January 31, 2024 • 35 mins
When challenges arise, the wise prioritise over powering through. Lauren Fraser, founder of Thea Media, challenges the conventional wisdom that toughness is the only answer. Join us as we delve into her entrepreneurial journey—from navigating chronic fatigue to building a thriving digital marketing agency that values balance and well-being. Lauren's honest account is not just a success story; it's a blueprint for sustainable growth that doesn't sacrifice personal health for professional gain.
Have you ever wondered what the aftermath of a business acquisition looks like from the inside? Lauren Fraser offers a rare glimpse into the delicate dance of team management during these transitions. Her experiences reveal the profound effect leadership can have on a company's culture, as well as the importance of trust and communication within remote and inexperienced teams. As we explore the nuances of her approach to leadership, we also touch on the vital role of solid systems and effective processes in steering a business towards success, especially after ambitious expansions.
The path to prosperity is often lined with setbacks and redirections, as Lauren's story testifies. This episode is an invitation to redefine success beyond the hustle, to embrace balance and build a business that nourishes both the team behind it and the leader at its helm. Lauren's insights into attracting the right clients and team members demonstrate the power of incremental improvements. For anyone striving for a more holistic approach to business, this conversation is a beacon of inspiration and practical advice.
Guest Bio - Lauren Fraser
- Website: theamedia.com.au
- Instagram: theamedia_
Lauren is the owner of Thea Media, a digital marketing agency on the Sunshine Coast focussed on supporting health, wellness and beauty businesses with search, social and email marketing. Having started her business nearly 6 years ago, Lauren has taken it around the world, grown it to nearly 7 figures, scaled up and down her team, and even acquired another business.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kate Peardon (00:04):
Welcome to the Level Up Leadership Podcast.
This is the go-to podcast forchronically busy leaders and
small business owners who areready to get out of the weeds
and start leading.
The weekly episodes have microleadership lessons focused on
how to level up your leadershipand help you to be 1% better
every day.
It's all about growing yourleadership wisdom, building your
(00:25):
team and being the leaderpeople want to work for.
So let's get into it.
Today on the podcast, I'mwelcoming Lauren Fraser.
She is the owner of Thea Media,a digital marketing agency on
the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, australia, focusing on
supporting health, wellness andbeauty businesses with search,
(00:46):
social and email marketing.
Having started her businessnearly six years ago, lauren has
taken it around the world,grown into nearly seven figures,
scaled up and down her team andeven acquired another business.
Today we're talking through herlatest business change and what
has brought down the launch ofThea Media, and I'm excited to
welcome Lauren to the podcast.
Lauren Fraser (01:08):
Hi Lauren Hello.
Kate Peardon (01:10):
Hello, thank you very much for having me.
You're very welcome.
I wanted to first start with alittle bit of your background,
because you have done quite afew different things and people
that have got a business feellike they go on this journey.
And you have gone through thejourney and I think there's a
lot that people can learn fromyour experiences.
So could you kick off ourpodcast today by a little bit
(01:31):
about your background.
Lauren Fraser (01:34):
Yes, yes, most certainly.
As you said, it's nearly sixyears now, which just has gone
so fast.
I always wanted to have my ownbusiness, but one of the big
reasons I went out on my own wasbecause I actually suffered
kind of fatigue through nearlyall of my twenties and I
couldn't really work full-time.
I kept trying and I kepttraveling and I kept doing
(01:56):
things.
I just kept burning myself out.
So it was kind of the push tostart doing something for myself
where I could prioritize myhealth, and so that has been a
big part of it for me and tryingto maintain that balance.
And so from the very beginningwith the business, I had this
(02:16):
mantra of grow slow and growsustainably, which was
completely opposite to thiswidely quoted go fast and break
things in business, and I justreally didn't like that at all
and I knew I physically couldn'tdo that.
So, yeah, I always had thisidea of working for myself,
(02:40):
building a lifestyle thatsupported my health, going slow,
going sustainably.
And, yeah, for the first fouryears of the business, go like
any business.
You know it's a roller coasterand it's hard and you've got to
hustle at times.
It did really flow and it justgrew steadily year on year,
which was really awesome.
We built a really cool brandaround our original name of LMF
(03:02):
marketing.
But then, as happens in business, you know, you kind of maybe
get distracted I don't know ifit's the shiny object syndrome
or just kind of fall into thosepressures of what am I supposed
to do next?
Where do you go from here?
You know that more traditionalagency growth model tends to
(03:22):
follow this.
You know you try and go fromthat hero style which you've
spoken about before to a trueagency model and it's quite
messy.
You know you have a lot ofturnover of staff.
You can have your service andyour results drop and you push
through for maybe two or threeyears and then you break through
(03:42):
and then you've actually gotthings flowing, a nice
profitable agency, but it takeswell and takes grit, and I
thought I needed to do that andso I actually acquired another
business which was an agency andhad, you know, quite a good
reputation behind it andeverything with the intention of
shifting from, you know, thathero model of what I originally
(04:04):
had, where I was very much frontand center through, to having
an agency and trying to shiftout of it and go through that
awkward growth phase and likeheaps of learnings came from
that, and I'm sure every singleacquisition story has a lot of
learnings from it.
But honestly, through thosegrowing pains I actually
(04:27):
realized that it wasn't alignedto that original mission of mine
of growing slow, growingsustainably, keeping my health
and the care of my clients atthe absolute center of it.
It kind of went against thatand so, yeah, as you said, I've
decided to make some big changesrecently.
Kate Peardon (04:48):
One of the wonderful things about your
story is there is thisperception that so we grow, and
often when people start theirown business, it might start
from a solo business, where it'syou're the only person in it,
and then, as you mentioned, thishero model where you are the
face.
You are the hero, but there'speople behind the scenes helping
you make it work, but you'rethe one working with the clients
, and I think there's aperception that success in
business is the next step isgoing to an agency and are the
(05:11):
building a requiring agency.
But, as you've said, it doesn'tmean that that is the right fit
for what you want for yourbusiness, and I would love that
the podcast today is going tobust the myth that success is
that continual growth in sizeand people, that growth or
scaling for your business can bedifferent, and I think yours is
(05:33):
a wonderful story to just showdifferent ways that this can
happen, because you've gone solo, you've gone hero, you've gone
agency and now this week, asthis podcast is dropping, you
are rebranding your business toThea Media.
Their new website is launching.
Your clients have moved over,but there's this new face with a
lot of wisdom behind it, andtoday we're unpacking three of
(05:56):
your leadership lessons frombeing through this journey.
So for those that are listening,that perhaps you're in this
journey, you feel like you needto grow.
You're not too sure how.
Perhaps you are acquiring anagency, or you're building an
agency, or you're in an agencyand you love it, but you need
some of these wisdom thatLauren's had.
Or perhaps you're in thatbusiness model and you think
maybe it's not for me and maybeLauren's story can help show
(06:18):
another way to do it.
So I'm excited about thesethree leadership lessons that
you've got.
The first one was about youracquisition of a team, because
sometimes people will hire theirown team and but for you, you
actually acquire a team and bothof them have got their joys and
their challenges.
So what was it about acquiringa team?
That was a big leadershiplesson for you.
Lauren Fraser (06:39):
It was really interesting because I think I
went in very positive about itall, of course, very excited.
Very positive there was that Iwas naive around it as well,
because my only experience inleadership roles you have been
working within companies where,yes, I was leaving them but I
wasn't doing the hiring, firing,I wasn't the figurehead of the
(07:03):
business I was looking to.
And then within my own businessover the years, price, the
acquisition, you know I had Alot of my team contractors and
employees were through mynetwork.
They were very connected, theywere very similarly line and I
had great experiences with them.
Where is your taking on anadditional team through the
(07:26):
acquisition?
It was, you know, real suddenshock, the team I acquired.
They don't need been given, youknow, one weeks notice that the
company was being sold, boughtby new owner, and this new owner
was coming in as their boss inyour seven days.
That was out of my control, soit's nothing I could really
(07:47):
influence, but immediatelythey're on the back foot,
unhappy.
And it just made it so clear,god, you really gotta take your
team along with you in thedecisions and you don't
necessarily have to bedisclosing.
Everything is something you'vementioned before of a voice in a
vote and figuring out when todo that with them because, yeah,
(08:12):
they're not always going to beable to influence the decisions
but To feel their herd and takeon a journey and there's honesty
and trust both sides.
I think was the first immediatelearning.
Then also, like as a smallbusiness owner, your team and
the people you hire.
You know they committed to youand your vision and even though
(08:35):
I it felt like I'm a similartype of person, or, you know,
like when we're both young withmarketing agencies, I stepped in
and the values of the team youknow the personalities were very
different and you know verydifferent, probably people I
would have hired myself Becausethey had joined this business to
(08:57):
follow that previous owner andher vision.
And so when I stepped in with adifferent approach to things, a
different style of working,different leadership style, that
also Was a big shock for themand a real hurdle for all of us
to overcome when I'm now the newboss, new manager, new owner of
(09:17):
the business.
So I think they were the twobiggest learnings around.
You know, taking a team alongthe journey but recognizing, you
know, in a small businessEspecially, I'm sure I'm big
business, there's that elementof it.
But the team very much iscommitted to you as the business
owner.
Kate Peardon (09:36):
Yeah, and I think any person that comes and goes
in a small business does impactthat dynamic, but particularly
when it's the lead of thebusiness.
I know I was involved in anacquisition of a business.
An Australian business acquireda new Zealand business and it
was in a corporate environmentand that team got to stay
together and essentially howthey operated was very similar.
(09:57):
And so, talking about impact ina big business, it didn't have
a huge impact, although therewere things that changed.
Obviously, it was a change inbusiness.
How they responded to it isvery different to how a small
business would respond to it,and so I think that the idea of
an acquisition you really needto think about the type of
business and the size ofbusiness, to how you approach it
(10:19):
.
Although there's some similarthings about how you communicate
and how you involve people, itreally does have a bigger impact
of the smaller.
The business couldn't agreemore.
Sorry, talking about leadingand acquiring a team and
acquiring a business, your nextleadership lesson is all about
leadership style.
(10:39):
Tell me a little bit about this.
Lauren Fraser (10:44):
So I've always been inclined to be a leader,
ever since my report cards as akid were like great leader, you
know, working in a team.
You know, like I always showedthose types of skills and even
my disc profile dominant D in asecondary eyes like I'm inclined
that way, I managed teamsthroughout my twenties working
(11:06):
in other businesses, but withinmy own business I had it been
solo and then it being the hero.
So I had a very small team and,as I mentioned before, they
were people hired through mynetwork so they were similarly
aligned, similar values and workethics.
They also remote, as much of myteam now still is.
(11:28):
You know there's a half a dozenof us and we're spread across
Australia.
Those first four years, you know, I built the business to suit,
having a remote team for me tobe able to communicate with them
and said expectations.
So with the acquisition andthen having a local team inside
an office where I'm seeing themevery day, you know we're not
(11:52):
just setting tasks and havingdedicated meetings and moving on
.
So it was very different to howI had been working.
It was actually a real shockbecause working in person in an
office there's completelydifferent dynamics to working
online.
I kind of became really awareof what had been real pros in my
(12:18):
natural leadership styles whenworking online with people that
I was aligned with what actuallythey didn't present well in
person.
You know, I can be very direct.
I'll give clear feedback.
I'm not someone who will getangry or escalate with my
emotions quickly, but I'll bevery clear.
And then my preferred style tohave a manager is they set tasks
(12:42):
and they let you go and do yourtasks.
And when I provide tasks to myteam, I'll set the tasks, try to
be as clear as possible andwhat's required and then I'll
kind of you know back away.
Which I've learned from you isthat laissez faire style.
But when working in person witha team that's younger and not as
(13:04):
experienced, it actually causedso much stress for them and for
me.
Because, well, two businessesthat I'm then merging together,
two teams I'm trying tointegrate, you know, more
clients I'm trying to keep happy, I've got all this business
ownership and running a business, and then there's this whole
new HR side almost of peoplemanagement and so my innate you
(13:29):
know, I guess leadership styleof being very direct and then
stepping away and just lettingthem do what needs to be done
From their side.
And you know what I learnedthrough having our one-on-one
catch ups regularly and tryingto build real cohesa team.
What I learned is they,interpreted as I would come in,
pretty much be really abrupt andjust like okay, this is what
you need to do, this is whatneeds to be done by.
(13:50):
I don't like that.
This is what I like, let meknow how you go.
And I would like ghost almostand go do the other stuff of
running a business, and theywould be left there like, oh my
God, I don't 100% know what shemeans, or like, can I check in
with her or I need some otheryou know aspect to complete this
.
How do I go about it.
And so they would feel almostreally lost.
(14:14):
And you know, for one of them,unfortunately it did lead to her
wanting to resign from the role, which for me was a real
disappointment and felt like areal failure.
But it was also a greatlearning curve to be like oh
okay, this is how my naturalstyles present and I need to
actually mitigate them, which Ihad done over the years working
(14:35):
online.
Just with time I built it tosupport me in how I work, but
being thrown into an office witha local team in person was
completely different dynamic.
Kate Peardon (14:47):
I think it's a really great story about when
you know your style and know howyou like to work, and then how
do other people like to work andhow can I?
It's almost like different hats.
It's not that you have tochange who you are.
It's great to know who you are.
How can you then wear a hat ofa slightly different style to
help engage the person the waythat they like to work and get
the best out of them?
(15:08):
Or someone's explained it to meabout speaking different
languages.
If someone in your team speaksGerman, can you speak German to
them?
Obviously, it'd be a betterresponse, but the idea of this
language speaking German isactually leading them in the way
that they are best led.
It's just like if someonemicromanaged you, that would
work out terribly, but ifsomeone gave you the direction
(15:28):
and the scope and led you to doit, you'd be like this is great.
So I think that's a wonderfulleadership lesson on okay,
what's my style first, and thenokay, what's a style that people
need to work with, and I lovethat.
This is an opposite story to.
A lot of people say okay,understood the in-person stuff
and then I went remote or onlineand now I have to learn another
(15:50):
way.
Your story is actually theopposite.
It's not about in-personbecoming virtual, it's just
about what we used to and howwe've adapted to it.
And how can we adapt to anotherstyle?
Yes, 100%.
So your third leadership lessonis about making some tough
decisions and when we make themand, I think, business
(16:11):
leadership.
The longer you're in business,the more you get used to tough
decisions, because if you're notused to them, you don't have a
business anymore.
So can you share a little bitabout leadership and tough
decisions?
Lauren Fraser (16:23):
It was maybe the most pivotal lesson, to be
honest, within the last 18months, and it was actually
something that clicked fromfollowing along and reading one
of Alex Hormuzin's books.
And on his Instagram, he'salways just having those little
reels where he's talking anddropping all these like aha
(16:43):
moments, and one of them wasaround.
His style is obviously verymasculine, very like this, is it
?
Kate Peardon (16:50):
and if you don't do this, is it wrong For your
dominant, like your high D?
For those that understand discprofile like very much in that.
Lauren Fraser (17:00):
But he was saying how anxiety is caused when
you've got a decision make andyou haven't made it, and you're
not making it and you'redelaying it, and the anxiety is
just there growing.
And I was like, oh shit, that'swhat's going on, because it was
leading up to about maybe thenine month mark after the
(17:22):
acquisition.
And you know, I'll be prettyhonest, like the initial
acquisition and what I acquireddidn't go as planned and wasn't
what I thought it was going tobe by any means.
So I came with a lot ofchallenges but I was like, okay,
I acquired this business, I'vespent this money, I'm going to
make it work.
I'm sticking to what thatoriginal vision was.
It has to work because I'vepoured in me and my money into
(17:46):
this and it was very hard work Alot of stress, a lot of big
hours trying to get it to whereI wanted.
And as time was going on, youknow, I was getting really
anxious, I was getting reallystressed, I wasn't sleeping and
I had the realization that thisisn't working.
I was trying to please everyone.
(18:10):
You know this team that Iacquired.
I wanted to look after each ofthem, but it was very much to
the detriment of the whole.
There was team members that youcould always say that you know
had a bit of a toxic attitudeand I probably shouldn't have
kept on in that initialacquisition.
You know, it was quite apparentfrom the beginning that I
(18:30):
wanted to look after and Iwanted to do right by them.
After kind of that six monthmark, I was trying to support
and help guide one of theyounger members and it just
wasn't going anywhere.
You know that department wasconstantly running at a loss.
For me it's that financialstress.
It's then in a very small team.
(18:51):
You know the dynamics of theconversations.
I was aware they were having,even though they weren't having
them in front of me.
But people talk, of course.
So I was trying to look aftereach of them, do right by every
single one of them, but what waskind of happening was, from my
opinion, it was like it wasmaking me more stressed, which
was then feeding down to thestaff.
(19:13):
They were stressed amongstthemselves because they all had
different things they wanted tobe achieving and I couldn't
provide for every single one ofthem.
You know that's only one bootieagency offering so many
services for so many clients tocertain you know standard.
I was like this has to changebecause I actually need to look
after the whole, which is havinga viable business that's going
(19:37):
to continue growing.
I can't be trying to pleaseeveryone, because it's actually
just draining and sucking medown and you know the business
With it really.
So that was a big realization tohave and as a leader, you know
the buck stops with you.
There's no one else who canmake that call and make those
decisions.
Being able to make thosedecisions faster though I
(20:02):
wouldn't have liked letting goof stuff.
I wouldn't have liked having toknow how to put exit plans in
place or make additional rolesredundant to anything like that.
It would be very uncomfortablefor me, but it may have, even
immediately following theacquisition or the three months
mark or six months mark, made areally big difference to
(20:23):
trajectory of the business.
Kate Peardon (20:25):
So reading between the lines here with the wisdom
that you've got now, perhaps youwould have made some of these
tough decisions sooner.
Lauren Fraser (20:32):
Yes, the hard decisions are in the yucking
decisions.
I think that's why you knowwhen you want to do right by
people, you look for otheropportunities or units.
I'm gonna figure it out, I'mgonna make it work.
I'm gonna get them to wherethey want to be.
Sometimes you don't and youcome.
Kate Peardon (20:48):
So the biggest tough decision Again, reading
between the lines and the bit ofinformation that I have was
changing from this agency thatyou had purchased, rebranding
the business and pivoting to anew ideal client, which was your
old idea client.
So this circle idea and peoplethat have heard of the hero's
journey might see thissimilarity.
(21:09):
So if you think of the Lord ofthe Rings, when they start off
on their journey and little byBaggins and his mates are there
and then something happens andthen they go on this adventure
and then they have to conquersomething and then at the very
end they come back to this placethat they started, but they're
different people because they'vehad these lessons and
experiences and they're back inthat world.
(21:30):
And I think your journey is agreat example of this because in
some ways, you have gone tothis agency and come back to a
hero model.
But this is not about goingbackwards.
This is about going forwardwith new knowledge about
business, about Acquiring teams,about people, about the people
(21:51):
that you want to work with inhealth and beauty and wellness,
and doing it from a whole newmindset.
So the clients that are workingwith you now have got like
leveled up, lauren, andunderstanding of how businesses
and people work, which I thinkis also this gift that you bring
it to your work, because youhave such a great understanding,
and I want to make sure that itis framed and seen in a way
(22:15):
that is moving forward, becausesometimes our perception of what
success or how we should workis wrong.
Yeah, totally, and I thinkovertime that your perception is
this as well, even thoughperhaps at beginning it was like
maybe one of failure.
Lauren Fraser (22:32):
You know, I guess yeah, more traditional growth
pathway, because it was what Ithought I should do to be
successful.
But then, over the course ofyou know, the twelve month or
just over twelve year bit, overtwelve months now since the
acquisition.
Instead, it's like, actually,now what does success look like
to me?
(22:52):
And it's not doing massivehours of being extremely
stressed or trying to feedalmost this hungry beast, bring
in constant sales.
It's actually going back to, asyou say, what it what it was
originally from the start ofgrowing slowly, growing
sustainably.
(23:12):
So I've got a business with areally solid foundation that
does great work, that not onlysupports the team even if it is
smaller, you know, maybe mediumsize one day but now it supports
their lifestyle nicely, withbalance, and also really
supports mine, where I can beWell rested, I can enjoy
(23:34):
weekends, I can take holidaysand you know that is success
because I know I can have a halfa million dollar business and
that is actually a sweet spot.
You know where it's profitableFor me as well, as the business
on the team can have time tolearn and grow with the business
(23:55):
.
It's not Pressurize, it's notchaining through people or
clients.
So yeah, it was.
It was an interesting kind ofgrowth journey To figure out
what I wanted and what successactually meant to me, and then
to be able to take all of theselearnings back to you know where
I am now rebranding and reallyreaching down with our services
(24:18):
and clients we work with,because if I've gone exactly as
I was, it probably taken anotherfive to ten years to get all of
these learnings that have justbeen like jammed into me in the
what?
Kate Peardon (24:30):
are you waiting months?
and what are you?
This philosophy of how you'reapproaching business now, with
the lessons that you've got, isgoing to Attract the right staff
to you and attract the rightclient and clients that want
this sustainable business thatis solid and has a great
foundation.
I going to be the clients thatwant to work with you as a
(24:51):
marketing agency and it's goingto be the team that wants to
work with you.
And as someone that has hadhealth challenges themselves and
I've had a fatigue challengesas you said in your introduction
that there's a gift in that aswell, because you've got to be
smart.
Yes, I learned a lot by beingsmart about my time and my
energy and where I want to spendit.
(25:12):
That I don't think I would havegot if I hadn't have had that,
but now I bring this into all myclients and say, hey, you don't
have to work so hard, let'swork smart, let's be smart.
Lauren Fraser (25:22):
Yes, exactly that's a big thing for me and
it's always that we've beenpushed to have that kind of
hustle mentality in business andI fell for it.
I've got to do this, I've gotto hustle, I've got to push a
big and take a risk and you know, go for it and you know like
I'm glad I did so many lessonsfrom it.
But I also know it's not theway you have to grow like.
(25:43):
I was Growing my business forfour years really solidly every
year it was two to four timesgrowth year on year.
I was doing it while going tothe beach in the morning and
taking afternoon off here andthere and traveling.
Kate Peardon (25:58):
Haha.
So let's talk about one percentis now.
We're talking about doing smartand not harder.
I love this idea that onepercent changes and one percent
lessons.
How can we do one small tweakthat can make things better for
ourselves or for our clients andin this section of the podcast
we talk about?
Is there a book or a leadershipquote or something that has
(26:19):
resonated for you that you'dlike to share?
Lauren Fraser (26:22):
I love this quote because for me it was so true
in real life and so now I tellpeople about it all the time.
It is great, so it's fromatomic habits and I'll tell you
the exact correct.
So I always going to get itmodelled so you do not rise to
the level of your goals, youfall to the level of your
systems.
And the way I built my business.
(26:44):
I was building the processes asI go and they took, you know, I
continue a refinement, but theysupported us and where we are
at.
And then, through theacquisition, I bought on new
services that I was not familiarwith and unfortunately they
didn't come with processes.
And so within the acquisition,you know, I had goals of where
this was going to take me tothat next step, what it was
(27:07):
going to achieve by doing thisemerging businesses and I was
pushing, you know, I was reallypushing to try and get there, to
keep that vision for the teamso we could get there.
And we didn't meet it becausewe really did fall back to where
our processes were at andthankfully it was about three
(27:28):
months after the acquisitionthat became really, you know,
starkly apparent to me.
I was like man, I'm trying butwe can't, like we can't get
there.
We spent the next really sixmonths deep diving on our
processes and setting them upacross everything, overhauling
the task management and projectmanagement system we were using
(27:49):
so that it had good uptake andutilization by the team.
I realized like I've got thesegoals but we can't meet them.
It doesn't matter how much Icare about meeting them and how
much I try and spy the team, wecan't do it because we don't
have the processes to scale tothat level.
Which again, looking back, it'slike that was an awesome lesson
(28:11):
, because now we've got, youknow, amazing processes and I've
scaled back my team, but we'vegot a higher number of clients
than we did four months ago andwe can run it smoothly.
You know everything's flowing.
So it's just like you can havebig goals but, yeah, that idea
of you may not rise to meet them.
(28:32):
You could fall to where yourprocesses are at.
I just think that's for aleader to keep in mind.
Kate Peardon (28:38):
And it's such a common experience for founders
and small businesses.
Larger corporate businessestend to have the structures put
in already or you've got peopleto set them up.
Often when it founders andsmall businesses because it is
your passion.
Business perhaps has not beensomething that you've been
trained in.
I see it so often with clientsthat the business lives in their
(28:59):
head and it's been sosuccessful to that point.
But to make it sustainable it'sgot to be on paper.
And how to be able to do that?
I think a great lesson fromAtomic Habits, anything else
books or podcasts or events.
I know you love in-personthings that have been your one
percenters.
Lauren Fraser (29:18):
I love consuming podcasts and books for
leadership stuff.
I've actually always found itmore helpful and you know I've
taken more away when I've doneit in person.
I've been to one of yourin-person days and, oh my god, I
was thinking about that fordays after that.
I think I even messaged you afew days ago you sent me
messages.
Yeah, I was still thinking aboutlike I've had this other aha
(29:41):
moment, because you knowespecially what you've got
jammed into your events or yourprograms.
It's all of the best fromacross all of your experiences,
all these books, everythingyou've done in one place and so
working with whether it's aleadership coach or going to
different events where there'sthat opportunity to learn from
(30:03):
great leaders I found, like,find that so much more impactful
to actually have takeaways.
You know, I can read it.
I was like, oh yeah, that'sgreat, but until you have that
kind of real world experience oryou have that real aha moment,
see, yeah, the way I want tomove forward is continuing to do
that learning from someonewho's, you know, done it,
(30:28):
reading a book and then tryingto figure it out myself.
See, I just think for me, whenyou learn that leadership, learn
from a great leader yeah,that's working smart and not
hard.
Kate Peardon (30:38):
Yes, exactly, alright.
So we've got your threeleadership lessons and just a
little refresher on Lawrence.
Journey was all about hiringand acquiring a team, about her
leadership style and how tounderstand other people's
leadership styles and reallymaking those tough decisions and
knowing what she knows.
Now you do it earlier and Ithink back all the decisions in
(31:02):
my life.
I'm like I'm great at kickingthe can down the road for some
tough stuff.
I just hope it goes away.
I don't know, I'm not alone inthis.
I really just hope that goesaway.
99% of the time it doesn't.
Yeah, sadly, even the 1% thatit does, that's not enough to
convince me that I can kick itdown the road even further.
So, yes, that's definitelymaking tough decisions in
(31:23):
business and in life issomething that I am, and have
been working very hard on.
There is a great book.
It is fierce conversations Ijust talks about.
The conversation that you'reavoiding is the one you really
need to have.
Lauren Fraser (31:38):
I think that was the first page.
Kate Peardon (31:39):
I'm pretty sure I closed the book and didn't read
it for another three months.
I wasn't ready to face.
Immediately comes to mind.
Lauren Fraser (31:46):
Like I know, I know I'm not ready to handle
that.
Kate Peardon (31:50):
So, lauren, this week when the podcast launch,
you are launching your newbusiness with a lot of
experience behind you.
So the media, you can jump onthe website.
It has been designed by thewonderful sparrow studios, who
is actually doing my new websiteat the same time, so we have
that in common.
Where can people, or how canpeople, get in touch with you?
(32:11):
Because you offer some amazingservices and, with your target
into health, wellness and beautyspace, how do people know that
they need to work with you?
What's happening in theirbusiness?
Lauren Fraser (32:26):
Yes, okay.
So, as you said, you know weare very much honing in on
supporting health, wellness andbeauty businesses.
That's not only our passion,but where we've got the most
experiences do achieve greatresults.
So if you're in that space,that's a big tech.
But we also we workpredominantly with established
businesses.
They're already up and running.
That got some flow, that gotsome momentum behind them, but
(32:50):
they Are ready for morevisibility whether that's so
they can scale their team andbring in a new clinicians so
they can get more appointmentscoming through.
Maybe they're looking atexpanding on a product range,
but first and foremost they needto get more interest, more
visibility online, as I justsaid, you know more clients
(33:12):
coming through the door toachieve that.
So we support on searchmarketing covering Google,
social media, email marketing,paid ads.
So, again, if you are looking,you know a lot of businesses in
the health and beauty space.
They start on social, maybeseeing a bit of momentum, but
(33:32):
they know Search, seo, googleads is really that next step
where prime to support thosebusinesses.
We have this search savvybundle covering both Google ads
and SEO, and it's the one thatreally shifts the needle for our
clients.
So we do have a fantasticpackages guide on the website,
(33:54):
our beautiful new website, whichhas all the info, and then they
can jump on and have a callwith me and figure out where
they're at and what's best forthem.
Kate Peardon (34:02):
And that's something that I love about your
approach because it is personal.
They do get to talk to you,they do get to talk to Lauren,
with all the experience, andyou're big about partnership, so
you are partnering with them onthis journey.
It's not like an in and out andit's a faceless agency.
You are there as theircheerleader and their support.
You sit down with them withtheir marketing strategy and the
team for the implementation,and I think that's what is
(34:25):
unique about your styleParticularly people that are not
so comfortable with marketingwhich is totally me and they
just want someone that they cantrust, that can hold their hand
and do up their strategy and runthrough this plan and implement
it.
So they're getting morevisibility, they're getting more
clients through the door andthey're doing it in a way that
feels right for them and that issustainable.
(34:46):
Exactly, lauren, thank you forjoining us today on the podcast
and sharing your story.
I know it took a little bit ofconvincing initially cause
growth is uncomfortable, but Ithink the more people that share
their growth stories and theirlessons and the openness that
you've had in sharing this canhelp inspire others on their
(35:09):
journeys as well, and perhapspeople that might be feeling a
bit alone in this, realize thatthey're not alone.
So thank you for yourvulnerability and sharing that.
I really appreciate it.
Lauren Fraser (35:18):
Thanks for having me.
Welcome to the Level Up Leadership Podcast.
This is the go-to podcast forchronically busy leaders and
small business owners who areready to get out of the weeds
and start leading.
The weekly episodes have microleadership lessons focused on
how to level up your leadershipand help you to be 1% better
every day.
It's all about growing yourleadership wisdom, building your
(00:25):
team and being the leaderpeople want to work for.
So let's get into it.
Today on the podcast, I'mwelcoming Lauren Fraser.
She is the owner of Thea Media,a digital marketing agency on
the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, australia, focusing on
supporting health, wellness andbeauty businesses with search,
(00:46):
social and email marketing.
Having started her businessnearly six years ago, lauren has
taken it around the world,grown into nearly seven figures,
scaled up and down her team andeven acquired another business.
Today we're talking through herlatest business change and what
has brought down the launch ofThea Media, and I'm excited to
welcome Lauren to the podcast.
Lauren Fraser (01:08):
Hi Lauren Hello.
Kate Peardon (01:10):
Hello, thank you very much for having me.
You're very welcome.
I wanted to first start with alittle bit of your background,
because you have done quite afew different things and people
that have got a business feellike they go on this journey.
And you have gone through thejourney and I think there's a
lot that people can learn fromyour experiences.
So could you kick off ourpodcast today by a little bit
(01:31):
about your background.
Lauren Fraser (01:34):
Yes, yes, most certainly.
As you said, it's nearly sixyears now, which just has gone
so fast.
I always wanted to have my ownbusiness, but one of the big
reasons I went out on my own wasbecause I actually suffered
kind of fatigue through nearlyall of my twenties and I
couldn't really work full-time.
I kept trying and I kepttraveling and I kept doing
(01:56):
things.
I just kept burning myself out.
So it was kind of the push tostart doing something for myself
where I could prioritize myhealth, and so that has been a
big part of it for me and tryingto maintain that balance.
And so from the very beginningwith the business, I had this
(02:16):
mantra of grow slow and growsustainably, which was
completely opposite to thiswidely quoted go fast and break
things in business, and I justreally didn't like that at all
and I knew I physically couldn'tdo that.
So, yeah, I always had thisidea of working for myself,
(02:40):
building a lifestyle thatsupported my health, going slow,
going sustainably.
And, yeah, for the first fouryears of the business, go like
any business.
You know it's a roller coasterand it's hard and you've got to
hustle at times.
It did really flow and it justgrew steadily year on year,
which was really awesome.
We built a really cool brandaround our original name of LMF
(03:02):
marketing.
But then, as happens in business, you know, you kind of maybe
get distracted I don't know ifit's the shiny object syndrome
or just kind of fall into thosepressures of what am I supposed
to do next?
Where do you go from here?
You know that more traditionalagency growth model tends to
(03:22):
follow this.
You know you try and go fromthat hero style which you've
spoken about before to a trueagency model and it's quite
messy.
You know you have a lot ofturnover of staff.
You can have your service andyour results drop and you push
through for maybe two or threeyears and then you break through
(03:42):
and then you've actually gotthings flowing, a nice
profitable agency, but it takeswell and takes grit, and I
thought I needed to do that andso I actually acquired another
business which was an agency andhad, you know, quite a good
reputation behind it andeverything with the intention of
shifting from, you know, thathero model of what I originally
(04:04):
had, where I was very much frontand center through, to having
an agency and trying to shiftout of it and go through that
awkward growth phase and likeheaps of learnings came from
that, and I'm sure every singleacquisition story has a lot of
learnings from it.
But honestly, through thosegrowing pains I actually
(04:27):
realized that it wasn't alignedto that original mission of mine
of growing slow, growingsustainably, keeping my health
and the care of my clients atthe absolute center of it.
It kind of went against thatand so, yeah, as you said, I've
decided to make some big changesrecently.
Kate Peardon (04:48):
One of the wonderful things about your
story is there is thisperception that so we grow, and
often when people start theirown business, it might start
from a solo business, where it'syou're the only person in it,
and then, as you mentioned, thishero model where you are the
face.
You are the hero, but there'speople behind the scenes helping
you make it work, but you'rethe one working with the clients
, and I think there's aperception that success in
business is the next step isgoing to an agency and are the
(05:11):
building a requiring agency.
But, as you've said, it doesn'tmean that that is the right fit
for what you want for yourbusiness, and I would love that
the podcast today is going tobust the myth that success is
that continual growth in sizeand people, that growth or
scaling for your business can bedifferent, and I think yours is
(05:33):
a wonderful story to just showdifferent ways that this can
happen, because you've gone solo, you've gone hero, you've gone
agency and now this week, asthis podcast is dropping, you
are rebranding your business toThea Media.
Their new website is launching.
Your clients have moved over,but there's this new face with a
lot of wisdom behind it, andtoday we're unpacking three of
(05:56):
your leadership lessons frombeing through this journey.
So for those that are listening,that perhaps you're in this
journey, you feel like you needto grow.
You're not too sure how.
Perhaps you are acquiring anagency, or you're building an
agency, or you're in an agencyand you love it, but you need
some of these wisdom thatLauren's had.
Or perhaps you're in thatbusiness model and you think
maybe it's not for me and maybeLauren's story can help show
(06:18):
another way to do it.
So I'm excited about thesethree leadership lessons that
you've got.
The first one was about youracquisition of a team, because
sometimes people will hire theirown team and but for you, you
actually acquire a team and bothof them have got their joys and
their challenges.
So what was it about acquiringa team?
That was a big leadershiplesson for you.
Lauren Fraser (06:39):
It was really interesting because I think I
went in very positive about itall, of course, very excited.
Very positive there was that Iwas naive around it as well,
because my only experience inleadership roles you have been
working within companies where,yes, I was leaving them but I
wasn't doing the hiring, firing,I wasn't the figurehead of the
(07:03):
business I was looking to.
And then within my own businessover the years, price, the
acquisition, you know I had Alot of my team contractors and
employees were through mynetwork.
They were very connected, theywere very similarly line and I
had great experiences with them.
Where is your taking on anadditional team through the
(07:26):
acquisition?
It was, you know, real suddenshock, the team I acquired.
They don't need been given, youknow, one weeks notice that the
company was being sold, boughtby new owner, and this new owner
was coming in as their boss inyour seven days.
That was out of my control, soit's nothing I could really
(07:47):
influence, but immediatelythey're on the back foot,
unhappy.
And it just made it so clear,god, you really gotta take your
team along with you in thedecisions and you don't
necessarily have to bedisclosing.
Everything is something you'vementioned before of a voice in a
vote and figuring out when todo that with them because, yeah,
(08:12):
they're not always going to beable to influence the decisions
but To feel their herd and takeon a journey and there's honesty
and trust both sides.
I think was the first immediatelearning.
Then also, like as a smallbusiness owner, your team and
the people you hire.
You know they committed to youand your vision and even though
(08:35):
I it felt like I'm a similartype of person, or, you know,
like when we're both young withmarketing agencies, I stepped in
and the values of the team youknow the personalities were very
different and you know verydifferent, probably people I
would have hired myself Becausethey had joined this business to
(08:57):
follow that previous owner andher vision.
And so when I stepped in with adifferent approach to things, a
different style of working,different leadership style, that
also Was a big shock for themand a real hurdle for all of us
to overcome when I'm now the newboss, new manager, new owner of
(09:17):
the business.
So I think they were the twobiggest learnings around.
You know, taking a team alongthe journey but recognizing, you
know, in a small businessEspecially, I'm sure I'm big
business, there's that elementof it.
But the team very much iscommitted to you as the business
owner.
Kate Peardon (09:36):
Yeah, and I think any person that comes and goes
in a small business does impactthat dynamic, but particularly
when it's the lead of thebusiness.
I know I was involved in anacquisition of a business.
An Australian business acquireda new Zealand business and it
was in a corporate environmentand that team got to stay
together and essentially howthey operated was very similar.
(09:57):
And so, talking about impact ina big business, it didn't have
a huge impact, although therewere things that changed.
Obviously, it was a change inbusiness.
How they responded to it isvery different to how a small
business would respond to it,and so I think that the idea of
an acquisition you really needto think about the type of
business and the size ofbusiness, to how you approach it
(10:19):
.
Although there's some similarthings about how you communicate
and how you involve people, itreally does have a bigger impact
of the smaller.
The business couldn't agreemore.
Sorry, talking about leadingand acquiring a team and
acquiring a business, your nextleadership lesson is all about
leadership style.
(10:39):
Tell me a little bit about this.
Lauren Fraser (10:44):
So I've always been inclined to be a leader,
ever since my report cards as akid were like great leader, you
know, working in a team.
You know, like I always showedthose types of skills and even
my disc profile dominant D in asecondary eyes like I'm inclined
that way, I managed teamsthroughout my twenties working
(11:06):
in other businesses, but withinmy own business I had it been
solo and then it being the hero.
So I had a very small team and,as I mentioned before, they
were people hired through mynetwork so they were similarly
aligned, similar values and workethics.
They also remote, as much of myteam now still is.
(11:28):
You know there's a half a dozenof us and we're spread across
Australia.
Those first four years, you know, I built the business to suit,
having a remote team for me tobe able to communicate with them
and said expectations.
So with the acquisition andthen having a local team inside
an office where I'm seeing themevery day, you know we're not
(11:52):
just setting tasks and havingdedicated meetings and moving on
.
So it was very different to howI had been working.
It was actually a real shockbecause working in person in an
office there's completelydifferent dynamics to working
online.
I kind of became really awareof what had been real pros in my
(12:18):
natural leadership styles whenworking online with people that
I was aligned with what actuallythey didn't present well in
person.
You know, I can be very direct.
I'll give clear feedback.
I'm not someone who will getangry or escalate with my
emotions quickly, but I'll bevery clear.
And then my preferred style tohave a manager is they set tasks
(12:42):
and they let you go and do yourtasks.
And when I provide tasks to myteam, I'll set the tasks, try to
be as clear as possible andwhat's required and then I'll
kind of you know back away.
Which I've learned from you isthat laissez faire style.
But when working in person witha team that's younger and not as
(13:04):
experienced, it actually causedso much stress for them and for
me.
Because, well, two businessesthat I'm then merging together,
two teams I'm trying tointegrate, you know, more
clients I'm trying to keep happy, I've got all this business
ownership and running a business, and then there's this whole
new HR side almost of peoplemanagement and so my innate you
(13:29):
know, I guess leadership styleof being very direct and then
stepping away and just lettingthem do what needs to be done
From their side.
And you know what I learnedthrough having our one-on-one
catch ups regularly and tryingto build real cohesa team.
What I learned is they,interpreted as I would come in,
pretty much be really abrupt andjust like okay, this is what
you need to do, this is whatneeds to be done by.
(13:50):
I don't like that.
This is what I like, let meknow how you go.
And I would like ghost almostand go do the other stuff of
running a business, and theywould be left there like, oh my
God, I don't 100% know what shemeans, or like, can I check in
with her or I need some otheryou know aspect to complete this
.
How do I go about it.
And so they would feel almostreally lost.
(14:14):
And you know, for one of them,unfortunately it did lead to her
wanting to resign from the role, which for me was a real
disappointment and felt like areal failure.
But it was also a greatlearning curve to be like oh
okay, this is how my naturalstyles present and I need to
actually mitigate them, which Ihad done over the years working
(14:35):
online.
Just with time I built it tosupport me in how I work, but
being thrown into an office witha local team in person was
completely different dynamic.
Kate Peardon (14:47):
I think it's a really great story about when
you know your style and know howyou like to work, and then how
do other people like to work andhow can I?
It's almost like different hats.
It's not that you have tochange who you are.
It's great to know who you are.
How can you then wear a hat ofa slightly different style to
help engage the person the waythat they like to work and get
the best out of them?
(15:08):
Or someone's explained it to meabout speaking different
languages.
If someone in your team speaksGerman, can you speak German to
them?
Obviously, it'd be a betterresponse, but the idea of this
language speaking German isactually leading them in the way
that they are best led.
It's just like if someonemicromanaged you, that would
work out terribly, but ifsomeone gave you the direction
(15:28):
and the scope and led you to doit, you'd be like this is great.
So I think that's a wonderfulleadership lesson on okay,
what's my style first, and thenokay, what's a style that people
need to work with, and I lovethat.
This is an opposite story to.
A lot of people say okay,understood the in-person stuff
and then I went remote or onlineand now I have to learn another
(15:50):
way.
Your story is actually theopposite.
It's not about in-personbecoming virtual, it's just
about what we used to and howwe've adapted to it.
And how can we adapt to anotherstyle?
Yes, 100%.
So your third leadership lessonis about making some tough
decisions and when we make themand, I think, business
(16:11):
leadership.
The longer you're in business,the more you get used to tough
decisions, because if you're notused to them, you don't have a
business anymore.
So can you share a little bitabout leadership and tough
decisions?
Lauren Fraser (16:23):
It was maybe the most pivotal lesson, to be
honest, within the last 18months, and it was actually
something that clicked fromfollowing along and reading one
of Alex Hormuzin's books.
And on his Instagram, he'salways just having those little
reels where he's talking anddropping all these like aha
(16:43):
moments, and one of them wasaround.
His style is obviously verymasculine, very like this, is it
?
Kate Peardon (16:50):
and if you don't do this, is it wrong For your
dominant, like your high D?
For those that understand discprofile like very much in that.
Lauren Fraser (17:00):
But he was saying how anxiety is caused when
you've got a decision make andyou haven't made it, and you're
not making it and you'redelaying it, and the anxiety is
just there growing.
And I was like, oh shit, that'swhat's going on, because it was
leading up to about maybe thenine month mark after the
(17:22):
acquisition.
And you know, I'll be prettyhonest, like the initial
acquisition and what I acquireddidn't go as planned and wasn't
what I thought it was going tobe by any means.
So I came with a lot ofchallenges but I was like, okay,
I acquired this business, I'vespent this money, I'm going to
make it work.
I'm sticking to what thatoriginal vision was.
It has to work because I'vepoured in me and my money into
(17:46):
this and it was very hard work Alot of stress, a lot of big
hours trying to get it to whereI wanted.
And as time was going on, youknow, I was getting really
anxious, I was getting reallystressed, I wasn't sleeping and
I had the realization that thisisn't working.
I was trying to please everyone.
(18:10):
You know this team that Iacquired.
I wanted to look after each ofthem, but it was very much to
the detriment of the whole.
There was team members that youcould always say that you know
had a bit of a toxic attitudeand I probably shouldn't have
kept on in that initialacquisition.
You know, it was quite apparentfrom the beginning that I
(18:30):
wanted to look after and Iwanted to do right by them.
After kind of that six monthmark, I was trying to support
and help guide one of theyounger members and it just
wasn't going anywhere.
You know that department wasconstantly running at a loss.
For me it's that financialstress.
It's then in a very small team.
(18:51):
You know the dynamics of theconversations.
I was aware they were having,even though they weren't having
them in front of me.
But people talk, of course.
So I was trying to look aftereach of them, do right by every
single one of them, but what waskind of happening was, from my
opinion, it was like it wasmaking me more stressed, which
was then feeding down to thestaff.
(19:13):
They were stressed amongstthemselves because they all had
different things they wanted tobe achieving and I couldn't
provide for every single one ofthem.
You know that's only one bootieagency offering so many
services for so many clients tocertain you know standard.
I was like this has to changebecause I actually need to look
after the whole, which is havinga viable business that's going
(19:37):
to continue growing.
I can't be trying to pleaseeveryone, because it's actually
just draining and sucking medown and you know the business
With it really.
So that was a big realization tohave and as a leader, you know
the buck stops with you.
There's no one else who canmake that call and make those
decisions.
Being able to make thosedecisions faster though I
(20:02):
wouldn't have liked letting goof stuff.
I wouldn't have liked having toknow how to put exit plans in
place or make additional rolesredundant to anything like that.
It would be very uncomfortablefor me, but it may have, even
immediately following theacquisition or the three months
mark or six months mark, made areally big difference to
(20:23):
trajectory of the business.
Kate Peardon (20:25):
So reading between the lines here with the wisdom
that you've got now, perhaps youwould have made some of these
tough decisions sooner.
Lauren Fraser (20:32):
Yes, the hard decisions are in the yucking
decisions.
I think that's why you knowwhen you want to do right by
people, you look for otheropportunities or units.
I'm gonna figure it out, I'mgonna make it work.
I'm gonna get them to wherethey want to be.
Sometimes you don't and youcome.
Kate Peardon (20:48):
So the biggest tough decision Again, reading
between the lines and the bit ofinformation that I have was
changing from this agency thatyou had purchased, rebranding
the business and pivoting to anew ideal client, which was your
old idea client.
So this circle idea and peoplethat have heard of the hero's
journey might see thissimilarity.
(21:09):
So if you think of the Lord ofthe Rings, when they start off
on their journey and little byBaggins and his mates are there
and then something happens andthen they go on this adventure
and then they have to conquersomething and then at the very
end they come back to this placethat they started, but they're
different people because they'vehad these lessons and
experiences and they're back inthat world.
(21:30):
And I think your journey is agreat example of this because in
some ways, you have gone tothis agency and come back to a
hero model.
But this is not about goingbackwards.
This is about going forwardwith new knowledge about
business, about Acquiring teams,about people, about the people
(21:51):
that you want to work with inhealth and beauty and wellness,
and doing it from a whole newmindset.
So the clients that are workingwith you now have got like
leveled up, lauren, andunderstanding of how businesses
and people work, which I thinkis also this gift that you bring
it to your work, because youhave such a great understanding,
and I want to make sure that itis framed and seen in a way
(22:15):
that is moving forward, becausesometimes our perception of what
success or how we should workis wrong.
Yeah, totally, and I thinkovertime that your perception is
this as well, even thoughperhaps at beginning it was like
maybe one of failure.
Lauren Fraser (22:32):
You know, I guess yeah, more traditional growth
pathway, because it was what Ithought I should do to be
successful.
But then, over the course ofyou know, the twelve month or
just over twelve year bit, overtwelve months now since the
acquisition.
Instead, it's like, actually,now what does success look like
to me?
(22:52):
And it's not doing massivehours of being extremely
stressed or trying to feedalmost this hungry beast, bring
in constant sales.
It's actually going back to, asyou say, what it what it was
originally from the start ofgrowing slowly, growing
sustainably.
(23:12):
So I've got a business with areally solid foundation that
does great work, that not onlysupports the team even if it is
smaller, you know, maybe mediumsize one day but now it supports
their lifestyle nicely, withbalance, and also really
supports mine, where I can beWell rested, I can enjoy
(23:34):
weekends, I can take holidaysand you know that is success
because I know I can have a halfa million dollar business and
that is actually a sweet spot.
You know where it's profitableFor me as well, as the business
on the team can have time tolearn and grow with the business
(23:55):
.
It's not Pressurize, it's notchaining through people or
clients.
So yeah, it was.
It was an interesting kind ofgrowth journey To figure out
what I wanted and what successactually meant to me, and then
to be able to take all of theselearnings back to you know where
I am now rebranding and reallyreaching down with our services
(24:18):
and clients we work with,because if I've gone exactly as
I was, it probably taken anotherfive to ten years to get all of
these learnings that have justbeen like jammed into me in the
what?
Kate Peardon (24:30):
are you waiting months?
and what are you?
This philosophy of how you'reapproaching business now, with
the lessons that you've got, isgoing to Attract the right staff
to you and attract the rightclient and clients that want
this sustainable business thatis solid and has a great
foundation.
I going to be the clients thatwant to work with you as a
(24:51):
marketing agency and it's goingto be the team that wants to
work with you.
And as someone that has hadhealth challenges themselves and
I've had a fatigue challengesas you said in your introduction
that there's a gift in that aswell, because you've got to be
smart.
Yes, I learned a lot by beingsmart about my time and my
energy and where I want to spendit.
(25:12):
That I don't think I would havegot if I hadn't have had that,
but now I bring this into all myclients and say, hey, you don't
have to work so hard, let'swork smart, let's be smart.
Lauren Fraser (25:22):
Yes, exactly that's a big thing for me and
it's always that we've beenpushed to have that kind of
hustle mentality in business andI fell for it.
I've got to do this, I've gotto hustle, I've got to push a
big and take a risk and you know, go for it and you know like
I'm glad I did so many lessonsfrom it.
But I also know it's not theway you have to grow like.
(25:43):
I was Growing my business forfour years really solidly every
year it was two to four timesgrowth year on year.
I was doing it while going tothe beach in the morning and
taking afternoon off here andthere and traveling.
Kate Peardon (25:58):
Haha.
So let's talk about one percentis now.
We're talking about doing smartand not harder.
I love this idea that onepercent changes and one percent
lessons.
How can we do one small tweakthat can make things better for
ourselves or for our clients andin this section of the podcast
we talk about?
Is there a book or a leadershipquote or something that has
(26:19):
resonated for you that you'dlike to share?
Lauren Fraser (26:22):
I love this quote because for me it was so true
in real life and so now I tellpeople about it all the time.
It is great, so it's fromatomic habits and I'll tell you
the exact correct.
So I always going to get itmodelled so you do not rise to
the level of your goals, youfall to the level of your
systems.
And the way I built my business.
(26:44):
I was building the processes asI go and they took, you know, I
continue a refinement, but theysupported us and where we are
at.
And then, through theacquisition, I bought on new
services that I was not familiarwith and unfortunately they
didn't come with processes.
And so within the acquisition,you know, I had goals of where
this was going to take me tothat next step, what it was
(27:07):
going to achieve by doing thisemerging businesses and I was
pushing, you know, I was reallypushing to try and get there, to
keep that vision for the teamso we could get there.
And we didn't meet it becausewe really did fall back to where
our processes were at andthankfully it was about three
(27:28):
months after the acquisitionthat became really, you know,
starkly apparent to me.
I was like man, I'm trying butwe can't, like we can't get
there.
We spent the next really sixmonths deep diving on our
processes and setting them upacross everything, overhauling
the task management and projectmanagement system we were using
(27:49):
so that it had good uptake andutilization by the team.
I realized like I've got thesegoals but we can't meet them.
It doesn't matter how much Icare about meeting them and how
much I try and spy the team, wecan't do it because we don't
have the processes to scale tothat level.
Which again, looking back, it'slike that was an awesome lesson
(28:11):
, because now we've got, youknow, amazing processes and I've
scaled back my team, but we'vegot a higher number of clients
than we did four months ago andwe can run it smoothly.
You know everything's flowing.
So it's just like you can havebig goals but, yeah, that idea
of you may not rise to meet them.
(28:32):
You could fall to where yourprocesses are at.
I just think that's for aleader to keep in mind.
Kate Peardon (28:38):
And it's such a common experience for founders
and small businesses.
Larger corporate businessestend to have the structures put
in already or you've got peopleto set them up.
Often when it founders andsmall businesses because it is
your passion.
Business perhaps has not beensomething that you've been
trained in.
I see it so often with clientsthat the business lives in their
(28:59):
head and it's been sosuccessful to that point.
But to make it sustainable it'sgot to be on paper.
And how to be able to do that?
I think a great lesson fromAtomic Habits, anything else
books or podcasts or events.
I know you love in-personthings that have been your one
percenters.
Lauren Fraser (29:18):
I love consuming podcasts and books for
leadership stuff.
I've actually always found itmore helpful and you know I've
taken more away when I've doneit in person.
I've been to one of yourin-person days and, oh my god, I
was thinking about that fordays after that.
I think I even messaged you afew days ago you sent me
messages.
Yeah, I was still thinking aboutlike I've had this other aha
(29:41):
moment, because you knowespecially what you've got
jammed into your events or yourprograms.
It's all of the best fromacross all of your experiences,
all these books, everythingyou've done in one place and so
working with whether it's aleadership coach or going to
different events where there'sthat opportunity to learn from
(30:03):
great leaders I found, like,find that so much more impactful
to actually have takeaways.
You know, I can read it.
I was like, oh yeah, that'sgreat, but until you have that
kind of real world experience oryou have that real aha moment,
see, yeah, the way I want tomove forward is continuing to do
that learning from someonewho's, you know, done it,
(30:28):
reading a book and then tryingto figure it out myself.
See, I just think for me, whenyou learn that leadership, learn
from a great leader yeah,that's working smart and not
hard.
Kate Peardon (30:38):
Yes, exactly, alright.
So we've got your threeleadership lessons and just a
little refresher on Lawrence.
Journey was all about hiringand acquiring a team, about her
leadership style and how tounderstand other people's
leadership styles and reallymaking those tough decisions and
knowing what she knows.
Now you do it earlier and Ithink back all the decisions in
(31:02):
my life.
I'm like I'm great at kickingthe can down the road for some
tough stuff.
I just hope it goes away.
I don't know, I'm not alone inthis.
I really just hope that goesaway.
99% of the time it doesn't.
Yeah, sadly, even the 1% thatit does, that's not enough to
convince me that I can kick itdown the road even further.
So, yes, that's definitelymaking tough decisions in
(31:23):
business and in life issomething that I am, and have
been working very hard on.
There is a great book.
It is fierce conversations Ijust talks about.
The conversation that you'reavoiding is the one you really
need to have.
Lauren Fraser (31:38):
I think that was the first page.
Kate Peardon (31:39):
I'm pretty sure I closed the book and didn't read
it for another three months.
I wasn't ready to face.
Immediately comes to mind.
Lauren Fraser (31:46):
Like I know, I know I'm not ready to handle
that.
Kate Peardon (31:50):
So, lauren, this week when the podcast launch,
you are launching your newbusiness with a lot of
experience behind you.
So the media, you can jump onthe website.
It has been designed by thewonderful sparrow studios, who
is actually doing my new websiteat the same time, so we have
that in common.
Where can people, or how canpeople, get in touch with you?
(32:11):
Because you offer some amazingservices and, with your target
into health, wellness and beautyspace, how do people know that
they need to work with you?
What's happening in theirbusiness?
Lauren Fraser (32:26):
Yes, okay.
So, as you said, you know weare very much honing in on
supporting health, wellness andbeauty businesses.
That's not only our passion,but where we've got the most
experiences do achieve greatresults.
So if you're in that space,that's a big tech.
But we also we workpredominantly with established
businesses.
They're already up and running.
That got some flow, that gotsome momentum behind them, but
(32:50):
they Are ready for morevisibility whether that's so
they can scale their team andbring in a new clinicians so
they can get more appointmentscoming through.
Maybe they're looking atexpanding on a product range,
but first and foremost they needto get more interest, more
visibility online, as I justsaid, you know more clients
(33:12):
coming through the door toachieve that.
So we support on searchmarketing covering Google,
social media, email marketing,paid ads.
So, again, if you are looking,you know a lot of businesses in
the health and beauty space.
They start on social, maybeseeing a bit of momentum, but
(33:32):
they know Search, seo, googleads is really that next step
where prime to support thosebusinesses.
We have this search savvybundle covering both Google ads
and SEO, and it's the one thatreally shifts the needle for our
clients.
So we do have a fantasticpackages guide on the website,
(33:54):
our beautiful new website, whichhas all the info, and then they
can jump on and have a callwith me and figure out where
they're at and what's best forthem.
Kate Peardon (34:02):
And that's something that I love about your
approach because it is personal.
They do get to talk to you,they do get to talk to Lauren,
with all the experience, andyou're big about partnership, so
you are partnering with them onthis journey.
It's not like an in and out andit's a faceless agency.
You are there as theircheerleader and their support.
You sit down with them withtheir marketing strategy and the
team for the implementation,and I think that's what is
(34:25):
unique about your styleParticularly people that are not
so comfortable with marketingwhich is totally me and they
just want someone that they cantrust, that can hold their hand
and do up their strategy and runthrough this plan and implement
it.
So they're getting morevisibility, they're getting more
clients through the door andthey're doing it in a way that
feels right for them and that issustainable.
(34:46):
Exactly, lauren, thank you forjoining us today on the podcast
and sharing your story.
I know it took a little bit ofconvincing initially cause
growth is uncomfortable, but Ithink the more people that share
their growth stories and theirlessons and the openness that
you've had in sharing this canhelp inspire others on their
(35:09):
journeys as well, and perhapspeople that might be feeling a
bit alone in this, realize thatthey're not alone.
So thank you for yourvulnerability and sharing that.
I really appreciate it.
Lauren Fraser (35:18):
Thanks for having me.
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