day where people canwork with me one-to-one. We
can work through thoseproblems. But, you know, it's
not one-to-one consultation.It's done in a nice, relaxing
environment. Plus, addedbonus, I love a spa. So...
What's not to love? Whodoesn't love a spa? So yeah,
that's later in the year. Sothat's what I'm working on at
(10:47):
the moment. But yeah, it'sbeen a manic time. Well, I
just think and reflected onwhat you said there, it sounds
incredible. And I always thinkback to what the cabin crew
tell you when you're on theplane, put your mask on before
you put someone else's on.Definitely. As a parent, it's
(11:08):
horrific to think of puttingyour own mask on before your
child. And it's the same forcaring for a parent. As you've
just said, you cannot lookafter anyone else unless you
are physically fit andcapable. And you've got to
think clearly and make theright decisions. And I think
that's the first time I'veever heard that in that
industry, what you justdescribed, this spa, this
(11:30):
retreat. And I just think,wow, that's incredible. And I
imagine also that if you areresponsible for care for your
parents, It's a shocking stateto be in because obviously
you've been dealt a blow ofsome sort and you've got to
make these arrangements and Iwouldn't know where to begin
and to offer that service andto think well you know you've
(11:51):
just described benefits youknow the best facilities,
geographical locations, thebest Yeah, it's definitely
something that is kind ofNeglected in a way. I mean,
(12:25):
don't get me wrong, I won'tget on my soapbox or my... But
there are a lot of areas thatneed attention across the
nation. You know, thereprobably are in many different
countries and we're very luckyto live in the UK, but I think
it's one of the areas thatdoes get kind of... Pushed to
one side sometimes and it'ssad, it shouldn't be like
(12:48):
that. Our elderly generationhave done so much for us and,
you know, kind of set the pathin front of us. So it really
does make me sad that familiesdo have to do that intense
kind of research and put thetime into caring for their
elderly loved ones. That's howit is, you know, so I'm on a
(13:12):
mission, on a mission to help.Well, you've got to, I mean,
cliche with the world's youroyster, you've got so much
potential there to raiseawareness and educate people
like me and, you know, becausesometimes we're going to be
faced with those choices and Iam a person that will research
or I will look for someone tohelp me with the research and
(13:32):
you know there's going to bepeople like me out there that
want to know but and I'm notthe kind of person to bury my
head in the sand either soit's just it's just really
interesting but the fact thatyou brought this up and I've
had to think wow I hadn'tconsidered that but no it's an
interesting one to watchdefinitely. So what about your
leadership journey then andhave you got any key
(13:54):
milestones that shaped yourcareer to bring you to this
point? Yeah I think I have alot of my clients in the past
because I started my my carejourney or being a carer and
working privately with adultswith special needs and complex
needs and so I've got a lotI've got to thank them a lot
for who I am today and whereI'm at today but there was a
(14:19):
there was a time when I workeda care company with my
business now business partnerLisa We had awful issues there
with not getting paid enoughfor what we were doing. We
were managing a centre foradults with special needs and
also elderly with dementia intheir sister branch and we
(14:40):
weren't treated very nicely atall and I was was younger than
most of the people that I wasmanaging and so that
definitely hardened me up alittle bit for where I am now
because you know getting thatrespect and actually
communicating with them wellenough but also them
(15:02):
communicating with me how theyfelt and what it was just a
really really hard time And wemoved on from there and I sort
of stepped away frommanagement roles and
delegating and was working ata print company randomly just
to, you know, fill in the gap,so to speak. But then I got
more redundant and that's whenthe idea came up of any little
(15:25):
thing. I took Lisa for coffeeand cake and she's never
looked back. What we should dois we should set up our own
business and she's at allservice and she's like okay
and here we are today sevenyears later but I think
There's many, many things thathave probably contributed
towards where I am today, howI delegate myself now and how
(15:48):
I manage the staff and how Icommunicate and I couldn't
possibly tell you all of thembecause they've all just come
together and here we aretoday. It's incredible, isn't
it? When you think back tothose first conversations and
that little seed of creativityand I love the sentence, what
(16:11):
if? What if we did this? Whatif we did that? And when you
think back to thoseconversations and you think,
how did I get to this pointfrom that point in that
conversation? And it's anincredible journey, but you
write all the littleinteractions, conversations,
All of those things culminateto bring you to this exact
point where you are today andI kind of love that theory,
(16:34):
that idea and don't want tosound like a cliche again but
my personal belief is thateverything happens for a
reason. You meet people for areason, you learn from people
every day and you've just saidit that a culmination of all
those things is what bringsyou to that idea, that That
business idea or whatever, butI love that you can reflect on
(16:55):
that conversation, that coffeeand cake and bring it to this
point. I don't know whethershe loves me or hates me for
it. Well, we've got far to gowith that one. So have you had
any anyone that's inspired youor any role models along the
way? I have, I've had a lot ofpeople inspire me along the
(17:16):
way. I think in more recentyears, it's been those
business acquaintances thathave come forward and either
supported me in my business orencouraged me to grow it.
People like that in thebusiness world that inspire
me, but then people that I'veworked with that really
inspired me. Yeah. So, and nowin, in the latter years, it's
(17:41):
been business Fellow women inbusiness, I've got to be
honest, I probably am a littlebit of a feminist, deep down,
but I'm like, yeah, you gogirl. And you think, well, if
they can do whatever they'redoing and work towards that
goal or achieve what they haveset out to achieve, then why
can't I do that? And then ontop of that, I've got sort of
(18:01):
like this elderly generationthat I work with and I watch
them and I listen to them andThey say, you know, it feels
like yesterday, my, my son wassix years old, life flashes
before you, you know, and youthink, Oh my God, like, so I
do have to also keep myselfquite under control because,
and my business partner's goodat doing that because I, I,
those two things clashsometimes. But yes, I, over
(18:27):
the years, I would say, youknow, many of my clients have
inspired me as well as, uh,You know, my hard working
family, but also the hardwomen, women and men around
me. Let's not be sexist. Well,it is nice though, to have
those inspirations around youand I'm the same. I've always
(18:48):
looked for inspiration and Ilove it when You know, you
find someone and it justignites something in you, but
you said it, if they can doit, I can do it too. And I
always, no matter if anyone'sachieved it, you know, you do
think, well, I can do it, butyou have moments of doubt,
don't you think, well, I can'tpossibly do that. And then I
(19:08):
like the fact that thesepeople are there to prove that
thought wrong. That you canchange and you think, well,
no, actually you're lying toyourself, you know, if they
can do it, you can do it. Butyeah, it is nice to have to be
so inspired and to constantlylook for that inspiration as
well. So how important do youthink communication is in
leadership? And can you thinkof any examples where it's
(19:31):
gone right or wrong? I imaginethe world that you work in,
it's got to be very precise.Yes. I have worked as a
healthcare assistant in theNHS. I've worked personally in
a family alongside someonewith complex needs. I now work
with elderly people who maydevelop things like, I don't
(19:52):
know, water infections,dementia, Alzheimer's.
Communication for me is a bigone and I learnt a very big
lesson years ago. I can'tremember who said it to me but
you know you should always behonest and if you're not sure
ask. If you get it wrong putyour hands up. And actually,
(20:15):
ever since that day that thatperson said that to me and I
was very young, I think I was20. 20. So we're looking 20
years ago now. I have to saythat every time I've put that
into practice, it's neverserved me wrong. Because it's
embarrassing if you getsomething wrong. But if you
just let it fester and getworse and you don't confess,
(20:35):
either someone else is goingto get the blame. It's going
to come out eventually and youlook like a liar or whether it
may be. But so that's onething I think is really
important about communicationto be honest and hold your
hand up if you have gotsomething wrong or if you
don't understand something.But yes, in the care industry
and in what we do,particularly when you are
(20:57):
performing personal caremedication needs or in
hospitals as a healthcareassistant or nurse, whatever
it may be, if you don'tcommunicate with each other,
it's detrimental to thatperson's health. I think
communication, if I'm honest,The name of the meeting
assistant isThen it's just detrimental to
(21:39):
everyone that's involved,either health or progression.
You get it with teachers inschools as well, don't you? If
you haven't got a goodcommunicator, if someone
doesn't communicate how theyfeel or what they're doing
well enough, then everythingunderneath just goes to pot.
(21:59):
So I think as a leader orsomeone that is, you know, At
the top of the company or theservice, the business,
whatever it may be,communication is extremely
important, you know, to ensurethat you're going to get
mistakes, things are going togo wrong, but to try and
eliminate anything badhappening basically. No, it's
(22:22):
true and I completely agreewith you about the advice you
were given. You have to holdyour hands up, be honest and
admit your mistakes because myview on that is there's
nowhere else to go. If you goout and say, yeah, I made this
mistake. I'm really sorry.Give me the opportunity to put
it right. There's nowhere elseto go after that. If you start
hiding, people can dig and digand dig. And that advice has
(22:45):
served me well, actually. Andit also helps with your
strength in your relationshipsbecause We are allowed to make
mistakes. Hopefully we don'tmake mistakes, but we're human
and we will make mistakes. Butthat has served me well. Hands
up, I apologise. And reallyand truly, there's no where
else to go and you can fix itquicker as well if you do, you
know, make your mistakes andmove on. But for that, there's
(23:08):
nowhere else to go, even ifsomeone's coming after you
with something. I thinkintegrity and honesty and
authenticity, they're valuesthat will serve you well. And
so I've learned that lesson,as you said, So young, that
was probably the best adviceyou were ever given. Yeah, I'm
like, yep, sorry, that was me.Yeah. There'll be
circumstances in all of ourlives where genuinely there's
(23:30):
nowhere else to go. Like ifyou're at school and you try
to cover the fact that youdidn't do your homework and
the teacher says, where's yourhomework? And if you say, I
didn't do it, well, you know,there's nowhere else to go, do
it tomorrow. Okay. But ifyou're lying, go get it or
whatever, do you know what Imean? It's just the honesty
and just holding your hands upand admitting it. And that
will carry on through thebusiness world. Things will go
wrong in your business and youjust got to have that good
(23:52):
relationship with your client.So how comfortable are you
with your audience? And I'mbeing sensitive with the
audience that you have. Areyou comfortable speaking in
public? Do you have a socialmedia presence? How do you
promote your business? I amvery, very much on the social
media. My business partner isnot. Sometimes I love it and
sometimes I hate it. I lovethe way you describe things,
(24:15):
honestly. You shoulddefinitely write more. I
appreciate that you have to bepresent so that people can see
you. You know, it's verychallenging these days because
people apparently only listenfor about 30 seconds now. A
(24:35):
couple of years ago it was 60seconds, you know, so you
could do a reel or a shortvideo for a minute and
everyone would take it in. Nowapparently you've got 30
seconds, which is justabsolutely shocking. What does
that say about us all? And ourattention spans that are
diminishing daily, yeah. Butit's really weird for me and
(24:56):
I'm happy to share thisbecause hopefully it'll make
me overcome my fear. I didsome work with a lady that was
helping me with my emails andemail funnels and everything
and we set up a strategy forme to Go onto my different
social media platforms and,you know, do something
different on them. Maybe notevery day, but something
different on one of them eachday. And the thought of going
(25:19):
live on my personal Facebookprofile, I found terrifying.
And I still do. But if you askme to go live on my personal
profile tomorrow, I say, Oh,kind of just go on Instagram.
And I don't know why that is.I think because Facebook
started first. And everyonethat I know or have ever known
is on Facebook. We all knowthe algorithms will feed that
(25:43):
to whoever they fancy. So itprobably, my close friends
probably wouldn't even see mego live anyway. I don't know
what it is. It's very, veryweird. There needs to be a
name for it. And I, whether Idreamt it or I made it up. And
I've had this conversationwith some interesting people
over the past few weeks. Thereis people like us, we're happy
(26:04):
to do it with potentialcustomers and strangers go
live and do these videos. Butfor some reason, when it comes
to friends and family, it'sno, we don't want to mix the
two worlds. And that'sprobably what it is. And I've
got another friend in theworld and she described this
as well. And she put a post onher personal Facebook page and
(26:26):
just owned it and said, I'mchanging to professional.
Things are going to get alittle bit cringy, but I'm
just going to do it. And shedid. It was quite painful, but
she did it. And then after ashort time, she got used to
it. And, you know, she's gotlike 800 followers and went
through the pain barrier anddid it. But I did see another
(26:47):
post where someone wasactually addressing this about
relatives and friends. And itis funny. It's like if you
think of your family and yourwork colleagues, You'd live in
a million years, mix them,would you? Because you're a
different person when you'reat work. And I think it's
that. So if you can keep yourbusiness separate to your
friends and family, you know,going on video doesn't bother
(27:10):
me. I can do lives if I needto. I don't really need to.
And if I do, if I'm doing alive, I feel like I'm like
knocking my people to have ontheir dinner. So I'm happy to
record a quick video and putit up but I think it's that
and someone needs to come upwith a word to differentiate
friends and family from work.When I come up with it, I'll
(27:33):
let you know and share it.Yes, because I like your
style. You've summarisedthings really, really good,
really well. I do. I thinkthere's some kind of
phenomenon there. And maybebecause we know that our
friends and family know ourtrue selves, but to the
business world or potentialclients, we're putting on this
(27:57):
professional front. Andsometimes, well most of the
time, because you're trying tosell, you're trying to be
professional, your family andfriends will see through that.
But you've got to do that.You've got to be the best
version of yourself whenyou're selling or when you're
speaking or whatever. MaybeI'm being too deep, I don't
know. But it is interesting.Everyone says what you've just
(28:18):
said. Yeah. And it's, I don'tknow, it's just very, very
odd. Or if I was to post avideo to my personal profile,
I don't mind that so mucheither. And, and I can see the
names flashing out being like,Oh gosh, he's watching. Oh
God, he's watching. What doesit even matter? Like, they're
probably fed up with seeing myface anyway, because I'm
everywhere talking on somemedium about something. Well,
(28:41):
that's what I was saying aboutthe podcast, that the stats
that I get on this, they'reanonymous. So I can tell which
country they're coming from.And I'm quite happy with that.
But it doesn't tell me thatAuntie Mary is one. And now
it's yourself. But it's justsuch an interesting
phenomenon, isn't it? And Ithink every person struggles
(29:02):
with that. If you want tosucceed or if you want to help
as many people as you can, ifyou want to push for those
goals, then some of the peoplethat I learned from, some of
my mentors, you've got to pushthrough that. What does it
matter? What anyone thinksbecause if you tie that in
then with life being a journeyand life being precious and
(29:25):
you know that constant reviewof like what have I achieved
or what am I going to achievein life. If you don't push
through that barrier thenyou're never going to are you?
Exactly and the discomfort iswhere the success is and also
who's going to champion youmore than your friends and
family. They're the ones thatare going to be Well, maybe
(29:47):
I'll get a psychologist on oneday and then they can. Yes,
definitely. They can explainit to us. That would be a good
one. So what legacy and impactdo you hope to leave and how
do you measure the impact offair leadership? I think it's
changed a few times you knowover the years since running
Any Little Thing and nowobviously having all these
(30:08):
other ideas and ultimatelyit's all about setting an
example for my son now. Youknow, as much as we would like
to say or think that it'schanged, women do struggle
sometimes to do everything, doall the things, because we are
(30:28):
expected to do all of thethings now, you know, like we
are the home, you know, we doeverything in the house, well
not everything, but a lot ofthings in the house, we
provide the dinner, you know,cook the dinner, whatever, we
look after the children, butthen we're also working full
time or running a business andYeah, I've got friends and I
won't name and shame but theywork for companies and they
(30:50):
are still very much pro menand not women and I think
having a son, which I wasn'texpecting by the way, I
thought I was going to have agirl. I've got one boy's name,
about 10 girls' names. I thinkit's important for him to see
that mummy and daddy both workhard. But, you know, he's come
(31:13):
to work with me over theyears. He did up until he was
18 months old and still now hesometimes comes with me to
some of my customers' housesduring the school holidays. So
that's what I'm trying to sortof Probably set legacy wise, I
want to show him that womenwork hard too and look how
successful mommy is as well asdaddy, not just daddy. And
(31:36):
I've got a few demons thatsurround me all the time, but
I'm determined. But I thinkgoal wise, I would love for
any little thing to be like aleading household, like a
nationwide a household brandbecause we've got bigger
visions and we have biggergoals because of what we see
(31:57):
when we're out on the road andhow we see people are treated
and thinking about the futurewhen I'm elderly. Hopefully
I'll be so lucky to reach80, 90 years of age. So I
would like very much To buildsomething that changes
everything up and make surethat the future is positive.
(32:19):
So yeah, they're probably mytwo main things. That is a
lovely legacy to describe andbe a good example, a good role
model for your son and it'simportant for them to see
these things in action ratherthan just hear the words and
the fact that he's out withyou and he sees it and yeah.
It's paid off already, I willsay, because he is very
(32:42):
empathetic and if he comes toa customer's house now with
me, Brendan and mine, we do alot of cleaning. Everything
else is up to now, you know,we've got that great
reputation. But I tookcuddling books with me one
time and I said, are you goingto sit in the little nook and
deuce and cuddling? Oh, no,Mummy, I'm going to clean the
house with you. If I asked himto clean here he wouldn't do
(33:04):
it but you know. Yeah that'sadorable. Oh wow, oh bless
him. Well that's just lovely.That is amazing and that's
something that you're nevergoing to forget. And it's a
story that you'll retell whenhe's older as well. Oh, that
is adorable. And he's a smellyteenager. And he'll have long
(33:26):
forgotten. Oh, wow. So wherecan we find out more about you
and your business online? AndI'll put these in the show
notes, by the way, for thepodcast. Like I say, I mean, I
don't know, there's not manysocial media platforms I'm not
on, but I'm trying to becomefriends with LinkedIn. So I'm
(33:47):
a Lucy Piper elderly careexpert on there. And then
Instagram, I am underscoreLucy Piper underscore. So I
think if you put in LucyPiper, you'll see me pop up.
And then Facebook, Lucy Piper.We've obviously got Any Little
Thing, so we do have a websitewhich is
(34:08):
www.anylittlething.co.uk. AndI have got a private Facebook
group which is free. It's justa little bit more personal,
finding the right care foryour elderly loved ones. Which
you will find if you come andfind me on Facebook anyway
because I talk about it allthe time and there's lots of
(34:31):
little links that I drop tokeep helping people where I
can. It's all on any of thoseplatforms because I was
starting to get stressed outbecause I was thinking, where
should I post this? Shall Ipost it? And I've just decided
now we've got different typesof people that follow you on
different platforms. So I doput a little bit extra into my
(34:53):
private group and sometimesdifferent bits on my personal
profile, but I try and keep itall consistent. Otherwise it's
just another thing, isn't it?Yeah and another beast to feed
but that sounds wonderful butyeah that the different people
at all different platformsthat that sounds that you've
covered all those all thebases. So I'll put those links
on the show notes and thankyou Lucy it's been an absolute
(35:16):
pleasure. I've loved hearingyour story and your very
beautiful way of summarisingthings and I think you should
write a book of your own. Wellit's funny you should say
that. I have got an e-bookthat I also talk about and it
just walks people through thesteps of finding the right
care and I would like toexpand on that. I would like
(35:38):
to expand on that. So I wouldpull in different experts and
expand on what I've got tooffer there but it's
definitely on the list ofthings to do. Well, watch this
space and thank you so muchfor joining me. It's been an
absolute pleasure. Thank youfor having me. It's been
lovely. Thank you forlistening today and special
(36:00):
thanks to my amazing guestLucy Piper for sharing her
fascinating story with us. Ifyou want to get more exposure
for your business, don't missout on my free resources. You
can find the links in thepodcast notes as well as the
links that Lucy also mentionedin the podcast. Join me on the
next episode for moreincredible stories and
insights. You can follow me onInstagram at CoachAmandaJane
or visit my websiteAmandaJane.co.uk. Bye for now.
Hi, I'm Amanda Jayne andwelcome to the Communicate
With Confidence podcast. Myaim is to take the fear out of
communicating and make it easyand fun. On this podcast, I'm
going to be talking abouteverything to do with good
communication, how we canconnect with our audience, get
better at speaking and givingpresentations, increase
visibility and ultimately getmore sales. I'll also be
(00:21):
talking to some incrediblepeople about their business
and I'll be getting theirinsights on how they view
communication and howcomfortable they are showing
up in person Helloeveryone and welcome to the
Communicate With Confidencepodcast. I'm your host Amanda
(00:42):
Jane and today my guest isLucy Piper. Hello Lucy. Hello,
nice to meet you. Nice to meetyou too and your business is
any little thing and you helppeople find the right care for
elderly loved ones, is thatright? Yes, that's right. So
the home help service, anylittle things are home help
service here in Essex. Sowe've been running for about
(01:04):
seven years and on thatjourney I've learned that
there's not an awful lot ofhelp and support when it comes
to finding the right care foryour elderly loved ones.
There's a lot of people outthere that think it's in a
need of a little bit of aLittle bit of extra help. Well
(01:31):
we will find out a little bitmore about that later on but
before we start have you had achance to think about your
motivational song? Well I wentto an event years ago and this
song whenever it comes on theradio always makes me feel
really Like I can take on theworld and all of my mad
(01:53):
entrepreneurial and personalideas are always going to work
and that's the Katy Perry Rawsong. But I can't tell you
why, it just obviously must besomewhere in my brain that
goes, oh, we like this song,you know, yeah, come on. It's
activated. I love that one.That's a really good way to
describe it. Something justtriggers in your brain. I can
(02:14):
even sing you know! I lovethat description, something
just switches it on and yourentrepreneurial brain but yeah
it does make you feel like youcan take on the world doesn't
it when you hear that that onesong and I love the fact that
this podcast has this playlistthat we can all just sort of
whack on whenever we'refeeling a bit low but yeah I
love that description and whatabout a motivational quote? So
(02:38):
I like life as a journeybecause I think there's a lot
of times in life where wereally do feel low or we might
need a bit more encouragementor support and I just think
You know, there are ups anddowns and don't get me wrong,
(02:58):
there are people that havemore downs than ups and vice
versa, people that have moremoney, less money. There's
very individual circumstances,but it is a journey and I
think we can learn from everysituation in life, whether it
is something really, reallygreat or something really,
really bad, we can learn fromour mistakes, we can learn
from Things that fail, whetherthey're businesses, courses
(03:23):
that we take, it's notfailure, it's progression,
isn't it? So I just like thatsaying, because I think it's a
reminder that life is ajourney, you know, there's no
right or wrong way to do it.It happens and we just have to
jump on for the ride, don'twe? Yeah. Yeah. I love that.
And it makes you think thatit's a journey that just keeps
(03:45):
going. And that's, you've justgot to keep going. And I like
the way you described it. Youknow, you're always going to
be doing, trying something newor doing a new course or
there's always a new thing.And it might sound a little
bit cliche, but you know, youreally don't know what's
around the next corner, but Ilike the fact that you've made
me visualize a sort of neverending path. That it just
keeps going and, you know, youjust never know what's coming
(04:06):
up, do you? So I really likeyour description, the way you
describe things. It can go upin any way, can't it? Yeah.
And I think that's, that is anice way to think of it
because, you know, sometimesbad things do happen and you
need to always have that hopethat you just don't know
what's around the corner. Andit's nice to cling onto that
because it's simply that lifeis a journey and you've just
(04:29):
got to keep going and keepgoing and keep going. So do
you read? I never used to readand I blame a school teacher
way back when I was insecondary school and I used to
love, I'm a horsey girl and Iused to have my own horse and
(04:50):
I used to love reading GinnyElliot and Black Beauty and
Black Ebony and all the otherhorsey books were out there
and the teacher turned aroundto my mum and said, It's great
that Lucy's reading, howevershe needs to read something
different, something otherthan horsey books and stuff
about horses. I don't knowwhether it was that or not but
(05:13):
I think from that day on Ididn't really fall in love
with any other books becausemy mum did what the teacher
had said and I'd do the samewith my son. And I sort of,
she said, oh, you know, youcan't read horsey books
anymore, you know, readsomething different. And I
just didn't really have aninterest in anything else. And
I've never really sort of beenthat into reading unless I go
(05:34):
on holiday or, you know,Something really captures me,
a bit like those horsey booksback in the day. I don't read
them anymore. So in morerecent years, especially
since, you know, all thelockdown, schmockdown stuff, I
have a lot of businessacquaintances that have
(05:54):
written their own books. Andrecommended books for personal
growth, business growth andthings like that. So I've kind
of found a love for readingagain and also been a part of
a book as well, or a couple ofbooks, so over that period.
And so it's really sort ofhelped me fall back in love
with reading again. So yeah,of late, I've tried to read
(06:21):
different things other thanpersonal development books. It
was a shame for that teacherbecause I would have thought I
would have let a kid readwhatever they wanted. As long
as they were reading it didn'treally matter. My youngest,
she discovered Harry Potterwhen she was nine. And
(06:41):
everyone would have been like,oh, you know, it gets a bit
grim around book five. Andobviously she was growing
older as she was working herway through the books. But to
this day, she still lovesHarry Potter and she was
reading them and reading them.But unfortunately, you were
dissuaded from reading. But,you know, I was the teacher. I
would have said, well, as longas she's reading, doesn't
(07:01):
matter what it is. What ashame that put you on. I think
I must have been About 14, 15.And if you think about it, no,
maybe a bit younger, maybe13, 14, year eight, year nine.
And that's quite aninfluential age. Yeah. think.
And you probably could haveprogressed onto the Jilly
Cooper stuff, didn't she?Right. Even though I still
(07:26):
would have been reading BlackBeauty at 14 years old. Oh,
what a shame. Well, I'm gladyou've rediscovered it anyway.
And wow, it's been part of abook and you've got business
acquaintances that havewritten books. I have as well,
and I always like to try andsupport them by writing their
books. And I just think, wow,I know someone that's written
a book. It's just incredible.So moving on to you and your
(07:48):
business then. Can you give usa brief overview of what
you're currently working onand what it is you do? So I've
got any little thing in thebackground, I've got business
partner Lisa, we work on thattogether and we've really made
a difference locally toelderly people, the elderly
generation and how they live.So we empower, we give people
(08:14):
So we will go in and do a lotof the things that care us
back in the day when we set upthe business 2016 at the end
of 2016 I think.Care companies that didn't do
what we did. So we do a lot ofcleaning, we'll take people to
appointments, pick upprescriptions, household
(08:37):
chores, be an extra pair ofears and eyes and support. We
don't do any medication orpersonal care needs. So that's
where the care companies are.But over the years, care
companies have started doingmore of what we're doing, but
they don't really want to dowhat we're doing. So we're not
threatened by that at all. Themore people that are helping
the elderly generation, thebetter. And in that time we've
(08:59):
had a lot of questions, we geta lot of people that just
don't know where to go, theydon't know what to do, so at
the beginning of the year I Istarted up a new project which
is kind of related to thatwhere I work with people that
either are busy professionalsor have busy lifestyles or
(09:19):
they own their own business,anyone really, but mainly
those people and they haven'tgot the time to research, they
haven't got the time to lookinto where their loved ones
Should be, could be, what ifs,you know all of the things and
I will look at their situationand work with them one-to-one
to actually get them on theright path, get them where
(09:41):
they want to be so that we canrelieve that kind of stress
and anxiety around finding theright care and because there's
a lot of people that don'tknow what they're entitled to
and they don't know how theycan help their parents and
they don't know how to get itSo that's the idea. And I've
got a wonderful day coming upat the end of the year, but
it's not the end of the year,actually. It's not far away. I
can't believe Christmas isn'tthat far away. And in
(10:05):
November, very beginning ofNovember where I'm doing
aspara treat day. So I promotelooking after yourself before
you look after others, or atleast at the same time,
because you don't look afteryourself, then you haven't got
the time, the energy or thehealth to look after other
people. So That's the reasonwhy it's been held at a spa.
(10:26):
And I'm really looking forwardto that. So that's an
in-person day where people canwork with me one-to-one. We
can work through thoseproblems. But, you know, it's
not one-to-one consultation.It's done in a nice, relaxing
environment. Plus, addedbonus, I love a spa. So...
What's not to love? Whodoesn't love a spa? So yeah,
that's later in the year. Sothat's what I'm working on at
(10:47):
the moment. But yeah, it'sbeen a manic time. Well, I
just think and reflected onwhat you said there, it sounds
incredible. And I always thinkback to what the cabin crew
tell you when you're on theplane, put your mask on before
you put someone else's on.Definitely. As a parent, it's
(11:08):
horrific to think of puttingyour own mask on before your
child. And it's the same forcaring for a parent. As you've
just said, you cannot lookafter anyone else unless you
are physically fit andcapable. And you've got to
think clearly and make theright decisions. And I think
that's the first time I'veever heard that in that
industry, what you justdescribed, this spa, this
(11:30):
retreat. And I just think,wow, that's incredible. And I
imagine also that if you areresponsible for care for your
parents, It's a shocking stateto be in because obviously
you've been dealt a blow ofsome sort and you've got to
make these arrangements and Iwouldn't know where to begin
and to offer that service andto think well you know you've
(11:51):
just described benefits youknow the best facilities,
geographical locations, thebest Yeah, it's definitely
something that is kind ofNeglected in a way. I mean,
(12:25):
don't get me wrong, I won'tget on my soapbox or my... But
there are a lot of areas thatneed attention across the
nation. You know, thereprobably are in many different
countries and we're very luckyto live in the UK, but I think
it's one of the areas thatdoes get kind of... Pushed to
one side sometimes and it'ssad, it shouldn't be like
(12:48):
that. Our elderly generationhave done so much for us and,
you know, kind of set the pathin front of us. So it really
does make me sad that familiesdo have to do that intense
kind of research and put thetime into caring for their
elderly loved ones. That's howit is, you know, so I'm on a
(13:12):
mission, on a mission to help.Well, you've got to, I mean,
cliche with the world's youroyster, you've got so much
potential there to raiseawareness and educate people
like me and, you know, becausesometimes we're going to be
faced with those choices and Iam a person that will research
or I will look for someone tohelp me with the research and
(13:32):
you know there's going to bepeople like me out there that
want to know but and I'm notthe kind of person to bury my
head in the sand either soit's just it's just really
interesting but the fact thatyou brought this up and I've
had to think wow I hadn'tconsidered that but no it's an
interesting one to watchdefinitely. So what about your
leadership journey then andhave you got any key
(13:54):
milestones that shaped yourcareer to bring you to this
point? Yeah I think I have alot of my clients in the past
because I started my my carejourney or being a carer and
working privately with adultswith special needs and complex
needs and so I've got a lotI've got to thank them a lot
for who I am today and whereI'm at today but there was a
(14:19):
there was a time when I workeda care company with my
business now business partnerLisa We had awful issues there
with not getting paid enoughfor what we were doing. We
were managing a centre foradults with special needs and
also elderly with dementia intheir sister branch and we
(14:40):
weren't treated very nicely atall and I was was younger than
most of the people that I wasmanaging and so that
definitely hardened me up alittle bit for where I am now
because you know getting thatrespect and actually
communicating with them wellenough but also them
(15:02):
communicating with me how theyfelt and what it was just a
really really hard time And wemoved on from there and I sort
of stepped away frommanagement roles and
delegating and was working ata print company randomly just
to, you know, fill in the gap,so to speak. But then I got
more redundant and that's whenthe idea came up of any little
(15:25):
thing. I took Lisa for coffeeand cake and she's never
looked back. What we should dois we should set up our own
business and she's at allservice and she's like okay
and here we are today sevenyears later but I think
There's many, many things thathave probably contributed
towards where I am today, howI delegate myself now and how
(15:48):
I manage the staff and how Icommunicate and I couldn't
possibly tell you all of thembecause they've all just come
together and here we aretoday. It's incredible, isn't
it? When you think back tothose first conversations and
that little seed of creativityand I love the sentence, what
(16:11):
if? What if we did this? Whatif we did that? And when you
think back to thoseconversations and you think,
how did I get to this pointfrom that point in that
conversation? And it's anincredible journey, but you
write all the littleinteractions, conversations,
All of those things culminateto bring you to this exact
point where you are today andI kind of love that theory,
(16:34):
that idea and don't want tosound like a cliche again but
my personal belief is thateverything happens for a
reason. You meet people for areason, you learn from people
every day and you've just saidit that a culmination of all
those things is what bringsyou to that idea, that That
business idea or whatever, butI love that you can reflect on
(16:55):
that conversation, that coffeeand cake and bring it to this
point. I don't know whethershe loves me or hates me for
it. Well, we've got far to gowith that one. So have you had
any anyone that's inspired youor any role models along the
way? I have, I've had a lot ofpeople inspire me along the
(17:16):
way. I think in more recentyears, it's been those
business acquaintances thathave come forward and either
supported me in my business orencouraged me to grow it.
People like that in thebusiness world that inspire
me, but then people that I'veworked with that really
inspired me. Yeah. So, and nowin, in the latter years, it's
(17:41):
been business Fellow women inbusiness, I've got to be
honest, I probably am a littlebit of a feminist, deep down,
but I'm like, yeah, you gogirl. And you think, well, if
they can do whatever they'redoing and work towards that
goal or achieve what they haveset out to achieve, then why
can't I do that? And then ontop of that, I've got sort of
(18:01):
like this elderly generationthat I work with and I watch
them and I listen to them andThey say, you know, it feels
like yesterday, my, my son wassix years old, life flashes
before you, you know, and youthink, Oh my God, like, so I
do have to also keep myselfquite under control because,
and my business partner's goodat doing that because I, I,
those two things clashsometimes. But yes, I, over
(18:27):
the years, I would say, youknow, many of my clients have
inspired me as well as, uh,You know, my hard working
family, but also the hardwomen, women and men around
me. Let's not be sexist. Well,it is nice though, to have
those inspirations around youand I'm the same. I've always
(18:48):
looked for inspiration and Ilove it when You know, you
find someone and it justignites something in you, but
you said it, if they can doit, I can do it too. And I
always, no matter if anyone'sachieved it, you know, you do
think, well, I can do it, butyou have moments of doubt,
don't you think, well, I can'tpossibly do that. And then I
(19:08):
like the fact that thesepeople are there to prove that
thought wrong. That you canchange and you think, well,
no, actually you're lying toyourself, you know, if they
can do it, you can do it. Butyeah, it is nice to have to be
so inspired and to constantlylook for that inspiration as
well. So how important do youthink communication is in
leadership? And can you thinkof any examples where it's
(19:31):
gone right or wrong? I imaginethe world that you work in,
it's got to be very precise.Yes. I have worked as a
healthcare assistant in theNHS. I've worked personally in
a family alongside someonewith complex needs. I now work
with elderly people who maydevelop things like, I don't
(19:52):
know, water infections,dementia, Alzheimer's.
Communication for me is a bigone and I learnt a very big
lesson years ago. I can'tremember who said it to me but
you know you should always behonest and if you're not sure
ask. If you get it wrong putyour hands up. And actually,
(20:15):
ever since that day that thatperson said that to me and I
was very young, I think I was20. 20. So we're looking 20
years ago now. I have to saythat every time I've put that
into practice, it's neverserved me wrong. Because it's
embarrassing if you getsomething wrong. But if you
just let it fester and getworse and you don't confess,
(20:35):
either someone else is goingto get the blame. It's going
to come out eventually and youlook like a liar or whether it
may be. But so that's onething I think is really
important about communicationto be honest and hold your
hand up if you have gotsomething wrong or if you
don't understand something.But yes, in the care industry
and in what we do,particularly when you are
(20:57):
performing personal caremedication needs or in
hospitals as a healthcareassistant or nurse, whatever
it may be, if you don'tcommunicate with each other,
it's detrimental to thatperson's health. I think
communication, if I'm honest,The name of the meeting
assistant isThen it's just detrimental to
(21:39):
everyone that's involved,either health or progression.
You get it with teachers inschools as well, don't you? If
you haven't got a goodcommunicator, if someone
doesn't communicate how theyfeel or what they're doing
well enough, then everythingunderneath just goes to pot.
(21:59):
So I think as a leader orsomeone that is, you know, At
the top of the company or theservice, the business,
whatever it may be,communication is extremely
important, you know, to ensurethat you're going to get
mistakes, things are going togo wrong, but to try and
eliminate anything badhappening basically. No, it's
(22:22):
true and I completely agreewith you about the advice you
were given. You have to holdyour hands up, be honest and
admit your mistakes because myview on that is there's
nowhere else to go. If you goout and say, yeah, I made this
mistake. I'm really sorry.Give me the opportunity to put
it right. There's nowhere elseto go after that. If you start
hiding, people can dig and digand dig. And that advice has
(22:45):
served me well, actually. Andit also helps with your
strength in your relationshipsbecause We are allowed to make
mistakes. Hopefully we don'tmake mistakes, but we're human
and we will make mistakes. Butthat has served me well. Hands
up, I apologise. And reallyand truly, there's no where
else to go and you can fix itquicker as well if you do, you
know, make your mistakes andmove on. But for that, there's
(23:08):
nowhere else to go, even ifsomeone's coming after you
with something. I thinkintegrity and honesty and
authenticity, they're valuesthat will serve you well. And
so I've learned that lesson,as you said, So young, that
was probably the best adviceyou were ever given. Yeah, I'm
like, yep, sorry, that was me.Yeah. There'll be
circumstances in all of ourlives where genuinely there's
(23:30):
nowhere else to go. Like ifyou're at school and you try
to cover the fact that youdidn't do your homework and
the teacher says, where's yourhomework? And if you say, I
didn't do it, well, you know,there's nowhere else to go, do
it tomorrow. Okay. But ifyou're lying, go get it or
whatever, do you know what Imean? It's just the honesty
and just holding your hands upand admitting it. And that
will carry on through thebusiness world. Things will go
wrong in your business and youjust got to have that good
(23:52):
relationship with your client.So how comfortable are you
with your audience? And I'mbeing sensitive with the
audience that you have. Areyou comfortable speaking in
public? Do you have a socialmedia presence? How do you
promote your business? I amvery, very much on the social
media. My business partner isnot. Sometimes I love it and
sometimes I hate it. I lovethe way you describe things,
(24:15):
honestly. You shoulddefinitely write more. I
appreciate that you have to bepresent so that people can see
you. You know, it's verychallenging these days because
people apparently only listenfor about 30 seconds now. A
(24:35):
couple of years ago it was 60seconds, you know, so you
could do a reel or a shortvideo for a minute and
everyone would take it in. Nowapparently you've got 30
seconds, which is justabsolutely shocking. What does
that say about us all? And ourattention spans that are
diminishing daily, yeah. Butit's really weird for me and
(24:56):
I'm happy to share thisbecause hopefully it'll make
me overcome my fear. I didsome work with a lady that was
helping me with my emails andemail funnels and everything
and we set up a strategy forme to Go onto my different
social media platforms and,you know, do something
different on them. Maybe notevery day, but something
different on one of them eachday. And the thought of going
(25:19):
live on my personal Facebookprofile, I found terrifying.
And I still do. But if you askme to go live on my personal
profile tomorrow, I say, Oh,kind of just go on Instagram.
And I don't know why that is.I think because Facebook
started first. And everyonethat I know or have ever known
is on Facebook. We all knowthe algorithms will feed that
(25:43):
to whoever they fancy. So itprobably, my close friends
probably wouldn't even see mego live anyway. I don't know
what it is. It's very, veryweird. There needs to be a
name for it. And I, whether Idreamt it or I made it up. And
I've had this conversationwith some interesting people
over the past few weeks. Thereis people like us, we're happy
(26:04):
to do it with potentialcustomers and strangers go
live and do these videos. Butfor some reason, when it comes
to friends and family, it'sno, we don't want to mix the
two worlds. And that'sprobably what it is. And I've
got another friend in theworld and she described this
as well. And she put a post onher personal Facebook page and
(26:26):
just owned it and said, I'mchanging to professional.
Things are going to get alittle bit cringy, but I'm
just going to do it. And shedid. It was quite painful, but
she did it. And then after ashort time, she got used to
it. And, you know, she's gotlike 800 followers and went
through the pain barrier anddid it. But I did see another
(26:47):
post where someone wasactually addressing this about
relatives and friends. And itis funny. It's like if you
think of your family and yourwork colleagues, You'd live in
a million years, mix them,would you? Because you're a
different person when you'reat work. And I think it's
that. So if you can keep yourbusiness separate to your
friends and family, you know,going on video doesn't bother
(27:10):
me. I can do lives if I needto. I don't really need to.
And if I do, if I'm doing alive, I feel like I'm like
knocking my people to have ontheir dinner. So I'm happy to
record a quick video and putit up but I think it's that
and someone needs to come upwith a word to differentiate
friends and family from work.When I come up with it, I'll
(27:33):
let you know and share it.Yes, because I like your
style. You've summarisedthings really, really good,
really well. I do. I thinkthere's some kind of
phenomenon there. And maybebecause we know that our
friends and family know ourtrue selves, but to the
business world or potentialclients, we're putting on this
(27:57):
professional front. Andsometimes, well most of the
time, because you're trying tosell, you're trying to be
professional, your family andfriends will see through that.
But you've got to do that.You've got to be the best
version of yourself whenyou're selling or when you're
speaking or whatever. MaybeI'm being too deep, I don't
know. But it is interesting.Everyone says what you've just
(28:18):
said. Yeah. And it's, I don'tknow, it's just very, very
odd. Or if I was to post avideo to my personal profile,
I don't mind that so mucheither. And, and I can see the
names flashing out being like,Oh gosh, he's watching. Oh
God, he's watching. What doesit even matter? Like, they're
probably fed up with seeing myface anyway, because I'm
everywhere talking on somemedium about something. Well,
(28:41):
that's what I was saying aboutthe podcast, that the stats
that I get on this, they'reanonymous. So I can tell which
country they're coming from.And I'm quite happy with that.
But it doesn't tell me thatAuntie Mary is one. And now
it's yourself. But it's justsuch an interesting
phenomenon, isn't it? And Ithink every person struggles
(29:02):
with that. If you want tosucceed or if you want to help
as many people as you can, ifyou want to push for those
goals, then some of the peoplethat I learned from, some of
my mentors, you've got to pushthrough that. What does it
matter? What anyone thinksbecause if you tie that in
then with life being a journeyand life being precious and
(29:25):
you know that constant reviewof like what have I achieved
or what am I going to achievein life. If you don't push
through that barrier thenyou're never going to are you?
Exactly and the discomfort iswhere the success is and also
who's going to champion youmore than your friends and
family. They're the ones thatare going to be Well, maybe
(29:47):
I'll get a psychologist on oneday and then they can. Yes,
definitely. They can explainit to us. That would be a good
one. So what legacy and impactdo you hope to leave and how
do you measure the impact offair leadership? I think it's
changed a few times you knowover the years since running
Any Little Thing and nowobviously having all these
(30:08):
other ideas and ultimatelyit's all about setting an
example for my son now. Youknow, as much as we would like
to say or think that it'schanged, women do struggle
sometimes to do everything, doall the things, because we are
(30:28):
expected to do all of thethings now, you know, like we
are the home, you know, we doeverything in the house, well
not everything, but a lot ofthings in the house, we
provide the dinner, you know,cook the dinner, whatever, we
look after the children, butthen we're also working full
time or running a business andYeah, I've got friends and I
won't name and shame but theywork for companies and they
(30:50):
are still very much pro menand not women and I think
having a son, which I wasn'texpecting by the way, I
thought I was going to have agirl. I've got one boy's name,
about 10 girls' names. I thinkit's important for him to see
that mummy and daddy both workhard. But, you know, he's come
(31:13):
to work with me over theyears. He did up until he was
18 months old and still now hesometimes comes with me to
some of my customers' housesduring the school holidays. So
that's what I'm trying to sortof Probably set legacy wise, I
want to show him that womenwork hard too and look how
successful mommy is as well asdaddy, not just daddy. And
(31:36):
I've got a few demons thatsurround me all the time, but
I'm determined. But I thinkgoal wise, I would love for
any little thing to be like aleading household, like a
nationwide a household brandbecause we've got bigger
visions and we have biggergoals because of what we see
(31:57):
when we're out on the road andhow we see people are treated
and thinking about the futurewhen I'm elderly. Hopefully
I'll be so lucky to reach80, 90 years of age. So I
would like very much To buildsomething that changes
everything up and make surethat the future is positive.
(32:19):
So yeah, they're probably mytwo main things. That is a
lovely legacy to describe andbe a good example, a good role
model for your son and it'simportant for them to see
these things in action ratherthan just hear the words and
the fact that he's out withyou and he sees it and yeah.
It's paid off already, I willsay, because he is very
(32:42):
empathetic and if he comes toa customer's house now with
me, Brendan and mine, we do alot of cleaning. Everything
else is up to now, you know,we've got that great
reputation. But I tookcuddling books with me one
time and I said, are you goingto sit in the little nook and
deuce and cuddling? Oh, no,Mummy, I'm going to clean the
house with you. If I asked himto clean here he wouldn't do
(33:04):
it but you know. Yeah that'sadorable. Oh wow, oh bless
him. Well that's just lovely.That is amazing and that's
something that you're nevergoing to forget. And it's a
story that you'll retell whenhe's older as well. Oh, that
is adorable. And he's a smellyteenager. And he'll have long
(33:26):
forgotten. Oh, wow. So wherecan we find out more about you
and your business online? AndI'll put these in the show
notes, by the way, for thepodcast. Like I say, I mean, I
don't know, there's not manysocial media platforms I'm not
on, but I'm trying to becomefriends with LinkedIn. So I'm
(33:47):
a Lucy Piper elderly careexpert on there. And then
Instagram, I am underscoreLucy Piper underscore. So I
think if you put in LucyPiper, you'll see me pop up.
And then Facebook, Lucy Piper.We've obviously got Any Little
Thing, so we do have a websitewhich is
(34:08):
www.anylittlething.co.uk. AndI have got a private Facebook
group which is free. It's justa little bit more personal,
finding the right care foryour elderly loved ones. Which
you will find if you come andfind me on Facebook anyway
because I talk about it allthe time and there's lots of
(34:31):
little links that I drop tokeep helping people where I
can. It's all on any of thoseplatforms because I was
starting to get stressed outbecause I was thinking, where
should I post this? Shall Ipost it? And I've just decided
now we've got different typesof people that follow you on
different platforms. So I doput a little bit extra into my
(34:53):
private group and sometimesdifferent bits on my personal
profile, but I try and keep itall consistent. Otherwise it's
just another thing, isn't it?Yeah and another beast to feed
but that sounds wonderful butyeah that the different people
at all different platformsthat that sounds that you've
covered all those all thebases. So I'll put those links
on the show notes and thankyou Lucy it's been an absolute
(35:16):
pleasure. I've loved hearingyour story and your very
beautiful way of summarisingthings and I think you should
write a book of your own. Wellit's funny you should say
that. I have got an e-bookthat I also talk about and it
just walks people through thesteps of finding the right
care and I would like toexpand on that. I would like
(35:38):
to expand on that. So I wouldpull in different experts and
expand on what I've got tooffer there but it's
definitely on the list ofthings to do. Well, watch this
space and thank you so muchfor joining me. It's been an
absolute pleasure. Thank youfor having me. It's been
lovely. Thank you forlistening today and special
(36:00):
thanks to my amazing guestLucy Piper for sharing her
fascinating story with us. Ifyou want to get more exposure
for your business, don't missout on my free resources. You
can find the links in thepodcast notes as well as the
links that Lucy also mentionedin the podcast. Join me on the
next episode for moreincredible stories and
insights. You can follow me onInstagram at CoachAmandaJane
or visit my websiteAmandaJane.co.uk. Bye for now.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.