023. THE TREASURE ROOM [VIDEO]

Co-founder of the @thetreasureroom_ ,Liana, joins Crew Table for a raw, real, and unfiltered conversation about the prop hire world, the chaos behind events, and the hard lessons learned building an events business from the ground up.

As a single mother and founder of one of Sydney’s most in-demand event hire companies, Liana opens up about hitting a turning point in her life — navigating uncertainty, finding direction, and transforming personal challenges into purpose-driven success. We dive deep into the highs and lows of dealing with stylists, blurred boundaries behind the scenes, influencer collaborations that fell short, and the rise of copycat competitors.

From managing anxiety and burnout to calling out unrealistic vendor expectations, this episode peels back the polished curtain of the wedding and events world. If you’re a stylist, planner, or creative in the industry — this one’s essential listening.

HOSTED BY @georgejohnphotography @crewtable

PRODUCED BY @danieljohnmedia

Episode Transcript

(00:10):
Diana from Treasure Room. Welcome to the crew table.
George John, thank you for having me and congratulations on
this podcast. Thank you.
You're like. Have talked about doing this
and. They they haven't.
No, we should talk about, you know, people actually doing
stuff, right? Actually working.
Yes. Your episode 22. 22 I like that.
Number. I like that number.
My favourite number. It is OK.

(00:31):
Interesting. It's.
A fluke, so you can't let it flop.
Do you believe in Angel numbers?Yeah.
Yeah, same. My daughter was born 22/12/22
Special 2:00 in the morning and.She's pretty special.
Yeah, she's pretty special. She is.
She's a beautiful. Girl I always say that I want to
get 22 tattered on my hand but Ifeel like if I get a hand
tattered it's going to make me look like an idiot.
Don't do it. Why don't do it?
Just keep it. It's special in your mind and

(00:52):
when you see it, you know someone's watching over you.
But you don't need to get it outof the tattoo.
I don't think so. No, not like right here.
Like a Nelly Like a Nelly band aid.
Check my Titan make Titan havinglike a FaceTime.
Every time I see you, I'll be like I know about you.
I'm feeling change. No shut.
Up. I hate that Lady.
She's ruined it. She ruined 22 for us.

(01:14):
I hate her. Yeah, guys, I'm sitting with
Liana from Treasure Room. Prop hire queen.
Yeah. That's that's a very big title
you gave me. That's a big title, yeah.
You're one of the first major major prop highs in Sydney.
Yeah, I think we one of the not one of we, there was a lot that
existed. I think we changed the game a

(01:34):
little bit. How did you change the game?
I think me and my mom, when we started, the reason why we came
to the industry is because we had a lot of ideas.
We're both creatives at heart and we wanted, we were seeing
too much of the same thing and we knew that could be better.
So my mom would like see ideas, I'd see ideas.
And honestly, a lot of our inspiration did not come from

(01:56):
the events industry. And like a lot of our, a lot of
that inspiration came from say, you know, outside interiors,
architecture, homes, you know, colours, textures that you would
see in homes. They can be used as inspiration
for props. So we had so much to offer and
we thought we started, we started off really slow, really

(02:16):
small and then just, you know, doubling in doing a few things.
And we loved vintage pieces. So my mum loved vintage piece.
She used to go hunt for vintage pieces, reupholster them.
And we just had a huge appreciation for it.
And it's some of those things from right in the beginning have
made a comeback now. So I've still got like all my
brass candlesticks and silver candlesticks from 10 years ago,

(02:37):
and now they're trending. You make you make a lot of it.
We do. We just, we make a lot of our
props, yeah. You don't like just do you?
Do you source a lot like as in like get it sourced overseas and
get it made overseas or do you predominantly make not?
So much we use a lot of wholesalers here.
I have done got in like a container in the past from
overseas, but we use local builders that make our stuff

(02:58):
like like a Carpenter. We'd like.
I just hand sketch something. I'll be like, yeah, can you make
this? Yeah, I find that really cool
because I've heard stuff from you.
Yeah, yeah, you have so the plants, Yeah.
And so many people, actually oneof those, yeah, that's it.
And a lot of photographers ask us for them.
They're so heavy duty, they're. Like they're well made and.
I just keep painting it. Yeah.

(03:19):
Whenever I get like the cycle painted I'll just get them to.
Paint they they are well made. Yeah, they definitely are.
Do you? How's your experience with a
container converse like making it?
It was, it was a very testing like it costs a lot of money and
these days it's very expensive to get a container in from
overseas. But back then some of the stock
was really good and then some ofthe stock was just the quality
wasn't there because it's very hard and I learnt a lot from

(03:42):
that. You have to work with like an
agent, it's better and you have to find the right supplies.
Eventually, I think I do want togo there myself to China, say,
and, you know, meet with supplies and see the product
because, yeah, half of the container, a lot of the stuff
just wasn't good quality. Yeah.
And it's a risk. It's a big risk investing a lot
of money. And you don't know what stock

(04:04):
will work, what stock won't work.
Yeah. We just like randomly went into
a tangent over here. This is going to be like a
tangent episode, guys. We can talk underwater both to
the other and I, but I to give you a little bit of a breakdown.
Liana's gone through a lot of winds.
She's gone through a lot of breakdowns, all the in between.
Yeah, let's call her the breakdowns, But she has a lot to
say. So if anyone knows Liana, she

(04:25):
has a lot to say. Not bad, not bad, but a lot to
say in terms of, like, experience.
And she's definitely someone who's real.
So like, I think we're both sweating bullets because I'm
scared about how real you're going to get.
But you know, like, you know, you've gone through a lot of
experiences with people and businesses that I feel like.

(04:45):
There's stories to tell. There's stories to tell, and I
feel like you're willing and gamely enough to share those
stories. Even if it doesn't, it's more
productive for people to listen to and learn from.
Yeah. Right, I am game enough to share
that. Worded that.
Really. Yeah, I was very careful with
that. Be careful how you say that.
Yeah, I have to be, I have to bevery careful because I don't
want to affect you and I don't want to affect anyone that's,

(05:06):
you know, the stories are related to.
I'm not here to affect anyone, it's not my style.
It's more just like sharing the experience for people to learn.
And these experiences for peopleto learn from them.
And also, I don't want to just be here and paint a pretty
picture, though it's just a smooth ride.
In the events industry, it's not.
That was so I'm going to take itback, feel like I've done the

(05:27):
industry but take me back 10 years ago.
Let's talk first on a little bitwhat was life like when you
became a single mum to your son?It's not something I ever you
know, you don't, no one plans todo to become a single mum,
right? You just everyone just thinks I
want to make the love of my life, get married and, you know,
have this picture perfect happy family.

(05:50):
And I found myself when I was married.
I wasn't even married for very long.
My son was a year and nine months when I got separated.
He was super young and somethingin my gut just said to me like I
need to end my marriage because I had given my ex husband like
I'm not going to get into too much detail, but I had said I

(06:12):
wasn't happy for a long time. And he's not a bad person.
It's just we didn't click and we'd bicker a lot and we just
weren't made for each other. And we work so much better
working together as Co parents, not living together.
That's beautiful though. Yeah.
So my so it, it has its challenges because you are on

(06:32):
your own. But I am so lucky.
I have such good family behind me, you know, a supportive mom,
a supportive dad, siblings, friends.
I have it takes a village, as they say.
And I have a huge circle of people that supported me through
it all. But it is hard because you don't
know what's next for you. Yeah.
You know, it's just like, OK, what's going to happen now?
Am I ever, am I ever going to find love?

(06:53):
So. And you stress about that too.
That happens a lot. That happened a lot too.
But I don't anymore. It's just my son.
All I look at now is that my sonis happy.
Yeah, he's fine. He has a perfect relationship
with his dad. Yeah, perfect relationship with
me. And he's just a happy kid.
But. He's coping really well with,
which I think is the. Most we do.
We do. My ex husband's amazing.
He's remarried, he has a baby, he's he's his wife.

(07:17):
My son loves her. Awesome.
Yeah. So it's, it's worked well.
Yeah, yeah. What did you learn from that
period, or was there anything that kind of made it a Turning
Page moment? Obviously it's a huge moment to
go through in life and a huge experience.
What I learned from that is fromthat.
Is don't don't listen to what people are telling you.
Do what you in your gut believe is right.

(07:39):
I had so many people be like, don't ruin your family.
Your son's so young. How can you do that to him?
And I'm like, and I followed my gut and it was the right thing
to do. My son would have grown up in a
home seeing his parents constantly fighting.
And that wouldn't have been healthy for him.
That would have been worse for him.
Some people like, he's too young.
Wait until he's 5 or 6. I'm like that will affect him
more seeing his family fall apart.

(08:01):
My son was so young that he doesn't remember the time when
we lived together. So in my head, I believe that
that was the right thing to do to end the relationship before
it got to the point where my sonwould remember.
Yeah, and be aware of the whole.Be aware of it all.
So he just taught me that you should always follow your gut
and that's been a constant learning lesson in my life, is

(08:22):
to follow your gut instinct. Block out the noise.
Don't remember what people are saying?
If you truly believe it's right,do it.
They're not. No one's living your life.
You're living your life. 1000% did the treasure room come
before or after this point Afterafter yeah how long after can
you just take me to the bit of the journey and.
Not long after it was more so I felt really, really lost at that

(08:42):
time. I didn't know what to do with my
life. I was quite broke.
I had, I had nothing to my name,like nothing.
And I had gone through a lot like my parents had gotten
divorced. I, I was going through a lot
emotionally and my mom wanted todo something and we came up with
the idea of, you know, first it started off as backdrops.

(09:03):
The industry events needs backdrops and I come from a
background of I used to actuallybake cakes.
I used to love styling. So styling has always been a
part of me. I've always loved pretty things.
My brain doesn't. I don't.
I don't know how to do maths. Yeah, my brain is creative.
That's it. They say.
They talk about left and right. I don't know.
My brain is just all creative. Everything else is out the

(09:24):
window. Out the window.
I only know how to, you know, And I've been like that since I
was a little girl. Like, you know, my mom used to
say Rihanna would cry if her bibbons in her hair didn't match
her clothes. No.
So I would have anxiety if my outfit did not match.
Oh wow. So I was always into style and

(09:44):
things looking pretty. Yeah.
So when we decided, oh, maybe we'll do backdrops and then we
just, it just the idea just evolved.
So the mom said, let's start. And then we started.
When we started, we had no, we took so much such a big risk.
We got a warehouse, we barely had clients.
And then bang, it was just like,all of a sudden we got
discovered by 1 stylist, by another stylist and and then it

(10:08):
was just like a ripple effect. It was just one after the other.
And they were like, oh, these guys look what they've got and
look what they've got to offer. And it was just exciting for
everyone. Yeah, well, that's the industry
in a nutshell. Anything that's new in the
upcoming, they're like. And and we were just really like
brazen, my mom, my mom was very big.
Yep, someone wanted something. We'll make it.
You know what I mean? We can do it.
And and that's what you have to have balls.

(10:29):
You have to have guts and and that's what we did.
And it just, but that also every, it just grew so quickly.
And we we didn't know nothing about business and that and, and
I was just in a constant state of stress.
Yeah, because we just grew so quickly and we had no proper
direction, no proper plan. How involved is your mum now?
She backed off for a while, she wasn't as involved as much and

(10:54):
she left me like I was doing most of it.
But she has fully come back on the scene now.
Oh awesome. So she does a lot of the, she
has a lot of the painting, you know, that helps with the
building and, you know, gets ridof what we don't need like, so
she has. A She has a role.
Yeah, she has a role. Do you see the difference?
If anyone? She's out.

(11:14):
As when she. When she's in and when she's
out. Oh, it definitely helps to have
her in. Yeah, yeah.
Because there was a point where I felt like a lot was on me and.
And that's, and that's very hard.
It's it's hard when you're running the show on your own.
Yeah. What's the impact of Stylus with
your business? How much of A role do they play?
Huge, huge Stylus is so important to our.
We've built relationships with stylus.

(11:36):
I'm friends with the stylus thatuse us.
They're they're they're some of my good friends.
We go out to dinner. Yeah, on the weekends.
Do you think your business will be where it's at if you don't
have those relationships? No, we wouldn't.
We wouldn't be where we're at without the stylus.
They are literally the most important part of our business.
The relationships we've built with them, the trust they put in
us to deliver, that is so important.

(11:58):
You know, it makes my day when like I work with a stylist and
she's like, I'm like, do you want to take photos of the
build? And she'll be like, no, I trust
you. That makes my day because I know
that I have always, always delivered what they want and
they're not going to be disappointed.
So yeah, it is a huge part of our business.
But has there been times where the stylists, you know, the

(12:24):
relationship isn't so great? That was also happened too do.
You want to touch on it, give ussome stories.
I'll touch on it a little bit. There was a time I think where
there was no boundaries. It's not now earlier on, there
was just we can, we can message you at 11:00 at night and have a

(12:44):
chat. And then I was like, this is
exhausting. It's exhausting always being on
your phone and on call. Or we can chat at 5:00 AM in the
morning, 5:30 in the morning. And then what I started doing
brain. Surgery.
I always call a brain surgery talk.
It's something is so important, you realise, Wait, we're not
doing brain surgery. Literally, it's not an

(13:06):
emergency. Just wait.
But I started putting you have The thing is you have to put the
boundaries in place. So if you always reply at 11:00
or 10:00 at an hour, after hours, they're just going to get
used to that. Hey, have you got a minute?
Let's chat and they just like send you all these photos and
let's chat about this. It's not their fault.
I'm I'm replying. Yeah.

(13:26):
And then I learned to like, justlightly put that boundary.
Look, there's nothing against you.
There's no hate. So you wouldn't say anything to
them? Like can you please text me at
9:00 AM now? Or do you just like just?
I'm just gonna let them paint like get.
Look, honestly, most of them arevery understanding and they're
just like don't sometimes some say don't reply now, but then
some are like, hey, can you justget back to me?
Sorry, I'm not at work, I'm not at my desk or whatever.

(13:47):
I'm just with family now. I'll get back to you first thing
in the morning. Don't worry, I've got this
sorted and they know I'm always gonna that's.
A nice way to put it, Yeah. It's nice to hear, like the
small little responses. Yeah, sometimes in the moment
you're just like, I just want torespond to get this kind of
answered and yeah, not leave thehanging.
Yeah, So I don't like to leave people hanging.
I just say I'll respond to you shortly like I respond to in the
morning. But you have to put those
boundaries in place if you want a work life balance.

(14:09):
Like people say in this industry, there's no work life
balance. There's no work life balance
because you're not allowing for it, allowing a work life
balance. If you want a work life balance,
you need to work for that. Yeah, you need to divide your
work. And do you have?
Any pet peeves when it comes to communication?
Although the work we're on that topic, I have one.

(14:30):
DMS. I was gonna say when I was
looking at your page again, I think was yesterday, there's no
DMS. It says no DMS and I would love
to put that in my bio but I feellike I just don't like the look
of it but I wanna put it as my display picture.
George, I am with you. I don't like the look of it.
You just like. But I have to because people
think that because what happens is most businesses do take

(14:54):
respond on DMS and IDM people inbusiness as well because they
don't have it in their bio. So I'm like I'll just hit them
up in DM. It is easy because you're
already on Instagram, you see something.
Mobile number take right there it's.
Just right there. Just message my issue with the
node with DMS is if someone's making an inquiry, we're a hire
business. We need to check availability.
Yeah. So if I check availability here

(15:15):
and then I've got my girl then on the computer and she told
someone else this is available for this day.
It's. A great cross referencing.
Exactly, so if everything is in one place, which is email, it
makes our life easier. People take it personal but
that's it's only for organisation.
God, I love it when it's just through email.
Yeah, it's just the way it's meant to be.
The way it's. Meant to be organised, Yeah,

(15:35):
It's like everything's in the. Take it personal, they take it
the wrong they think, they think, oh, they're so uptight,
why can't they just reply for myDM?
But sometimes if someone look, if someone just DMS and asks a
simple question, of course, doesthis table come in beige?
Be like, yeah, sure, it comes inbeige.
Yeah. And then I'll write.
Please email for all inquiries. So I still do respond to the
DMS, but I say, sorry, we don't handle the booking on DM.

(15:57):
Can you imagine having all your bookings in different places?
Text message? See, my pet peeve is WhatsApp.
Text message oh WhatsApp. I don't know why I freaking hate
it. Why?
Because it's just like it's the last place what's up for me in
my life. And I know it's not for
everyone's life. It's just like a family.
Group thing, it's a family groupchat situation.
It's like everyone use all my family group chat is WhatsApp

(16:17):
and that's all I use WhatsApp for.
Like I don't use it on a personal, I don't message any
message through iMessage or I'llnever message a client through
WhatsApp. Well, I don't handle a booking
on WhatsApp. Absolutely not.
Just get someone messaging you on WhatsApp or sending a voice
to my voice like my I'm just like.
I'm such a led by voice, no? I know, yeah.
Because, you know, we all live with a little bit of Beirut in
Arsenal, just like I love, you know, you just love this voice.

(16:40):
No pressing that voice. No, with the thing sends off.
We'll send you express somethingproperly and you can't in a text
message. It seems like blunt.
That's a phone call. No, I can't handle that because
I'm like, do you know what it is?
It's not anyone. It's me.
Because I'll forget. Yeah, right.
I have enough going on. I I'm the same.
That's why I like all my enquiries in one place, because

(17:03):
if someone texts me, I'm going to forget.
Yeah, but some, some styles I work with just want a message.
So I have to I have to like. Respect that.
Yeah, but they also like, I knowyou love, I know you love an
email, but I'm just going to message you.
But like, OK. But we just muck around.
It's so light. Like, it's not, it's not like,
Oh my God, I can't stand her because she texted me.
Absolutely not. No.
It's not that serious. Gosh, you're not.

(17:24):
That serious? Let's.
Talking about it, you spoke to me a little bit about mental
health journey over the last couple of years.
Yeah. Heavy topic, what's been the
biggest change or like, you know, mental health challenge
you've ever come over the past few?
Years no one prepares you. I think when you go into like an
industry of running your own show.

(17:47):
I was not someone that struggledwith anxiety and I started
struggling with anxiety because my plate was so full.
And, you know, doing a delivery schedule on the weekend, say,
and it was really busy and I wasstressed about making sure
everyone will be at a job on time.
So I'd go to sleep on like a Saturday night and I'll be
waking up every hour anxious andjust dreaming about something

(18:11):
going wrong because I need to make sure we deliver 100%.
And I've had experiences where I've woken up in the morning to
my phone where a driver's cancelled on me.
And you have to be really quick and you have to be a really
quick problem solver. And like I call it in this
industry, you know, people will see the glamorous side and the
finished product. We're putting out fires.

(18:31):
So we're doing that's my main job is putting out fires.
You know, I don't know if you experienced that, you know.
To some degrees, not a lot. Yeah, but things really go
wrong. Like things have gone wrong
where you know, the client's given us a date, but then on the
invoice we've got a different date and we get a phone call on
the day saying where are the items?

(18:53):
I'm going to keep it real. These things happen.
We're not robots running a business, we're humans.
So these things happen, human error.
And then there's no one to blamebecause the client didn't check
on her invoice the date and thenwe made a mistake.
So we both made the mistake of not cross checking, which is so
important. We have to cross check and then

(19:14):
we're stuck in this situation and that I'm constantly anxious
and there were just came a pointlike 2 years ago where I just
realised I was having anxiety over nothing in particular where
I was just constantly anxious. It's like manifesting almost
that something's going to go wrong.
So what have you done to overcome that anxiousness?

(19:35):
Well, two years ago, I think I just, I, I, I woke up like it
was the beginning of the year. It was still when it's like a
little bit quiet in January period and I woke up feeling so
lost and overwhelmed and it was just like, I can't keep living
like this. I remember I got up early in the
morning because I was having, I was having anxiety and I went
for a sunrise walk and I remember just this makes it this

(19:57):
day makes me emotional two yearsago and I remember just I'd
never seen a sunrise and I went and saw a sunrise and I just
cried my eyes out over a sunrisebecause.
There was just such a sense of calmness and I just felt like I
was running for years and I wasn't.
Even though people don't people say you go out for dinner, you
go. But I, sometimes I'd be at

(20:18):
dinner and I'd be anxious and I just, there was this sense of
calmness that I felt in that moment that nothing like nothing
mattered And I was just enjoyingthis beautiful sunset, sunrise,
not sunset. And then that after that day, I
remember I just said, I've got to do something about this.
And I got to combat this and I got to start taking care of

(20:40):
myself because I, I started looking so much into like
regulating your nervous system because I realised my nervous
system was completely out of whack.
I was not taking time out to do anything for me, for my mental
health. So the things that I did to
combat that. And you know, I highly recommend
this to anyone struggling with anxiety, not necessarily talk

(21:02):
therapy. You don't have to go see a
therapist. You know, sometimes that doesn't
work for everyone, but journaling is a massive thing
for me. But I started doing yoga to sit
still. And people say I don't know how
to do yoga. I get bored.
And that's the whole point, right?
That's the whole point, is to actually sit in the present.
Yeah, sit in the present and close your eyes while you

(21:24):
stretch with your eyes closed and not go into the future and
not go into the past. Just be in that moment.
It's very hard. It's very, very hard.
Meditation is like, it's not something you're gonna get from
the first guy. Definitely not.
I think it's something that you have to practise like an
instrument. It's like, do you know how to
play a piano? No.
But if I keep practising and I'll learn how to play a piano,
it's exactly the same thing withmeditation.

(21:46):
You're never gonna get it from the first go or the second.
It might take you a year, it might take you 2 years to know
how to do it. But that's my escape now that's.
Awesome. Yeah, it's good you found it.
I found a healthy 1, yeah. Do you know why I reckon you got
emotional from the sunrise? Why get like deep?
Maybe this is when my mind goes exactly.
I have to help. I have my have myself back,
George. Yeah, I mean.
I feel like it gives you that reminder that like life just

(22:09):
keeps moving forward and time will just keep moving forward.
Like the sun will always rise and the sun will.
Always rise. And, and after that, I remember
after that I had put a reel up and I said the sun will rise.
And that is your gift. Every day that the sun rises
again, it's another day. Don't give up.
Yeah, and it was just the stillness of it.
It was just the beauty of it. Sometimes you actually need to
sit and go. It's we're worrying about all

(22:31):
these little things that don't matter that in 30 years they're
not going to matter. Enjoy the sunrise you.
Don't. Remember it?
Yeah, you won't remember all those little.
Little tiny things, you just remember the feeling of it.
That's right, But you won't remember all those tiny things,
and so you just have. To never sweat the let it go.
Baby, just let it go. Always say it for me.
I always just go for like a walk.

(22:52):
It's like what? Exercises.
I love to see the hustle and bustle and just realise that
like everyone just going on, like everything is going on.
Like moving your body, moving your body.
The world just move and like, it's chaotic.
Ness. Yeah, makes me calm.
Makes you calm, Yeah, yeah. But also you just changing your
environment sometimes calms you.And that's why, you know, people
say, you know, when you're stuckat your desk, get up and as you

(23:14):
said, like, you walk around or do something different, have a
stretch, Yeah, you know, just gooutside, sit, like, sit in the
sun. Yeah, for sure.
You know, it's just about changing.
You have to, but you have to recognise.
So many things, man, so many, somany, so many ways.
But yeah, I think it's important.
But you have to recognise it, stop like putting it on your
own, stop brushing it under the carpet and just putting it.
That's what I kept doing. Like, you know, whatever, it's

(23:34):
just a bit of anxiety. It's normal.
Everyone's stressed in this industry.
This is what I used to say to myself.
Everyone's stressed and we're just normalising it.
Why are we normalising it? It's not true.
It's actually. True, though it's a good
conversation to have. We shouldn't normalise always
being busy and we shouldn't likeI think I saw someone online
saying when I say online it's like TikTok.
Yeah, that's why like my research comes from.

(23:55):
It's like TikTok. But someone said like it's not
always normal and good to say that you're constantly busy.
I've read I I had seen that too.Yeah, it's someone saying.
Fascinated with that? Yeah.
And it's people associate success with.
Busy, busy success doesn't necessarily need to mean you're.
Busy not for me. Success can be controlled.
Yep. Success doesn't have to.
Some people, Some people work smarter, not harder.

(24:17):
Yeah, You know what I mean? Being busy and looking like a
head, running around like a headless truck and not having
time to brush your hair. It doesn't mean for me that's
not success. 100% that is. That is the opposite of success
for me. I feel like when I was like
that, I felt like I was failing at life.
Yeah, because I couldn't be present.
So even when I was somewhere andI was, you know, I look like I'm
at dinner, have fun. But I wasn't in my head.

(24:39):
You couldn't see inside my head.I wasn't present.
I was stressing about tomorrow or I was looking at my phone
going, oh God, I've got all these messages that I have to
get back to and deal with this stuff tomorrow.
And imagine you're never allowing yourself to just go.
Breathe. Sit back, yeah, and take a
little bit, yeah. And you know what?
What's the point if I'm going towake up every hour during the
night stressing I can't change anything during the night?

(25:02):
On this conversation, but our phones are our biggest problem.
It is. Sorry, I'm going to say our
phones are like deadly. You're constantly on social.
Have you invest in D&D like? So do you Do you?
Do you do D&D like Put your phone on do not display?
Time is like 6:00 PM perfect till I think it's 6:00 AM or
7:00 AM, Yeah. And like, I'll still be on it.
Yeah. So when I'm on it, like you get

(25:22):
the notification, yeah, but likemy phone will never buzz.
I only allow it's. Not going Ting Ting Ting during
the night. And I only allow calls for my
favourite list. And it's literally like my
parents and siblings, my in lawsand my brother, my brother in
And it whatever life stresses isthat's something I can handle

(25:43):
during my like private time. Yeah, no, but I'm being on that.
So even now, like when it comes to socials, like last night, for
instance, I did dinner with Daniella and David, right?
And you know, I want to be present.
I'm with my friends. I deserve it, right?
Like I deserve like I work hard on the weekend.
It was a Monday. I'm like, I'm going to have
dinner with my friends. I'm going to enjoy it and we're

(26:04):
going to chat. We're going to like point.
Yourself and it's bought the other things.
And you're doing nothing exactlyright.
You're respecting. You're respecting them as well
by doing that, by giving them your.
Time I knew I needed to post yeah and I run like I run my
socials yeah So what I did was is I needed to post at 7 I set a
655 alarm I drafted my post while I was working that day
just. Go like that.
I got on. I'll go one second.

(26:24):
Posted it shut my phone. That's it never looked at
anything yeah like I'm done likethat's it.
I think it's important, the little.
Pub. Where it's like not being on my
phone. I only have my phone here, guys,
by the way, because we have MaryRonis's questions and she was
like here two hours ago. So I don't have time to.
Prepare for that Mary Ronis's question.
It's a good one, but I think these small little things are
very good things that we're talking about.

(26:44):
It's important. They're important.
They're very important. I'll leave on one last note
about it. Someone once told me, and I hope
it resonates to someone, when wehad Andrea, someone said to me,
God's gift to you is fresh air. So if she's ever fussy, if she's
ever crying, just take her out for fresh air.
Oh, I love that. And I swear he worked every
time. And she wasn't a fussy.

(27:05):
She wasn't a fussy child. But I just thought like, if
she's just like sick of these four walls, I'll take her out to
the backyard. And she would just like you
could just see the calmness and stillness and.
It's also being in nature. And then now I've stolen that.
Yeah, for just myself. I want I.
Feel like I'm staring at the screen too much.
I just pause and I'll just like go get fresh air.
Yeah, I'm with you on that, George.
George, I, some people say, don't even know that I do this.

(27:27):
Yeah, once a day at least. I go to a park and I just sit
outside by myself and do nothingwithout my phone.
It's awesome man. Grounding, fresh air, nature,
sun. It is they're they're they're
just that's. Dan is agreeing.
We sound like we should work at that shop that's called Tree of
Life or something. These gipsies.
I am a bit of a hippie at heart.Yes, I swear, a bunch of
hippies. You know, all my friends

(27:48):
actually call me a hippie. I am a hippie.
Sage this whole episode I really.
Am I really am? It's just I don't look like one
we. Should just all become Buddhist
monks and just, you know, live our free life.
Oh, you know, don't tempt me. Let's talk treasure in business.
Yeah. What's the very first job or
moment that you think that you're like, this is real?
Oh, oh, there's so many. What was a big one for me?

(28:11):
I'm trying to think, I wish you asked me this before so I can go
through my archives and go what was it?
We can come back to it. By the way, if you want to like
chat about something, come back to it.
Or does it come to mind? I'm trying to think if it comes
to mind because I think it was when we contacted with some of
the big stylists that we were really like inspired by and.

(28:33):
Wanting to work with. Yeah.
So you reached out to them? No, they reached out to us.
Oh, OK, so. That's how you felt it?
Yeah. When I felt like, OK, we've got
something to offer here. Like, so when, like, say, Diane
Curie or Noel NASA, you know, they were all the big ones in
the game, and they still are, you know, Diane's.
But Diane's still one of my great clients, you know, and we
have a really good relationship.And when they reached out to us,

(28:56):
it was just like, OK, we've got something good to offer.
And it gives you that little confidence.
Booth But I don't even know. I don't know if there was a
particular one thing, but I remember what made us really
big, like overnight really was there was just this one of my
girlfriends, a setup we did for her daughter's third birthday.
She's nearly 11 now. I so long ago.

(29:18):
Yeah. Eight years.
Yeah. Yeah, eight years.
Quick maps. And back then Instagram, that's
not how much in my brain see, I would have had to think.
Doesn't. I'm so impressed with myself.
Guys, paper and that one and we did this cute like cherry

(29:38):
blossom tree with this beautifulblue console and we just did
this little setup and Instagram was so different back then and
it went viral and our followers went from 2K to like 20 K
bullshit yeah and to like 30 to 40K.
It was just like we just was it was just like this and then we
were like that's when we grew too fast.
It was just that that changed us.

(29:59):
That one post. Yeah, yeah.
Just put us on the IT really putus on the map.
You really couldn't predict it, hey?
Could not predict it. Did it actually change business
though? It did.
We had so much business coming through.
Oh, awesome. Yeah.
Because so many, we got so many.We got so much attention from
different. There was a lot of like party
blogs back then. There still is.
But they were like if we got just featured everywhere on

(30:20):
party blogs and it was just being shared around.
Party blogs because when I was in the.
Event history. Yeah, when you get shared by
them. Yeah.
And then it was just like, everyone was just like, this is
so cute and everyone was just sharing it.
And it was just, it just went. That's awesome.
And it did. It did bring in a lot of leads.
Yeah. You work with a lot of event
stylists, but then also we'll get inquiries from direct

(30:40):
clients. What's the biggest differences
between the two and which do youprefer?
Stylists are easier because theyknow what they want.
If they're putting together a brief for a client and they're
coming to us and they know what they want, so it's always
easier. And they know products, they
know measurements, they understand all those things.
Logistical stuff. Correct.

(31:02):
They know that like a backdrop needs to be this certain height
to work or whatever. But clients can be clients.
Some clients are very experienced in hosting parties
because they do it for all theirkids say, or you know, or
they've done like they've done abridal shower or a bridal shower
and engagement wedding. They've done it all.
So they're very experienced. But some clients can be
extremely difficult because theyhave, they just would like keep

(31:23):
changing their mind. They need a lot of guidance.
We're happy to help though, but I do find it easy to work with
stylus. Yeah, it does make sense.
It's a great, yeah, Yeah, it does, It is.
And they understand also not just not just product, they also
understand what things cost. And I don't have to explain why
delivery and why delivery and pickup cost this much.

(31:46):
Do you know what I mean? These things like.
That business for your business that like is a constant
reincurring head flock. Like a question that people ask
us or just. Constant thing is whether it be
like relying on drivers or you know, like measurements being
wrong, whatever. Drivers definitely.
That's been a that's, that's been my one of my biggest

(32:08):
struggles finding reliable stuff.
At one point I had it, had it really good.
I had like these two guys that Ialways had on the weekends like
Sir Michael, are they with you still?
They still work occasionally on the weekends, but they have full
time jobs. But because it's so like every
weekend is so different. Sometimes you need 4 guys or six
guys and then sometimes you'll need just like 3 guys.
Sometimes you need 8 guys. So it's always like I have like

(32:31):
a huge like choice of guys to choose from and I'm constantly
messaging trying to get jobs andthere's a lot of last minute
jobs. So it's like you constantly
trying to, you get last minute jobs and you need more staff, so
you're constantly trying to organise throughout the week.
I'm organising the weekend, yeah.
Yeah. So that's one of the head Fox.
I think that definitely takes its toll on you, like just

(32:52):
trying to organise. Yeah.
But other than that. Everything's manageable.
Yeah, everything else you get used to.
What about working with like influencers and collaborations?
He wants the juiciness now. Well, you're a, you're a
product, right? So whenever anyone's in the
product game, it's always like. Influences.

(33:13):
Why? Why are they called influencers?
What are they influencing? Influential.
If they use treasure room, everyone would want to use
treasure room. I guess that's the whole notion.
I don't like the word influencerbecause I don't think everyone
that has a huge following shouldshould be called an influencer
just because you have a huge following.
What are you influencing? I'll give you some interesting

(33:33):
stories. So there was a time where the
word collaboration was just thrown around everywhere.
Would you like to collaborate? OK, let's collaboration.
It's like. Sounding hands and doing kumbaya
like what are we doing here? What are you collaborating on?

(33:53):
Yeah, it's always a small businesses man.
Always, always we cop it. So it was just getting thrown
around. And to be honest, we just
thought that if someone reached out to you in the beginning,
I'll tell you what it was like if someone was like famous on
Instagram and they, they approached you for something
that said, can you collaborate on my event for so and so and
so. And you'd be like, oh, we should
do it. We should do it because when

(34:16):
they tag us, we're going to get so much out of it.
Reality is that you don't not always get so much out of it.
It was just they were trying to sell you the dream.
Yeah. And it wasn't always a dream.
So you haven't had a good experience with that?
I have had some good experiences, but I've also had
some very bad experiences. OK.
Can you differentiate the two? I'm not doing this for gossip.

(34:36):
I'm doing this for businesses. Who either frequently
collaborate or you know, there might be someone who's not even
just in the proper high game butguess he's the end like a.
Story like, OK, yeah, we don't want to make it gossipy.
But I want to know the good and the bad, right and just.
Let's do that. Let's do it.
Let's do like, let's do like a bad experience, OK.
But I'm just saying this for education.
Yeah. And I'll say this for

(34:56):
educational purposes. The bad experiences and what I
learned from it and what I recommend you should do going
into going into a collaboration.It's a great master.
OK, let's go. Master Class 101 for Leona.
Yeah. So once we got approached by an
influencer through a third party.
Oh, OK, so like agency style? Oh, style.

(35:17):
So fire as well. It's like he made it fancies on
agency I'm. Curious.
It was like we're gonna do you want to collaborate on this
event and we'll tag you. But there was no talk of, OK,
there's going to be story mentions tag on the post or say
like treasure room did the propsor treasure room did props.

(35:39):
And there was no talk about it. It was just like, are you
willing to do it? I said yeah, sure.
And because I had a really good relationship with the person
that was organising the event, Iwas like, sure.
I was happy to do it for her as well.
Do you know what I mean? And I'm like, yeah, let's do it.
As a friend, I'll tell you that's like the, I think the
first mistake of the experience,right?
What do you think is the first mistake?

(36:00):
Is what? Yeah, it's like to back yourself
up and curate what you want. Yeah, because it's also you're,
you're also investing when you say you're absolutely.
Yeah. So when you're actually in the
collaboration, you have to stop and think what's in it for me?
What's in it for me as well? Is there going to be a return or
you have to assess it right? Not just OK, they'll tag us, but

(36:20):
I have to assess it. Has she got, has this person got
the right target market like herfollowers?
Are they my target market who I who I would think would hire off
the treasure room or have parties, for instance?
So what happened is we collaborate on the event and
I'll say to I'll, I'll tell you like so we the prop hire was

(36:42):
worth say 1400. It was 1 custom product on
there. That's it.
The rest was all higher product and there was delivery and
pickup charges. So we weren't making any money
on it. There was no profit on it.
I charged the custom product at cost price and then the delivery
and pick up. To be honest, there was probably

(37:02):
a loss for what I charged, the amount of time I spent there and
the amount of time my driver spent there.
It went over that amount really.So I, I went, I went above and
beyond for this collaboration. OK, the event happened.
The event happened and the influencer just didn't tag us.
Oh. Shit.

(37:23):
Didn't tag us. She she tagged a couple of other
suppliers, just two, but not even a comment in the caption.
It was just two tags on the photo.
I did everything for free and I got didn't get tagged.
So I had to actually heat up this, the stylist, the third
party, because I, I was never indirect communication with the

(37:44):
influencer. And I said, what's the go here?
And I had to speak up. I couldn't let it go.
It was not fair. Yeah, like it wasn't right.
I didn't do business like. That very frustrated.
It wasn't like I, you know what,I get frustrated and I let
things go. But this particular thing, I
just felt like it wasn't something I could let go.
I had to, I had to, I had to stand up for myself.

(38:05):
And that's important to the newsindustry.
You have to stand up for yourself.
You have your you know, you havea voice, you have a worth.
Your product is worth something.Your time is worth something.
That's my time away from my family that I did to do this.
And I didn't get any recognitionfor it.
No. So I said to her, look, if she,
if the the influencer doesn't want to tag us, then I'll send

(38:28):
her the invoice and she can pay it because I don't care about A
tag. Yeah, but pay.
Yeah. No, that's fair though.
Yeah. Isn't that, isn't that fair?
So she was like, oh, let me speak to her or whatever.
It must have been an innocent mistake or something.
I never know. I never knew exactly what she
ended up saying to her. Why she didn't.
I think it might, she might havesaid, I think she just played it

(38:48):
down and was just like, oh, I forgot.
But the event had already happened.
And two days later. And then she tagged us on the
photo. So it's kind of like the
insights. Doesn't do anything.
Did did nothing. I don't think I even got a
follow up from it. It didn't.
It did nothing. It gave no leads.
So I learned two things from that.
Just because someone, because I just because someone first
thing, just because someone is nice and you think they're

(39:09):
genuine and you think they have your best interests at heart.
No, don't don't worry about that.
Think logically and think I needto protect myself and.
Secondly, I feel like I'm in trouble with my teacher.
Am I getting too? Am I too firm?
Do you know when you get that awkward smile when a teacher
tells you all? I'm giving you a lesson, yes.

(39:33):
And secondly, put everything in writing.
Everything. I that's what I was trying to
say earlier to you. You needed to be in writing like
you needed to kind of outline it.
Yeah, but I was innocent. Yeah, I was innocent.
I just thought. I thought everyone's like me.
I really don't. I really don't believe in
collaborations. I believe in love jobs.
We I do a lot of love jobs. I'm happy to do love.

(39:54):
Jobs that like I love and I'm close to like even my clients,
I'll do a love job. Yeah, I'll throw like, you know,
like if it's I'm on the job and 30 minutes over, I'm an hour
over tech. I love a job like I love you
guys. You know what I mean?
I believe in that. I believe in going above and
beyond for like, you know, someone who's genuinely invested
in you as well as a business. They because there's always an

(40:14):
exchange of that love as well. That's the thing.
Like you're, you're doing something for them.
They do something for you. There's there's love there.
Here's something for our industry, but I'll say here's my
two cents of juice in the in thenon wedding and event space.
Yes, give us the juice. Models.
Celebrities. Yeah, let's talk big, big.
We should always look. Big, famous, famous.

(40:34):
Yeah, not just famous on it, but.
Even in inspiration, in businessmodels, yeah, I think we some,
some of us can naturally just look at each other, yeah, and
compare business scale. We should always go further
global, right? We should think like that, yeah.
If Kylie Jenner, I'll use her asan example, Bella Hadid, all of
these kind of girls, if they were to get high smile to email

(40:58):
their agency and say we want them to promote our product.
Yeah, they have to send back a media kit.
Yes. With insights screen grabs
actual demographics. You have to actually show how
much stories, how many stories that's.
Right. And an actual agreement and then
it has to be a contractual thingand signed out, correct.
Our small businesses shouldn't be scared or attained from that.

(41:19):
That's how. But that's that's what they that
was the norm back then. And putting it into our
business, yeah, if you want to go down, there's actually
nothing wrong with collaboration.
Yeah, You know, going through that transaction because it is a
transaction, Yeah. But it needs to be done the
right way. You can't just be like, I agree
with you, handshake, Levo deal where it's like, yeah, you know.
But that's what it, that's what it was.
It was just normal. George, I agree with you

(41:41):
completely. And this is how people do it now
where there's a contract, where there's an agreement, where it's
actually done properly. But the business also should be
getting immediate. Yes, right.
I want to say how many, how manyreviews do you get?
From me I should be sending backscreen grabs and real time
insights from my from myself andsay hey.
So people know your engagement. You know, my demographic is 83%

(42:01):
females in the age bracket of 24to 36.
Yeah. Does that fit who you're trying
to sell your product? To.
That's how it's meant to be done.
Not that I do, but like, you hitme up then like, I don't know.
Anyone he's he's putting it out there in the universe.
Also, let's go through our insights and we might share it.
I'm joking. Let's go find a potential
sponsor. I'm just.
Kidding, yeah. But that's.

(42:22):
Yeah. So that yeah, that's we made
that mistake. That's your greatest lesson
learnt? Yeah.
With like, when it comes to stuff like that, do you do it
anymore? No.
There was another, there was another few instances where it
happened where there was one size like the I look at
collaborations. This is these are fair
collaborations to me, OK, Fair collaborations.
Topic of these podcast. Collaborations.
Yes. We've never talked about this
before, have you? Yeah.

(42:43):
Collaborations. I, I love collaborations when
it's an exchange of services. I'm big on that.
So when I say exchange of services, so it's if this
influences say like a business owner and you're a business
owner, so you're giving them a product and they're returning it
with something else like a service say.
Yeah, or a product, OK. Whereas like X amount value say

(43:03):
I'm gonna give you and they return that in the same value.
But if someone says no, I'll just tag you and that's enough
for you. It's undermining, it's
undermining your worth, and yourproduct's worth has.
This happened to you? Is that why you're kind of
insinuating? To yes, it has happened to me,
OK, where I said to the influencer who was a business
owner, why don't we like, oh, the influencer just thought they

(43:28):
were entitled to the free product for an event and it was
a personal event. Yeah.
Why are you, why are you just not paying?
Yeah, but I, I still gave them the benefit of the doubt and was
like, oh, you know, let's talk. I said, all right, do you want
it? You don't want to discount.
You're going to tag us. You don't want to discount.
You want it completely free, which they call like Contra
where you say it's completely free in exchange for me tagging.

(43:50):
And again, there was no contract.
There was no in writing, There was no, I'm going to do this
many story tags or this many tags on a post.
And then it was just, it was just, Oh no, I don't.
I said, well, why don't we exchange services?
This is what I said, why don't we exchange services?
So I'll give you this for free and then you give me your

(44:12):
product service in exchange. And then this influencer slash
business owner said, well, no, the tagging should be enough.
And I was like, I was shocked. I was like, I've never suggested
that. And then someone just been like,
no tagging is enough. And you know, out of the
goodness of my heart, I got turned off.

(44:32):
In that moment, I got really turned off.
I was up. I don't like the, I don't like
the feel of this. And you know when you get that
guy saying, I don't really like the feel of this, it's not fair,
doesn't feel fair. But I didn't want to let this
person down. There was not enough time to
change and let them down and then go find another supplier.
So I didn't let them down. I still did it, and I did it for
free. Did you get anything out of it?

(44:56):
Not really a couple of tags, whatever, but I didn't, I didn't
sweat it. I was like, whatever, it it is
what it is. It was probably the last time I
did a collab, though. Oh wow, yeah, I don't like to
but. As you said, fucking awkward
'cause I was gonna do a big birthday party this evening, I
was gonna tag you. George The.
Ruins are for me I. Love doing things for free for

(45:16):
my for my friends I'm just and clients.
Yeah. And then I'll say, I will do
anything. I don't mind.
But when it, when it comes across, when you're, when you're
asking for something free and you word it in a way where
you're entitled to it. That's why I don't lie.
You know, like even close peoplesay let me pay.
So imagine someone you don't know asking you for a free

(45:38):
thing. It's really awkward because
people I know will be like, they'll be like, no, no, let me
pay something and I'll be like no, no, no, I'm not sure they're
my. Friend, you should always be
paying. Yeah, but at least offering,
right? Like I I don't know how I'm
never going to word this correctly because it's coming
straight to my mind, but. I don't want them to pay.
Of course, but you should be supporting your friend's
business or even. Like a heavy discount, say,

(45:59):
yeah, you can do that, Yeah, they should be supporting, but
they always like some they return the favour in another way
as well. Yeah, sometimes friends return
the favour in another way, whichI appreciate, you know, and I
know they will. If I know someone won't return
the favour, I won't do it. You're not done from the hot
seat. Another topic.
I got one more topic that I'll talk to you about because I'm a
service, so it's a bit differentin my world.

(46:20):
Yeah, it exists, but like this, yeah, product and.
Service is a very different the.Next topic exists, but it's not
as heavy as I'm sure it would exist for you.
Yeah. And guys, we did not have a
conversation about this, but I'mjust naturally being.
Like, you know, tell me. I'm assuming it's still copycat
businesses. Copycats.
I knew it. I knew it.
I'm not an idiot. I might look like wine.

(46:41):
I might sound like wine. You're definitely not.
You're not just a pretty face. Yeah.
Goodness, Copycats. Yeah, that's a big one around
the treasure room. Very, very big one around the
treasure room. Because there was a time.
It's not so much anymore. There was a time where I felt
like I was sketching and creating things out of thin air.

(47:06):
Literally like I would come up with something.
Like I remember I've got little doodles on my like Daniela knows
my, my, what my desk looks like.It's just like the papers
everywhere because I'll be on the phone and I'll come up with
something. I'll just be like, I'll just
draw it and I'll send a photo tomy maker and be like, can you
make this? And then I'll put a bit of
inspirational photos of the texture or whatever.

(47:26):
So like say at Olivia Arch, which is a textured top.
It's a white arch and it has rippled legs.
It doesn't exist. It never existed anywhere.
George, I sketched that by myself.
I don't want to sound so. Fancy creative?
We're ridiculous anyway. So stupid.

(47:50):
You should speak in French accents as we go through this
conversation. Hello.
Go on. And then I like drew it, like
withdraw it and I sent it and I like I created that.
It's so disheartening. 2 weeks later you see it, every prop
business has the same arch and not just Sydney, Melbourne and

(48:11):
the Canada and this LA like everywhere.
And it's happened like I can't tell you how many times it would
happen. And in the beginning I used to
get, I used to get so hot. I really did.
I would be like, Oh my God, I sat there and sketched this and
I created this. Like can't they change it up a
little bit like take inspirationfrom it but change it up.
And it was so like, and I wouldn't, I never, honestly, I

(48:33):
never called people out. I didn't message people and be
like, you did this. No, I didn't.
Reminded me back in my days whenI used to shoot events a lot for
you and you used to show me or Iused to show you or someone
would show us. Yeah, I'd shoot an event for
you. This is going to drop a mad
memory. It just came to me where I'll
take a photo and I remember it was my photo and it would end up

(48:53):
on like Alibaba. Yes.
Do you remember all the time? And.
All the time. They would literally steal the
image yes and say they were making it and sell it to people.
That's exactly what and then used to be like, what the fuck?
They were wholesalers. How they doing this they were
and you're like George, they're just doing it and.
You can't do anything they. Just took they saw it on
Instagram. Whether you posted it or I
posted it with someone, they screen grab it and it's an

(49:15):
actual lie. I can go on Alibaba right now
and find photos of all my products.
Full lie. You've never once gotten someone
to take it down at all. Like, you know.
It's what you do about it. People are going to copy.
That's just how it is. You know, I always try to.
If a client wants something thatsomeone else has, I usually say
no, I'm not going to recreate it.
It's out there. Go higher off them or I change

(49:37):
it up a little bit. Yeah.
But there is some things that are just generic that just
exist. So I wouldn't call that copying.
Like, you know, Ghost Plains, Cle Plains, that's not copying.
Yeah, everyone has that. White Plains, that's not
copying. But I'm talking about like
things that you spent time designing or I worked with a
stylist, say that designed it and then people would just copy
it to AT. Do you know what I mean?
You just came up with that. Someone else came up and you

(49:58):
know, it's like derated. But then some, yes, some
businesses have no shame. They just copy so.
And I think this industry consists of people that are good
business people and some people that have true creatives.
Yeah, so some people just, you know, so you.
Think there's a difference? Between yeah, there definitely
is. Some people would know how to
make money. They know how to they're they're
good. They're good at business,
they're good at numbers. And then there's some people

(50:20):
that bleed creativity. Is that in your field you feel
like specifically? Yeah, it's across 100%.
I've seen it amongst the stylists.
There's stylists that, you know,have that go out of their way to
come up with something like interesting.
And there's stylists that would just copy, paste or change
things up. Yeah.
That's a big statement. Yeah, well, it's the truth.

(50:40):
I'm not. I'm just saying facts here, you
know? Yeah, I'm.
I don't mean to offend anyone. I'm just stating facts.
And you know what? Own it.
If you're just a person that recycles ideas that exist, just
own it. There's nothing wrong with it.
Yeah. They won't.
They won't admit it. It's cute, yeah.
They're not. They're just watching this
thing. But it used to affect me, and I

(51:02):
must say, I must say it used to affect me, but it doesn't
anymore because I look at it as if people are copying your
product and then it gets saturated in the market.
People get sick of it. All it means for me to do is I
need to start working on the next thing.
That's it. I need to start working on the
next thing. And that's what we just had this
good rhythm at one point where it was just like people were

(51:24):
copying the existing, the what we were doing and then we were
working on the next thing. And look, I must say there is
some nice people out there that would say like some Melbourne
supplier say that we're like, hey, babe, I'm making the same
product as what you have. And I'll be like, go for it.
Like, no worries. It's nice to hear it's.
So nice and they'll tag you and be like original, you know,
original design by the treasure to do.

(51:44):
It's not hard to do like. Man, I go photographers all the
time. I had one this week, the guy
that I really looked up to. Does that happen in the
photography industry? Well, like, for instance, I had
a guy that really I really looked up to and he sent me a
message and we like, you know, we always cross paths.
And he said to me, hey, George, I'm so sorry.
My client really wants to see how did you get that shot?
Not just where was it? How?
Did you get it? So they wanted the skill behind

(52:06):
it? Get him.
Essays that's so I'm like, you need to go down this path you
need to turn left you need to stand here you need to because
it meant a lot to me that he. He didn't shout to you the.
Client didn't just and you know I it.
Wasn't sneaky. It's not that I feel.
Bad. It's just like sometimes clients
do just send you shit. Yeah.
And like, what are you gonna do?Seem like an unprofessional
idiot and they can't produce. Yeah.
So instead of like just him figuring it out on a day and

(52:28):
winging it or like, you know, it's easy.
It's so easy. Let me ask you, you can just go
to that location and just suss it out and be like Oh yeah now I
get it and line up the 2 images.And it's not taken away from
your business by helping another.
It's really not. Nothing to be like client.
Client already his client. That's right.
Care, right? That's right it's more just like
it's it's nice that he one appreciated it yes two, it's

(52:50):
also nice to feel like he liked my work.
That's right, you know you get that neutral like wow, like you
know it wasn't sometimes you look at your work and you're
like and three it's like you hadthe authenticity yes, not balls,
not drive, not right, the authenticity to just send a
message of like. Do you mind if I ask?
And I'm like, man, now that you,now that you don't mind, here's

(53:10):
the place and I'll edit it for you.
I'm joking. Oh my goodness.
To the point of view entity. Yeah, like I'm so nice.
But I'm just saying it's actually nice when someone who
could be pinned as a competitor is, that's right, to just have a
conversation. Yeah, it's a real people I
appreciate. It and we can appreciate it.
And now I feel like because he'sopened up that door and he was a
man and had that courage. Yeah, I'm not going to be shy

(53:33):
back to him. That's right.
In a nice friendly way, you knowwhat I mean?
Or it's nothing. It literally is like the most
beautiful human interactions youcan have with someone.
Some people believe it when whenanother, when another prop place
reaches out to me and says like sometimes every people reach out
to me from Canada and like, how would you make this or what are
the dimensions to the back? How does it stand up?
And I'll answer them. What's it made out of?

(53:53):
Yeah, What's it made out of? What's it exactly?
I will answer them because I appreciate instead of someone
being sneaky and actually being direct.
I defensive like no I did a copyof you.
Yeah, instead of someone being sneaky about it, it's actually
nicer to see someone reach out to you with in like and be
genuine, as you said, like. For sure.
Yeah. I want to ask Mary's question to

(54:14):
you. OK, Mary.
Mary Ronis, you're. One of my good friends, yeah.
One of. Yeah.
Said, What's your favourite thing to do when no one is
looking? When no one is looking.
This is something no one knows about me, so I'll share it.
Do I write poetry? No, yeah.
Bullshit, I do. I don't share it though.

(54:35):
Why? But I oh, it's just been always
a hobby of mine. I like writing poetry.
It's a it's just in my times of like darkness, it's a it's a
it's a mechanism. It's a tool that has helped me
express myself, and I just like creating, like a rhythm.
Wee words. That's awesome.
Yeah. So that's when no one's

(54:57):
watching. Yeah, I do that.
Where's the vault hidden? Where's the notebook?
Well, it's in my it's I have AI said to your journal.
So I journal a lot of big believer in that.
So it's just one page is a journal and true one page is a
poem. It's just whenever I feel like
sometimes in my notes, it just comes to me and I just write it
down. Yeah.
Just to release, not to ever do anything with that.

(55:19):
I never, I'll never say never. I could do something with it,
you know? You know, you might just bang
one day and be like. Crop that says like copycats,
rats, bats. George, I'm not writing.
I'm not writing poems about copycats.
OK, sorry. Copycats is not that deep.
OK, I don't, I don't have anxiety about.

(55:40):
Copycats. This was my nut, You know what I
mean? My driver, he's fat.
Like you can just keep going like it's nice.
You know what? Poetry is great.
No, OK, he's he's understandable.
Completely taken it away from. You second grade poetry, That's
what you're making it seem like.Never mind.
My poetry is art. Yeah.

(56:01):
OK, Mike's not art. Well, I don't know, rat, fat and
cat. And also, yeah, now it is a,
it's a poetry is a form of expression.
Yeah, Yeah. So it's definitely been a yeah,
a thing of mine. Yeah, you should like whack that
poet. But you never know, one day you
might see this book released andit's like, yeah, the poetry
compilation from Liana's Day OutWith.

(56:22):
You once you're making cake. So I was like, yeah, I won't be
surprised if anything from Liana.
Yeah, yeah. No, it's one of, it's one of my
passions. It's one of my passions.
Yeah, it's one of my passions. I want to read 1.
Yeah, everyone. Needs to put one like that's it
so I don't poetry doesn't have to rhyme jobs. 100% you have a
hidden Instagram account that shares those things where it's
like a quote and he says I know what.

(56:42):
Are you talking about you're talking about those poets where
no one sees their face? Yeah.
And no one knows who they are and they just random 100%.
Yeah, I know what you mean. We're going to do LA Gaga, Gaga,
he thought. It's going to get in.
Keep your mind, but. Oh God, random question now.
I haven't listened to one of thethings with a random question.
I just never paid attention to the to the box.

(57:04):
Yeah, it's just the ADHD in you.Yeah 100% How did you not have
ADHD? Come on man.
Isn't that obvious? A fellow patient.
I really need to get diagnosed a.
Fellow patient can see a fellow.Wait, are you officially
diagnosed? Absolutely not.
I would not want to be officially.
Have you ever done the online thing?
I cannot make it to the. End of summer.
OK, I. I did it.
I'm like, oh, I want to know my IQ.

(57:25):
Nah, can't do it like. George, I get to the rent.
I'm in the rent. Yeah, yeah, like the high, you
know, the spectrum like is high rent.
And there I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
No, of course not. But I also don't know if I'm a
guy or if I have ADHD. No, no, no.
You know what it is? All it means that we have ADHD
is when we're good at something,we excel in that.
We just don't want to bore ourselves with all the other
stuff. Yeah, it's just yeah.
But we know how to hyper focus. ADHD but like if I make a

(57:48):
coffee. You forget about it, I'll.
Like start the coffee, okay, andthen I'll like move on to
something, then I'll move on, you know what I mean?
But when I'm at work, it doesn'texist, which is, I think it's a
guy thing. I think it's just in like
outside. Doesn't happen to me sometimes
at work. I can be.
Everyone with ADHD has somethingcalled hyperfocus.
So when at work you are hyperfocus and then when you're

(58:09):
not interested in something as atask you don't want to do, you
procrastinate. That's what that's that's one of
the signs of ADHD. Good at my job.
You are because you like your job.
Yeah. So you like your job and you're
passionate about it so you can hide the focus on finishing it.
I had. Someone, I guess randomly tell,
I think she was talking to Tanya, will add a yeah.
She goes, Oh my God, when you'reat the church, you're so like

(58:29):
focused and I'm like, oh, I think I go.
She goes, you look like stressedor something, Like I'm not
stressed. You're into it.
I'm just like, I know what's next.
I know it's going to be crowningand then after crowning it's
going to be first kiss. So like I've got to be here and
I've got to make sure like I'm looking at my work.
I like come super focus yeah like it's like super laser focus
or if I start and edit, I have to finish the edit Yeah like I
can't roll over if I it that takes me to 1 AMI don't care

(58:52):
what I that's one. Of the signs of AHD.
But when it's something you don't want to do, like pay a
fine, say, you'll leave it to the very last minute when it's
due, but. God don't do my admin.
Oh, there you go. You didn't do it.
Alexia does that part, Yeah. I can't do my admin, it's right
like doing emails and stuff. I'm not even trying to be like a
little Suki. I find it.
I find it challenging. Daunting.
Yeah, it's a daunting thing because you don't enjoy it.

(59:13):
Yeah, well, I should pick the one dark blue card.
That's how my brain works. Go through your camera roll and
choose an image or video that means a lot to you and explain
why. OK, I like this one.
It's all good. Wow, I didn't even know that
card was in there. What was the only one that was
different to the crowd? So that was the one I was going

(59:34):
to choose. You know, if you like, yeah, you
have to show everyone. I don't know how we can do that.
We're going to have to show it to the camera.
Just that one camera. Yeah, that one.
OK, yes. So this is a photo of me with my
F words in my ear. Can you see this photo?
Yeah, OK. And I have tears streaming down

(59:54):
my face. Can I see it OK?
And I was grounding and I was sitting in the park, and this
photo means a lot to me because I took it as a reminder.
That even if you're having that bad day where you feel like,
like that day, I just felt like I don't want to carry on.
It just felt so dark. And that is a reminder to me

(01:00:19):
when I look at a photo like that, that look, you overcame
that day. That's right.
And you're in a better place. That's beautiful.
So don't put so much focus on those days.
Let them go here in the past, asyou said, the sun rises again.
That is your gift. It's another day.
Keep going, let things go. It's beautiful, Yana.
Yeah, and there's a saying in Arabic that I love that you say

(01:00:40):
fi her hair, which literally translates to there's goodness
in it. So whenever something bad
happens to you or you failed at something or you, you know, you
thought an opportunity was missed for you, there's always
goodness in it. It could be redirection, it
could be protection. It could be, you know, a door
closing for another good one forsomething else to open that's

(01:01:02):
better. And that's a reminder for.
Me 1000%. I love that message.
Yeah, that's a beautiful messageto share.
Yeah, thanks. I hope it resonates with a lot
of people. I'm sure it will, yeah.
Thanks for coming on and being so vulnerable.
Thanks for having me, it's the most vulnerable I've.
So much fun ever. I know your only podcast, so we
went straight to the depths of. The door, well, you gotta be
real, guys. Also, keep it real.

(01:01:24):
We had a little intermission because Liana said that she's
gonna promise to share her top three poem poems with you guys.
When did I say that and when? Did I ask you talking shit?
I'm just talking shit. One day I will.
One day she will. One day I will.
But I get to share the first one.
You get to share it, Yeah. Where on George?
On the. Table Crew table.
On crew table, you gonna share it?
Okay, Done hectic, done. You gonna read it out as an

(01:01:45):
intro? Yeah, but I'll put like a so
excited guys. What are?
You doing with my poetry? You're gonna get a cut out of my
poetry. Imagine I'm one of those.
Bridget and theme like I'll put like a Bridget and theme with
like. And like like what's her name?
Lady, Bristle down and you can do another voice down and you're

(01:02:06):
gonna read it with. Like a little little liana like
side profile lady whistle down. And I read it with like, yeah,
do it exactly like that. I swear I'll embarrass myself or
even wear like what they wear. The ruffle I'll do I'll.
Go. I'll go through the the fullest
extremes. I get Daniel to put like that
soft. Can I answer you a question
though? No, dear God, no, No.
No, no, nothing got to do with do I look like someone that do

(01:02:28):
you? Would you expect me to look like
someone that writes poetry? No, absolutely not.
Absolutely not. Yeah, No, I just.
Wanted to ask that. No, no, no, if you would ever
assume that. Absolutely not OK, but I don't
know anyone that writes poetry other than like you.
Don't know anyone that's like a writer or like what?
Do you write poetry too? Oh I was like Daniel bro.

(01:02:50):
I would never had to picture it.That that isn't a video.
I think. I think Alex Sarkis when she
wrote a book. Yes, OK.
I was pleasantly shocked. You were shocked.
In a nice way, but I don't know her.
Yeah, but just by looking at her.
You look at her and yes. It changes my perspective.
Just so you never judge a book by, never judge by.
Yeah, and it was. And I actually don't read books.

(01:03:11):
Yeah, but I listen to her book. Yeah.
And it's probably one of the only books from start to finish
and. Then I finished.
She's an incredible writer. Yeah.
Like I was like so much. To read that book, then thank
you. No, honestly, I think her second
one came out. I should probably.
Get in, did you? I want her on the.
Did you did you listen to it or did you read it?
I bought the audio book. Yeah.
And then the, and I, I even toldher I messaged her.
I said her narrator was perfect.Oh, OK, You like the narrator's

(01:03:34):
voice? Yeah, it's exactly what I think
the narrator's voice should havebeen.
Sometimes when a narrator's voice annoying, you can't.
Listen to it. No you can't.
It's impossible. But I can't read like Alexi and
my wife can literally go througha book and read.
I can't. I prefer it in a heart, in the
old fashioned way. Really.
Yeah, she's. Because I like to read it in my
voice. Oh, OK.
No, in someone else's voice. Makes so much fun.

(01:03:54):
Like I'd read it like Lady Whistle there too.
Funny, but thanks for having me.It was fun, Yeah, it was fun.
And it was good to be on camera and have an.
I've never had an interview. This was my first I'll say.
Interview. I told you it's a conversation.
Conversation. Thanks.
Thanks for coming. Well, a filmed conversation.
It's my first film conversation.There we go.
Stucky for life. Thanks so much for having me.

(01:04:16):
Love you, believe you. Love you.
All right. Bye.