April 8, 2024 • 32 mins
From the bustling streets of Sydney to the tranquil expanses of rural Australia, Annabelle Hickson's journey has been nothing short of extraordinary. She's a journalist-turned-entrepreneur whose story is bound to ignite your wanderlust and perhaps even coax you to dream a little bigger.
In today's podcast, Annabelle shares the vibrant tapestry of life beyond the city limits, inviting us to explore her world through the pages of Galah magazine and her new book, both which celebrate the spirit of regional communities. Her insights offer a refreshing perspective of life and business in the bush, revealing a life filled with creativity, resilience, and unexpected joys rather than hardship.
Embarking on an entrepreneurial venture can be tough no matter where you start, yet as Annabelle candidly discusses the real-life hurdles, from cash flow crunches to the silent echo of solitude, she also highlights the fortitude required to thrive.
This episode isn't just a masterclass in brand-building from the ground up; it's a testament to defining success on your own terms. Annabelle's story is a beacon for those courageous enough to carve out a path where passion and sustainability intersect, and her words stand as proof of the rich rewards waiting for those who venture into the heart of Australia's regional communities.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
you're listening to the secrets of successful
business podcast, your go-tosource for business tips, tricks
and proven strategies that willhelp you create a streamlined
and profitable business.
We chat to the best minds inbusiness about their journey.
It's my business and I'll do itmy way, how they started,
rather than going harder to getmore focus on growing more with
(00:25):
what you have.
What they learned along the way.
How long are you going to givethis?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
What compromises are you going to make?
Just because you can do itdoesn't mean that you should do
it.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
It's really important to remember that it's a long
game and, of course, we'll askthem for their secret sauce for
creating a successful business.
If you're not failing, you'renot doing it right.
You should be struggling attimes.
That is part of the journey.
Join us as we take a sneak peekbehind the curtain, talk
solutions for those businesspain points working smarter, not
harder, mindset and thechallenges of fitting it all in
(00:57):
with the demands of today's busylifestyle.
If you're a business owner,side hustler or just starting
your business journey, thispodcast is for you.
Now here's your host, businesscoach and content creator,
justine McLean from FlossieCreative.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Hello and thanks for joining me on the podcast today.
In case we haven't met, I'mJustine, a small business owner
on a mission to uncover andshare the secrets of creating
and running a profitable,sustainable and successful
business.
I've been in business for over20 years now and I get to use
all that I've learned along theway to help other women in
business reduce the overwhelm,gain visibility around their
(01:37):
numbers, charge what they'reworth and make more money.
It's about designing a life youlove that fits into your
definition of success.
So if I can help you create theprofitable business you deserve
, please reach out Now withoutfurther ado.
Let's dive into today's episode.
(02:01):
The last editor, annabelleHickson, didn't plan to live in
regional Australia, but she fellin love with a handsome farmer
from Western New South Wales andthought she'd give it a shot.
While there were definitelysome sacrifices her journalism,
career at the Australian at theBeach and takeaway food that's
still hot by the time you get ithome she had no idea how many
opportunities there'd also befor her in this new life.
(02:22):
While her husband, ed, plantedpecan trees, annabelle looked
after their three young children, wrote a regular monthly column
at Country Style Magazine andpublished a book A Tree in the
House that has been sold allover the world.
She also began to learn what itwas to be part of community,
and everywhere she looked shesaw smart, clever and resilient
(02:44):
people who talked aboutopportunities instead of
limitations.
This was in stark contrast tothe simple country people
stereotypes that you know sheknew from her life in the city.
Annabelle wanted to sharestories that reflected the
community she knew and her ownsense of like of being able to
live out of the city, and so shecreated Galah, a magazine that
(03:06):
shows the beauty, freedom andopportunities that exist in the
country and tells the stories ofthe smart and increasingly
diverse regional business ownerswho not only care about the
community, but creativity, theenvironment and profitability as
well.
Annabel's new book, the Best ofGalah, has now been
immortalized in book form, andtoday I'm chatting with
(03:29):
Annabelle about regional life,running a business and following
your passion.
Welcome to the podcast,annabelle.
It's so nice to meet you.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
How are you, Justine?
Thanks for having me.
I'm very good.
I've got an empty house.
Everyone is out of it today.
How?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
fabulous.
Yeah, yeah, I mean, that's theideal.
I think I just had to ask myhubby to take the dogs out of
the office here so we couldrecord this without barking in
the background.
But anyway, now we havelisteners all over the world in
some fabulous places, and todaywe're talking about living
(04:04):
somewhere and running a businessin an area which is kind of
regional, remote, and Imentioned to you before we hit
record that I live in regionalAustralia.
It's about three hours south ofa big city but it's still a
nice little town that I live in.
It's a decent size supermarket,still five minutes down the
road, but you really live inwhat we call rural Australia,
(04:28):
and Australia is such a bigcountry compared to a lot of
other places around the world.
So could you please put intocontext for our listeners,
especially our city listeners,where you live and how far away
you're located from the city orthe big smoke?
Speaker 3 (04:44):
So if you're in Sydney, I'm about a nine-hour
drive northwest and I live up onthe New South Queensland border
in between two small towns.
One's called Tenterfield, onthe New South Wales side, and
the other little town is calledTexas, texas-queensland.
Though that is, both of thosetowns are about an hour away and
(05:07):
we're kind of in the middle.
So if you're driving from Texasto Tennerfield you'll drive
through wheat farms, cottonfarms, pumpkin, peanuts, cows,
that kind of thing, andeventually you'll arrive.
You'll see a heap of beautifulbig green pecan trees and that's
where we live, and then youhave to keep driving another
hour until you hit the next town.
(05:29):
So it's funny like we'reprobably only four and a half
hours inland sort of inland fromthat Byron Bay Northern Rivers
region.
But it does feel quite isolatedbecause we're so far away from
a town, at least to me.
But it's all relative becauseI've got friends that live, you
know, hours out of Bourke andthey think where I live is quite
suburban.
So it's all relative.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Yeah, so I mean to go knock on your neighbor's door,
for a cup of sugar is probablynot just a walk, you know, over
the fence right.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Well, actually on one side I could walk to my
neighbors and I do often.
I don't even knock, I just comein and I shop their pantry.
We have a very open door policybetween us.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I love that, I love that yeah no and pecan's, one of
my favourite nuts right thereNow.
You were a journalist for theAustralian, which is a big
national newspaper here, and youknow that was sort of your life
.
And then you transitioned fromthat mainstream journalism
(06:31):
career to living in regionalAustralia, rural Australia and
becoming the creator and editorof, you know, galah magazine.
How, you know, did you makethat transition?
How did that come about?
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Well, there were quite a few years in between
leaving the Oz and startingGalah and really the only reason
I left the Australian.
I felt like there I was, at thebeginning of what I thought was
going to be a long career.
It was my dream job.
I just thought it wasincredible, but then I fell in
love.
I met a handsome farmer out outwest, and so I left my dream job
(07:06):
without actually too muchthought.
I'd be kind of horrified if mydaughters did the same thing.
But I headed out west andactually initially we moved to
the town of Moree, which is acouple of hours further west
than where I live now, and Ijust really naively thought oh
well, no worries, I'll just getanother job in media.
And this was, you know, 15years ago.
Right Working kind of wasn'treally normalized, and I walked
(07:30):
in.
There was a or actually theremight still be just but there
was a local newspaper there, theMoria Champion, and I walked
into their office thinking that,you know, they'd actually just
like give me my own cubicle andI could sort of start as the
editor of the Moray Champion.
I then discovered there aren'tvery many jobs in well,
certainly there weren't verymany jobs in Moray if you wanted
(07:50):
to work outside of theagricultural sector, and there
were no jobs at the MorayChampion, and I couldn't even
get a job at a local cafe.
It was a real shock and Ithought, my God, what have I
done?
So it sort of was a few yearsin between that moment to
actually starting my own mediacompany.
(08:10):
I did have some kids in thattime and I did sort of other
bits and pieces and wrote a bookabout, kind of got like
obsessed with foraging flowerson the side of the road, wrote a
book about it, published thatwith Heidi Grant, which was a
wonderful experience to just geta bit of a bird's eye view into
the publishing world.
But I think that, along withyou know, my journalism training
(08:32):
and then just the really youknow, a desire to create my own
media company.
That's sort of whatkick-started Galah.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
But yeah, there were definitely a few years in
between the Oz and Galah and youknow, apart from the fact that
you know it was almostimpossible to get a job, what
were some of the other you know,I guess, big surprises or
challenges that you faced whenyou, you know, first moved to
Western New South Wales?
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Well, the greatest surprise was what an amazing
life it was.
It is.
I think, you know, I'd grown upin the city, sort of suburban
Sydney, and living a very urbanlife, and it wasn't a conscious
thing but just unconsciously, Ihad not ever pictured myself
living outside of a city.
(09:16):
I just sort of thought, ifyou're ambitious, if you want to
do things, you've got to be inthe city.
Unconsciously, you know, andthen, I think you know the kind
of news that, as someone whodidn't really have links with
regional Australia or didn'treally know very many people
from there, the sort of newsthat did cut through to me were
like floods, fires, drought,totally, yeah, lack of access to
(09:38):
doctors.
You know all that sort of stuffand this is important news that
needs to be reported.
But I think I'd kind of like byosmosis absorbed that and had
just sort of had this stereotypethat life in the country was
going to be hard, yes, that itwould be kind of defined by all
sorts of disadvantage.
I mean, I was so, you know,head over heels in love.
(09:58):
I was willing to likecompletely dive into that.
But it the greatest surprisewas just how amazing it is.
I, I mean and I know thissounds a bit corny, but I
genuinely feel really lucky tolive this sort of non-urban life
now.
I just see there's so muchopportunity and excitement and
(10:21):
innovation and I'm just sopleased to be living out here.
You know, I wouldn't have doneit had I not met Ed or you know
some other reason like that.
And yeah, so the greatestsurprise is really how good it
is.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah, that's amazing because I think you're right.
I think the narrative thatpeople in the city hear is about
the disadvantage, it's aboutthose weather elements that
impact the people in the country, or the lack of water or the
lack of services, and we neverreally hear about the people and
(10:54):
the positivity and thecommunity spirit.
And so you know, when youessentially decided to create a
media company I mean, what amassive undertaking, and with
Galah at the helm of that as aflagship magazine what was the
vision there?
Was it shifting the narrativeto regional Australia and really
(11:17):
highlighting some of what wasgoing on?
That was not negative, exactly.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
That's exactly what it was.
So it was December 2020, justbefore COVID kicked in when the
first issue of Galah came out,and it had been sort of on the
back of three years of drought.
It had been a terribly dry time, and then there were floods,
and then there were bushfires,and then there was a mouse
plague.
So it had been a kind of prettyrough four years for lots of
(11:44):
regional Australia, andparticularly you know around
where I was.
You know everyone, I kneweveryone I could see it was
tough, it took its toll, it wasfinancially stressful, and yet I
still was glad that I livedwhere I did, and I just got
tired of seeing such doom andgloom in the news and I thought
we've got to do better.
There's all this stuff.
(12:05):
We don't even have to invent it.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
It wasn't like a PR spin.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
There was all this stuff that was great that I feel
like we weren't sort of doing agood enough job of putting out
there and I thought, well, Ibetter do something about it.
And you know, galah didn't haveto be a print magazine.
I mean it's kind ofcounterintuitive starting a
print magazine in 2020.
Print magazine I mean it's kindof counterintuitive starting a
print magazine in 2020.
But it kind of it sort ofturned out to be the path of
(12:33):
least resistance.
I had worked with a creativedirector at another magazine
before and she said that she'ddesign it for me.
She actually planted the ideain my head why don't you start a
print mag?
You know, I thought maybe itcould be like a newsletter,
something more digital.
But she said I'll handle theprint, the design and the print.
And I'm actually really glad Iwent down the print track
because it I think you know the24 hour news cycle and that's
(12:56):
all digital.
You know you've got it wherethe power is.
It's digital.
It's not in print anymore.
I'm absolutely.
You know that that ship hassailed.
But I think we all are cravinga break from our screens and a
break from the digital fast pacestuff.
And I think the focus of Galariis about, you know, looking at
the more positive sort of sidesof of life beyond the city.
(13:18):
The actual slower print mediumreally suits it.
You can get back and relax andnot be just like scanning for
the to hit the main points youknow yes yes, totally.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Yeah, I, I a hundred percent agree with you.
I used to work for um atPacific magazines, um, when you
know, for Better Homes andGardens, and people love that
magazine and they still love itand they, you know, I think it's
got a readership of over half amillion.
They still love picking it upand kind of leafing through
those pages, even though there'sthat digital element to it.
(13:53):
But the digital tends to be alot about clickbait, right, and
you're right, like that kind ofgets our adrenaline pumping and
it's not great.
Yeah, well, it's not all great,you know it's not great.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Yeah, well, it's not all great.
I mean I think it's reallyimportant that you know I want
to live in a world that hasamazing journalism and amazing
news coverage and I'm very happyfor that to happen digitally.
But I do think there's a.
I think a lot of us are justbecause of the sheer volume of
it and maybe we haven't learntreally how to kind of manage our
digital time very well.
I actually think my kids arebetter at it than I am.
(14:27):
Maybe we're this funnygeneration, yeah, interesting,
and I think you can get kind ofnews fatigue and yeah, I think
it's a tricky thing because it'sso important that journalists
exist and keep you know allsorts of things accountable.
But as a consumer, it's reallyI journalists exist and keep you
know all sorts of thingsaccountable, but as a consumer,
(14:48):
it's really I mean I just I'vebeen reading less and less news
because I've been, yeah, I justfeel kind of mentally exhausted
with it all and actually,especially through that COVID
lockdown time, I mean that was Ijust and and so it's sort of
balancing that level of likewanting to be engaged with the
world and informed and care, butalso not wanting to take on
unnecessary stress from thatcrazy new cycle.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Yeah, and you know that's quite interesting because
you know, obviously, as youmentioned before, there's all
those really sort of you know,not necessarily negative, but
the reality of the stories ofthe droughts and the floods and
the fires and the mouse plagues,that kind of go on in the
regional communities.
But you know your aim is tosort of balance that reality
(15:36):
with, you know, by showcasingthe vibrant communities and the
diverse people.
So how do you kind of find thatbalance?
Or do you just try and steeraway from that negative press
because you think the digitalmedia, news, mainstream news,
has got that covered?
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Yeah, I think we've got lots of news, great news
outlets that do cover that kindof news really well ABC, the
Australian does regional reallywell.
The Guardian's got this greatsort of in the last couple of
years.
They've started a rural networkwithin their thing, so they do
they cover that news reallyreally well.
I feel like Galah can kind ofcontribute by adding a slightly
(16:18):
different perspective to ourexisting mix.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
And so how does you know?
Your magazine, I guess, bridgethat gap between city and
country.
Is it just a magazine forcountry folk, or do you
circulate it in the city as well?
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Yeah, our readership is quite interesting.
I mean, I couldn't have dreamtit.
I mean, how I dreamt it is howit's panned out, and that often
doesn't happen, does it?
So 60% of our readers areregional, rural and 40% are
metro, and really I mean, firstand foremost, I make Galah for
regional people.
I wanted it to reflect back toall of us who live here how you
(16:56):
know all these sort of wonderfulthings that are happening, so
so that we weren't justreflected back with how hard it
was, you know so that's theprimary thing.
But the secondary thing, becauseI was this city person that had
no connection with the country,I totally subscribed to
stereotypes.
I thought it was full ofconservative.
I mean, I was that person thatI'm now trying to speak to to
(17:19):
flesh out these stereotypes,just to sort of provide a bit
more nuance.
I mean, wasn't it interestingat the referendum vote that we
just have for the voice and thecountry voted in a very
different way, to just to sortof provide a bit more nuance?
I mean, wasn't it interestingat the referendum vote that we
just have for the voice and thecountry voted in a very
different way to the city?
And I know a lot of my cityfriends, you know, really just
wanted to say that well, thecountry's racist, the country's,
you know, they had all thesethings.
(17:40):
But it's like for me now is thetime when nuanced stories are
so important, because I do wantthat centre to hold.
I don't want to go down theAmerican track of everything
being super polarised, you know,and I actually think we might
be a bit closer than we think weare, and are we ever going to
do that unless there'smeaningful, interesting nuanced
(18:00):
stories?
So that's a big motivatingfactor for Goa.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Yeah, that's amazing.
And just on that, I mean, ifpeople want to get their hands
on a copy, because otherwise I'mgoing to forget to ask you,
where can they grab a copy ofGalah?
Speaker 3 (18:15):
We sell them ourselves, galahpresscom.
You can get them through us,but we've also got this network
of stockers throughout the wholeof Australia.
You can jump onto our websiteto see where they are, and we do
stalk in some news agencies too.
Excellent.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Okay, so you've taken all of these stories of beauty
and freedom and theopportunities that people have
created for themselves inregional and rural Australia and
you've turned them into.
It's like the best of you'veturned them into this beautiful
book.
How did you pick those stories?
And you know, are they yourfavourites?
Speaker 3 (18:50):
Oh, it's so tricky.
So yeah, we've got thishardcover book and it's exactly
like you said.
It's a best of album of thefirst sort of eight issues of
the magazine.
I could not possibly pick thestories.
I'm just so invested in all ofthem, I couldn't.
So my beautiful publisher, theyreally helped with that.
And you know also, it's likeabout the mix.
(19:10):
Like in our magazine issues wesort of theme them.
You know there's like growth orlimitations or something like
that, but the book is divided upinto chapters and you know like
people, places, so it was sortof a different format which was
really exciting.
And you know so there were somestories that naturally, you
know, fitted into those places.
(19:31):
But yeah, I can't say ifthey're my favorites.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
I love them all.
Yeah, interesting, it's likepicking your favorite child.
No, you can't do that.
Well, you know my.
I have four sons and I always,uh, you know, decide on my
favourite based on the day ofthe week, really, and how
they're behaving.
And they're well in their 20snow.
So, anyway, that's just me,annabelle.
(19:56):
As someone who is, you know,deeply immersed in that, you
know, regional life, what advicewould you give to others who
are either considering a similarmove, or people who are
currently living in regionalcentres who might be thinking of
starting a business?
Because it's a huge move, nomatter where you are, but to do
what you've done, to not onlystart a business but a print
(20:19):
magazine, is huge.
It's massive.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
It's funny, though.
Is it any different now thanstarting a business in an urban,
you know, in a big city?
I mean, um, maybe, but we'vegot this technology, we're
speaking, we're like 11 hoursapart.
I just, you know, there'sthere's two women who've moved
to the district recently.
Both of their husbands, um,actually weren't farmers before.
(20:46):
They were working, you know, inthe city, but they had farming
backgrounds and they weredesperate to get back into
farming.
Both of these women arewhite-collar professionals.
One, you know, is in charge ofI don't know, a couple of
hundred people in the lawindustry.
Another is an accountant whoruns her own business.
You know, they've just movedhere and their businesses are
(21:07):
continuing as they were before.
I just, I think it's anincredible time because we don't
have that geographical elementas much that we have to deal
with.
I mean, you've got to try andget good internet, but now, with
all these Elon Musk satellitesgoing around at the top of us,
we don't have to wait for theNBN to come out here.
I mean, it's, you know, interms of that, the barrier to
(21:29):
entries are so much less.
I mean, perhaps what you don'thave are the, you know,
immediate networking, physicalnetworking opportunities, the
incidental bump-ins, that sortof stuff isn't sort of there as
much.
But you know there's all sortsof like industry groups.
I'm a member of the DigitalPublishers Alliance and you know
there's a WhatsApp chat and Ifeel that that's a great
(21:50):
networking opportunity and Idon't have to be anywhere near a
major centre before I mean, Ithink if I tried to start a
print magazine 15 years ago, Idon't know if I could have done
it without.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Yeah, yeah, you're right, I mean definitely the
connectivity helps, but I thinkalso there's that factor of that
connection, as you mentioned,and people sort of trying to
find that you know, no matterwhere they are, but particularly
when they're in a regionalcentre, like I'm obviously three
hours, you know, south ofSydney, as I mentioned, and just
sort of trying to find thepeople who down here,
particularly who have businessesapart from the retail
(22:28):
businesses, yes, I haven't foundlots of them.
So it's really interesting thatyou say about that digital, you
know, kind of connection, justfinding those groups, because
interestingly that's where Ikind of find a lot of my
connections and business buddiesas well.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
Maybe we need to start a regional business.
Women's chat WhatsApp group.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
I think we do.
I think that sounds like afabulous idea.
So, now you've been in businessfor a few years and you're
obviously running a print mag,you know, which I can't.
For people listening who don'tunderstand what goes into
running a print magazine,particularly in 2024, when print
, you know, is not flying outthe door as it used to.
(23:15):
It is just a massiveundertaking.
There are so many moving partsand, having been in the industry
before and managed a very bigbudget in that industry, I kind
of can speak to that.
So I'm here taking my hat offto Annabelle and kind of
fangirling over her because it'sa massive thing to do.
So, just in case you'relistening and thinking oh yeah,
(23:38):
print magazine, just anotherbusiness.
No, this is like extra.
So hats off to you.
But anyway, what have you found, as you've been in business
these last few years, to be thesecret or secrets of running a
successful business?
Speaker 3 (23:51):
I am not qualified to answer this.
I mean, I am still at the stagewhere I tap my little ING card
at the supermarket and hold mybreath wondering if it's going
to go through.
So in terms of a successfulbusiness, I mean it's a work in
progress.
I mean cashflow is really hardbut it's really interesting
(24:13):
because I'm married to thisfarmer.
So his, his sort of businessmindset comes from having to
invest a huge amount of money tobuy land, you know, and, and a
lot of that is debt financed andit's like a very tangible asset
.
And then very, very slowly,over time, you know you have
this business that can servicethe debt.
The asset value goes up.
You know that's the farmingmodel.
(24:33):
Somehow you just try to notsort of sink beneath the waves,
you know, during that time.
So he looks at what I've done,which is not buying anything
very tangible, you know it'screating a brand out of sort of
thin air.
That's what it looks like to himand he just thinks that's
incredible.
He's like you haven't had tobuy an office, you haven't had
(24:54):
to fit out a shop front althoughI did have a small sort of
dalliance with shopkeeping whichdid not suit me at all, you
know he just thinks it'swonderful.
So that's good, because I doneed the encouragement to hold
the line because the cash flowis tight and profits are, so you
have to fight so hard to getprofits.
(25:17):
I mean, it's only three and abit years in, so this is
definitely a medium to long-termbusiness building.
So I don't think I can say I'vehave any secrets of success
because I don't know if it'sgoing to be a success yet.
But I do have my husband in myear saying it's incredible what
(25:38):
you've created out of thin airalready and the fact you're, you
know, breaking even or justmaking a bit more profit than
breaking even.
He keeps telling me that is ahuge success.
So I do doubt.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
I think if you can, if you can break even and that
includes paying yourself even asmall wage, then and and you're
making a small profit, you knowyou're building that in then
then I think that is a success.
I think so many of us areconditioned to thinking of
success in such massive termsthat we forget about what
success means to us.
You know, in this particularseason of our, our life and
(26:15):
business because you know you'vegot a couple of kids I mean
success to you might be doingthe work and getting dinner on
the table.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
Well, that's right, and I mean I, you know I
definitely would like to be ableto pay myself more than I do,
which is, the moment, is nothingbecause it's all going back
into the business and it's, youknow, peak kids time.
We've got two kids away atboarding school, one's about to
go next year.
You know it's like peakambition colliding with peak
(26:42):
work, colliding with peakchildren expense.
You know it's all pretty fullon, but when I, you know, do
some breathing and I think, likewhat is success to me?
If I had all the money in theworld, if I won lotto tomorrow,
this is the work I would chooseto do, this work that is
(27:04):
meaningful to me.
That, I think, is important.
You know it's the work I wantto do.
So really, from that metric, itis success already.
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
And is there anything that you know right now that
you wish you'd known a couple ofyears ago, when you started
Galah?
Speaker 3 (27:22):
I think I would definitely tell myself to pull
my head out of the sand andactually get across Xero and my
accounting books and all thatsort of stuff.
I have very reluctantly comeinto paying more attention to
that world and it's not as scaryas I thought it would be.
This felt so overwhelming.
I mean, I did do someaccounting at uni, but as soon
as I thought it would be, itjust felt so overwhelming.
I mean, I did do someaccounting at uni, but as soon
as I could stop doing it forpart of my degree, I did.
It's just I've told myself I'mnot very good at it, but now I'm
(27:46):
starting to see it more as justkind of a great tool.
Yes, yes, only information thatI need to know.
So I wish I hadn't sort of putthat off for so long.
What else is something that Iwish I'd knew?
Probably well, no, I don't wishI knew this, because then it
would have been disheartening.
I now I think I have a really amuch deeper appreciation for
(28:08):
what it is to run your ownbusiness and how hard it is to
kind of actually make money andmaybe how lonely it can be as
well.
That sort of stuff I don't wishI knew when I started, but we
really do need to start thisWhatsApp group.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
We really do.
We really do and I think it'sso interesting that you say that
about you know about thenumbers, because there are so
many creative people that I getto work with and I think at the
heart of it I'm a creativeperson and my story is
definitely that girl who did notdo numbers, because I was
essentially a writer at the timegot myself into a world of
(28:47):
trouble with the ATO and thendug myself out of it by choosing
to become a qualified BAS agent, which I would not recommend
because clearly I've got somepersonality disorder there.
But let's not go into that.
But I just kind of view it now.
As you know, the numbers tell astory and so choose to be the
author of your own story.
(29:08):
That's what I say to all mycreative friends and business.
You know kind of colleagues andclients, just like you know you
wouldn't give away thatcreativity of that thing you're
doing to somebody else.
Look at the numbers the sameway.
So yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
And I've also found that the worry of the unknown is
, more often than not, fargreater than the reality.
Exactly, you know it's like oh,okay, it's not that bad.
Like being able to quantify howmuch you should be worried has
more often than not been arelief.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Yeah, I literally had someone say that to me this
morning.
I said you know, she just saidto me I've been neglecting the
numbers for so long because Iwas worried about what it would
tell me, but now that I knowit's not as bad as I thought and
I'm like I've wasted the lastsix months panicking for no
reason.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Yeah, it's quite incredible.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
If you have your own business, you're pretty good at
problem solving, like to sort ofuse the numbers to kind of make
okay, this is what we need todo.
It's like oh, then you just nowhave a plan rather than a vague
sense of dread, Exactly,Exactly.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Well, look, we could talk about business.
I know all day, I just havethis sense, but thank you so
much for coming on the podcasttoday.
Annabelle Galah the magazine isobviously available when it
comes out, but Galah, the book,which is just a beautiful if you
want something beautiful onyour coffee table, it looks
(30:41):
beautiful, it feels beautifuland it looks fabulous on the
inside as well.
So many beautiful stories andimages and it is available now
from all good booksellers.
What is the best way, Annabelle, for listeners to get in touch
with you?
Speaker 3 (30:58):
So well, something your listeners who are overseas
might be interested in, becauseyou know the magazine is really
chunky and it's really expensiveto ship.
The book will be published inthe US and the UK, so that's
great, get the book.
You can just get it throughyour people.
But we've got a digital kind ofworld for Galah where you can
come and sort of check out whatthe mag's about, which is
digitalgalahpresscom, and that'sa really good way to kind of
(31:23):
well to get in contact with me.
You can leave comments on thestories, but just to sort of dip
your toes into the Galah watersto see what it's all about.
Also, instagram at galahpresson Instagram, and that's about
it.
For me in terms of social media, I feel like I've got one app
in me.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Yes, social media does my head in too, but I'll
follow you after this.
Now, before we go, can I askyou just one last question?
If you had a billboard withanything on it, what would it be
?
Is?
Speaker 3 (31:55):
this too cheesy Fortune favours the brave, no.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
I love it.
It's fabulous.
The cheesier the better, Ireckon.
Annabelle, thank you again andgood luck with the book.
It's just yeah.
I can't say how beautiful it is.
So go buy a copy.
Great present too.
So thanks, so much.
Thanks for having me, justine.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Thanks for listening to the Secrets of Successful
Business podcast.
For more information on allthings business, head to
flossycomau and make sure youhit subscribe on the show so you
don't miss another new episode.
If you're enjoying the show,please give it a quick rating or
review, share it on yoursocials or with friends who
might enjoy it.
(32:39):
Catch you next time.
you're listening to the secrets of successful
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and proven strategies that willhelp you create a streamlined
and profitable business.
We chat to the best minds inbusiness about their journey.
It's my business and I'll do itmy way, how they started,
rather than going harder to getmore focus on growing more with
(00:25):
what you have.
What they learned along the way.
How long are you going to givethis?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
What compromises are you going to make?
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Speaker 1 (00:33):
It's really important to remember that it's a long
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Join us as we take a sneak peekbehind the curtain, talk
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(00:57):
with the demands of today's busylifestyle.
If you're a business owner,side hustler or just starting
your business journey, thispodcast is for you.
Now here's your host, businesscoach and content creator,
justine McLean from FlossieCreative.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Hello and thanks for joining me on the podcast today.
In case we haven't met, I'mJustine, a small business owner
on a mission to uncover andshare the secrets of creating
and running a profitable,sustainable and successful
business.
I've been in business for over20 years now and I get to use
all that I've learned along theway to help other women in
business reduce the overwhelm,gain visibility around their
(01:37):
numbers, charge what they'reworth and make more money.
It's about designing a life youlove that fits into your
definition of success.
So if I can help you create theprofitable business you deserve
, please reach out Now withoutfurther ado.
Let's dive into today's episode.
(02:01):
The last editor, annabelleHickson, didn't plan to live in
regional Australia, but she fellin love with a handsome farmer
from Western New South Wales andthought she'd give it a shot.
While there were definitelysome sacrifices her journalism,
career at the Australian at theBeach and takeaway food that's
still hot by the time you get ithome she had no idea how many
opportunities there'd also befor her in this new life.
(02:22):
While her husband, ed, plantedpecan trees, annabelle looked
after their three young children, wrote a regular monthly column
at Country Style Magazine andpublished a book A Tree in the
House that has been sold allover the world.
She also began to learn what itwas to be part of community,
and everywhere she looked shesaw smart, clever and resilient
(02:44):
people who talked aboutopportunities instead of
limitations.
This was in stark contrast tothe simple country people
stereotypes that you know sheknew from her life in the city.
Annabelle wanted to sharestories that reflected the
community she knew and her ownsense of like of being able to
live out of the city, and so shecreated Galah, a magazine that
(03:06):
shows the beauty, freedom andopportunities that exist in the
country and tells the stories ofthe smart and increasingly
diverse regional business ownerswho not only care about the
community, but creativity, theenvironment and profitability as
well.
Annabel's new book, the Best ofGalah, has now been
immortalized in book form, andtoday I'm chatting with
(03:29):
Annabelle about regional life,running a business and following
your passion.
Welcome to the podcast,annabelle.
It's so nice to meet you.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
How are you, Justine?
Thanks for having me.
I'm very good.
I've got an empty house.
Everyone is out of it today.
How?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
fabulous.
Yeah, yeah, I mean, that's theideal.
I think I just had to ask myhubby to take the dogs out of
the office here so we couldrecord this without barking in
the background.
But anyway, now we havelisteners all over the world in
some fabulous places, and todaywe're talking about living
(04:04):
somewhere and running a businessin an area which is kind of
regional, remote, and Imentioned to you before we hit
record that I live in regionalAustralia.
It's about three hours south ofa big city but it's still a
nice little town that I live in.
It's a decent size supermarket,still five minutes down the
road, but you really live inwhat we call rural Australia,
(04:28):
and Australia is such a bigcountry compared to a lot of
other places around the world.
So could you please put intocontext for our listeners,
especially our city listeners,where you live and how far away
you're located from the city orthe big smoke?
Speaker 3 (04:44):
So if you're in Sydney, I'm about a nine-hour
drive northwest and I live up onthe New South Queensland border
in between two small towns.
One's called Tenterfield, onthe New South Wales side, and
the other little town is calledTexas, texas-queensland.
Though that is, both of thosetowns are about an hour away and
(05:07):
we're kind of in the middle.
So if you're driving from Texasto Tennerfield you'll drive
through wheat farms, cottonfarms, pumpkin, peanuts, cows,
that kind of thing, andeventually you'll arrive.
You'll see a heap of beautifulbig green pecan trees and that's
where we live, and then youhave to keep driving another
hour until you hit the next town.
(05:29):
So it's funny like we'reprobably only four and a half
hours inland sort of inland fromthat Byron Bay Northern Rivers
region.
But it does feel quite isolatedbecause we're so far away from
a town, at least to me.
But it's all relative becauseI've got friends that live, you
know, hours out of Bourke andthey think where I live is quite
suburban.
So it's all relative.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Yeah, so I mean to go knock on your neighbor's door,
for a cup of sugar is probablynot just a walk, you know, over
the fence right.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Well, actually on one side I could walk to my
neighbors and I do often.
I don't even knock, I just comein and I shop their pantry.
We have a very open door policybetween us.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I love that, I love that yeah no and pecan's, one of
my favourite nuts right thereNow.
You were a journalist for theAustralian, which is a big
national newspaper here, and youknow that was sort of your life
.
And then you transitioned fromthat mainstream journalism
(06:31):
career to living in regionalAustralia, rural Australia and
becoming the creator and editorof, you know, galah magazine.
How, you know, did you makethat transition?
How did that come about?
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Well, there were quite a few years in between
leaving the Oz and startingGalah and really the only reason
I left the Australian.
I felt like there I was, at thebeginning of what I thought was
going to be a long career.
It was my dream job.
I just thought it wasincredible, but then I fell in
love.
I met a handsome farmer out outwest, and so I left my dream job
(07:06):
without actually too muchthought.
I'd be kind of horrified if mydaughters did the same thing.
But I headed out west andactually initially we moved to
the town of Moree, which is acouple of hours further west
than where I live now, and Ijust really naively thought oh
well, no worries, I'll just getanother job in media.
And this was, you know, 15years ago.
Right Working kind of wasn'treally normalized, and I walked
(07:30):
in.
There was a or actually theremight still be just but there
was a local newspaper there, theMoria Champion, and I walked
into their office thinking that,you know, they'd actually just
like give me my own cubicle andI could sort of start as the
editor of the Moray Champion.
I then discovered there aren'tvery many jobs in well,
certainly there weren't verymany jobs in Moray if you wanted
(07:50):
to work outside of theagricultural sector, and there
were no jobs at the MorayChampion, and I couldn't even
get a job at a local cafe.
It was a real shock and Ithought, my God, what have I
done?
So it sort of was a few yearsin between that moment to
actually starting my own mediacompany.
(08:10):
I did have some kids in thattime and I did sort of other
bits and pieces and wrote a bookabout, kind of got like
obsessed with foraging flowerson the side of the road, wrote a
book about it, published thatwith Heidi Grant, which was a
wonderful experience to just geta bit of a bird's eye view into
the publishing world.
But I think that, along withyou know, my journalism training
(08:32):
and then just the really youknow, a desire to create my own
media company.
That's sort of whatkick-started Galah.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
But yeah, there were definitely a few years in
between the Oz and Galah and youknow, apart from the fact that
you know it was almostimpossible to get a job, what
were some of the other you know,I guess, big surprises or
challenges that you faced whenyou, you know, first moved to
Western New South Wales?
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Well, the greatest surprise was what an amazing
life it was.
It is.
I think, you know, I'd grown upin the city, sort of suburban
Sydney, and living a very urbanlife, and it wasn't a conscious
thing but just unconsciously, Ihad not ever pictured myself
living outside of a city.
(09:16):
I just sort of thought, ifyou're ambitious, if you want to
do things, you've got to be inthe city.
Unconsciously, you know, andthen, I think you know the kind
of news that, as someone whodidn't really have links with
regional Australia or didn'treally know very many people
from there, the sort of newsthat did cut through to me were
like floods, fires, drought,totally, yeah, lack of access to
(09:38):
doctors.
You know all that sort of stuffand this is important news that
needs to be reported.
But I think I'd kind of like byosmosis absorbed that and had
just sort of had this stereotypethat life in the country was
going to be hard, yes, that itwould be kind of defined by all
sorts of disadvantage.
I mean, I was so, you know,head over heels in love.
(09:58):
I was willing to likecompletely dive into that.
But it the greatest surprisewas just how amazing it is.
I, I mean and I know thissounds a bit corny, but I
genuinely feel really lucky tolive this sort of non-urban life
now.
I just see there's so muchopportunity and excitement and
(10:21):
innovation and I'm just sopleased to be living out here.
You know, I wouldn't have doneit had I not met Ed or you know
some other reason like that.
And yeah, so the greatestsurprise is really how good it
is.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah, that's amazing because I think you're right.
I think the narrative thatpeople in the city hear is about
the disadvantage, it's aboutthose weather elements that
impact the people in the country, or the lack of water or the
lack of services, and we neverreally hear about the people and
(10:54):
the positivity and thecommunity spirit.
And so you know, when youessentially decided to create a
media company I mean, what amassive undertaking, and with
Galah at the helm of that as aflagship magazine what was the
vision there?
Was it shifting the narrativeto regional Australia and really
(11:17):
highlighting some of what wasgoing on?
That was not negative, exactly.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
That's exactly what it was.
So it was December 2020, justbefore COVID kicked in when the
first issue of Galah came out,and it had been sort of on the
back of three years of drought.
It had been a terribly dry time, and then there were floods,
and then there were bushfires,and then there was a mouse
plague.
So it had been a kind of prettyrough four years for lots of
(11:44):
regional Australia, andparticularly you know around
where I was.
You know everyone, I kneweveryone I could see it was
tough, it took its toll, it wasfinancially stressful, and yet I
still was glad that I livedwhere I did, and I just got
tired of seeing such doom andgloom in the news and I thought
we've got to do better.
There's all this stuff.
(12:05):
We don't even have to invent it.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
It wasn't like a PR spin.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
There was all this stuff that was great that I feel
like we weren't sort of doing agood enough job of putting out
there and I thought, well, Ibetter do something about it.
And you know, galah didn't haveto be a print magazine.
I mean it's kind ofcounterintuitive starting a
print magazine in 2020.
Print magazine I mean it's kindof counterintuitive starting a
print magazine in 2020.
But it kind of it sort ofturned out to be the path of
(12:33):
least resistance.
I had worked with a creativedirector at another magazine
before and she said that she'ddesign it for me.
She actually planted the ideain my head why don't you start a
print mag?
You know, I thought maybe itcould be like a newsletter,
something more digital.
But she said I'll handle theprint, the design and the print.
And I'm actually really glad Iwent down the print track
because it I think you know the24 hour news cycle and that's
(12:56):
all digital.
You know you've got it wherethe power is.
It's digital.
It's not in print anymore.
I'm absolutely.
You know that that ship hassailed.
But I think we all are cravinga break from our screens and a
break from the digital fast pacestuff.
And I think the focus of Galariis about, you know, looking at
the more positive sort of sidesof of life beyond the city.
(13:18):
The actual slower print mediumreally suits it.
You can get back and relax andnot be just like scanning for
the to hit the main points youknow yes yes, totally.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Yeah, I, I a hundred percent agree with you.
I used to work for um atPacific magazines, um, when you
know, for Better Homes andGardens, and people love that
magazine and they still love itand they, you know, I think it's
got a readership of over half amillion.
They still love picking it upand kind of leafing through
those pages, even though there'sthat digital element to it.
(13:53):
But the digital tends to be alot about clickbait, right, and
you're right, like that kind ofgets our adrenaline pumping and
it's not great.
Yeah, well, it's not all great,you know it's not great.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Yeah, well, it's not all great.
I mean I think it's reallyimportant that you know I want
to live in a world that hasamazing journalism and amazing
news coverage and I'm very happyfor that to happen digitally.
But I do think there's a.
I think a lot of us are justbecause of the sheer volume of
it and maybe we haven't learntreally how to kind of manage our
digital time very well.
I actually think my kids arebetter at it than I am.
(14:27):
Maybe we're this funnygeneration, yeah, interesting,
and I think you can get kind ofnews fatigue and yeah, I think
it's a tricky thing because it'sso important that journalists
exist and keep you know allsorts of things accountable.
But as a consumer, it's reallyI journalists exist and keep you
know all sorts of thingsaccountable, but as a consumer,
(14:48):
it's really I mean I just I'vebeen reading less and less news
because I've been, yeah, I justfeel kind of mentally exhausted
with it all and actually,especially through that COVID
lockdown time, I mean that was Ijust and and so it's sort of
balancing that level of likewanting to be engaged with the
world and informed and care, butalso not wanting to take on
unnecessary stress from thatcrazy new cycle.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Yeah, and you know that's quite interesting because
you know, obviously, as youmentioned before, there's all
those really sort of you know,not necessarily negative, but
the reality of the stories ofthe droughts and the floods and
the fires and the mouse plagues,that kind of go on in the
regional communities.
But you know your aim is tosort of balance that reality
(15:36):
with, you know, by showcasingthe vibrant communities and the
diverse people.
So how do you kind of find thatbalance?
Or do you just try and steeraway from that negative press
because you think the digitalmedia, news, mainstream news,
has got that covered?
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Yeah, I think we've got lots of news, great news
outlets that do cover that kindof news really well ABC, the
Australian does regional reallywell.
The Guardian's got this greatsort of in the last couple of
years.
They've started a rural networkwithin their thing, so they do
they cover that news reallyreally well.
I feel like Galah can kind ofcontribute by adding a slightly
(16:18):
different perspective to ourexisting mix.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
And so how does you know?
Your magazine, I guess, bridgethat gap between city and
country.
Is it just a magazine forcountry folk, or do you
circulate it in the city as well?
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Yeah, our readership is quite interesting.
I mean, I couldn't have dreamtit.
I mean, how I dreamt it is howit's panned out, and that often
doesn't happen, does it?
So 60% of our readers areregional, rural and 40% are
metro, and really I mean, firstand foremost, I make Galah for
regional people.
I wanted it to reflect back toall of us who live here how you
(16:56):
know all these sort of wonderfulthings that are happening, so
so that we weren't justreflected back with how hard it
was, you know so that's theprimary thing.
But the secondary thing, becauseI was this city person that had
no connection with the country,I totally subscribed to
stereotypes.
I thought it was full ofconservative.
I mean, I was that person thatI'm now trying to speak to to
(17:19):
flesh out these stereotypes,just to sort of provide a bit
more nuance.
I mean, wasn't it interestingat the referendum vote that we
just have for the voice and thecountry voted in a very
different way, to just to sortof provide a bit more nuance?
I mean, wasn't it interestingat the referendum vote that we
just have for the voice and thecountry voted in a very
different way to the city?
And I know a lot of my cityfriends, you know, really just
wanted to say that well, thecountry's racist, the country's,
you know, they had all thesethings.
(17:40):
But it's like for me now is thetime when nuanced stories are
so important, because I do wantthat centre to hold.
I don't want to go down theAmerican track of everything
being super polarised, you know,and I actually think we might
be a bit closer than we think weare, and are we ever going to
do that unless there'smeaningful, interesting nuanced
(18:00):
stories?
So that's a big motivatingfactor for Goa.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Yeah, that's amazing.
And just on that, I mean, ifpeople want to get their hands
on a copy, because otherwise I'mgoing to forget to ask you,
where can they grab a copy ofGalah?
Speaker 3 (18:15):
We sell them ourselves, galahpresscom.
You can get them through us,but we've also got this network
of stockers throughout the wholeof Australia.
You can jump onto our websiteto see where they are, and we do
stalk in some news agencies too.
Excellent.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Okay, so you've taken all of these stories of beauty
and freedom and theopportunities that people have
created for themselves inregional and rural Australia and
you've turned them into.
It's like the best of you'veturned them into this beautiful
book.
How did you pick those stories?
And you know, are they yourfavourites?
Speaker 3 (18:50):
Oh, it's so tricky.
So yeah, we've got thishardcover book and it's exactly
like you said.
It's a best of album of thefirst sort of eight issues of
the magazine.
I could not possibly pick thestories.
I'm just so invested in all ofthem, I couldn't.
So my beautiful publisher, theyreally helped with that.
And you know also, it's likeabout the mix.
(19:10):
Like in our magazine issues wesort of theme them.
You know there's like growth orlimitations or something like
that, but the book is divided upinto chapters and you know like
people, places, so it was sortof a different format which was
really exciting.
And you know so there were somestories that naturally, you
know, fitted into those places.
(19:31):
But yeah, I can't say ifthey're my favorites.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
I love them all.
Yeah, interesting, it's likepicking your favorite child.
No, you can't do that.
Well, you know my.
I have four sons and I always,uh, you know, decide on my
favourite based on the day ofthe week, really, and how
they're behaving.
And they're well in their 20snow.
So, anyway, that's just me,annabelle.
(19:56):
As someone who is, you know,deeply immersed in that, you
know, regional life, what advicewould you give to others who
are either considering a similarmove, or people who are
currently living in regionalcentres who might be thinking of
starting a business?
Because it's a huge move, nomatter where you are, but to do
what you've done, to not onlystart a business but a print
(20:19):
magazine, is huge.
It's massive.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
It's funny, though.
Is it any different now thanstarting a business in an urban,
you know, in a big city?
I mean, um, maybe, but we'vegot this technology, we're
speaking, we're like 11 hoursapart.
I just, you know, there'sthere's two women who've moved
to the district recently.
Both of their husbands, um,actually weren't farmers before.
(20:46):
They were working, you know, inthe city, but they had farming
backgrounds and they weredesperate to get back into
farming.
Both of these women arewhite-collar professionals.
One, you know, is in charge ofI don't know, a couple of
hundred people in the lawindustry.
Another is an accountant whoruns her own business.
You know, they've just movedhere and their businesses are
(21:07):
continuing as they were before.
I just, I think it's anincredible time because we don't
have that geographical elementas much that we have to deal
with.
I mean, you've got to try andget good internet, but now, with
all these Elon Musk satellitesgoing around at the top of us,
we don't have to wait for theNBN to come out here.
I mean, it's, you know, interms of that, the barrier to
(21:29):
entries are so much less.
I mean, perhaps what you don'thave are the, you know,
immediate networking, physicalnetworking opportunities, the
incidental bump-ins, that sortof stuff isn't sort of there as
much.
But you know there's all sortsof like industry groups.
I'm a member of the DigitalPublishers Alliance and you know
there's a WhatsApp chat and Ifeel that that's a great
(21:50):
networking opportunity and Idon't have to be anywhere near a
major centre before I mean, Ithink if I tried to start a
print magazine 15 years ago, Idon't know if I could have done
it without.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Yeah, yeah, you're right, I mean definitely the
connectivity helps, but I thinkalso there's that factor of that
connection, as you mentioned,and people sort of trying to
find that you know, no matterwhere they are, but particularly
when they're in a regionalcentre, like I'm obviously three
hours, you know, south ofSydney, as I mentioned, and just
sort of trying to find thepeople who down here,
particularly who have businessesapart from the retail
(22:28):
businesses, yes, I haven't foundlots of them.
So it's really interesting thatyou say about that digital, you
know, kind of connection, justfinding those groups, because
interestingly that's where Ikind of find a lot of my
connections and business buddiesas well.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
Maybe we need to start a regional business.
Women's chat WhatsApp group.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
I think we do.
I think that sounds like afabulous idea.
So, now you've been in businessfor a few years and you're
obviously running a print mag,you know, which I can't.
For people listening who don'tunderstand what goes into
running a print magazine,particularly in 2024, when print
, you know, is not flying outthe door as it used to.
(23:15):
It is just a massiveundertaking.
There are so many moving partsand, having been in the industry
before and managed a very bigbudget in that industry, I kind
of can speak to that.
So I'm here taking my hat offto Annabelle and kind of
fangirling over her because it'sa massive thing to do.
So, just in case you'relistening and thinking oh yeah,
(23:38):
print magazine, just anotherbusiness.
No, this is like extra.
So hats off to you.
But anyway, what have you found, as you've been in business
these last few years, to be thesecret or secrets of running a
successful business?
Speaker 3 (23:51):
I am not qualified to answer this.
I mean, I am still at the stagewhere I tap my little ING card
at the supermarket and hold mybreath wondering if it's going
to go through.
So in terms of a successfulbusiness, I mean it's a work in
progress.
I mean cashflow is really hardbut it's really interesting
(24:13):
because I'm married to thisfarmer.
So his, his sort of businessmindset comes from having to
invest a huge amount of money tobuy land, you know, and, and a
lot of that is debt financed andit's like a very tangible asset
.
And then very, very slowly,over time, you know you have
this business that can servicethe debt.
The asset value goes up.
You know that's the farmingmodel.
(24:33):
Somehow you just try to notsort of sink beneath the waves,
you know, during that time.
So he looks at what I've done,which is not buying anything
very tangible, you know it'screating a brand out of sort of
thin air.
That's what it looks like to himand he just thinks that's
incredible.
He's like you haven't had tobuy an office, you haven't had
(24:54):
to fit out a shop front althoughI did have a small sort of
dalliance with shopkeeping whichdid not suit me at all, you
know he just thinks it'swonderful.
So that's good, because I doneed the encouragement to hold
the line because the cash flowis tight and profits are, so you
have to fight so hard to getprofits.
(25:17):
I mean, it's only three and abit years in, so this is
definitely a medium to long-termbusiness building.
So I don't think I can say I'vehave any secrets of success
because I don't know if it'sgoing to be a success yet.
But I do have my husband in myear saying it's incredible what
(25:38):
you've created out of thin airalready and the fact you're, you
know, breaking even or justmaking a bit more profit than
breaking even.
He keeps telling me that is ahuge success.
So I do doubt.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
I think if you can, if you can break even and that
includes paying yourself even asmall wage, then and and you're
making a small profit, you knowyou're building that in then
then I think that is a success.
I think so many of us areconditioned to thinking of
success in such massive termsthat we forget about what
success means to us.
You know, in this particularseason of our, our life and
(26:15):
business because you know you'vegot a couple of kids I mean
success to you might be doingthe work and getting dinner on
the table.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
Well, that's right, and I mean I, you know I
definitely would like to be ableto pay myself more than I do,
which is, the moment, is nothingbecause it's all going back
into the business and it's, youknow, peak kids time.
We've got two kids away atboarding school, one's about to
go next year.
You know it's like peakambition colliding with peak
(26:42):
work, colliding with peakchildren expense.
You know it's all pretty fullon, but when I, you know, do
some breathing and I think, likewhat is success to me?
If I had all the money in theworld, if I won lotto tomorrow,
this is the work I would chooseto do, this work that is
(27:04):
meaningful to me.
That, I think, is important.
You know it's the work I wantto do.
So really, from that metric, itis success already.
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
And is there anything that you know right now that
you wish you'd known a couple ofyears ago, when you started
Galah?
Speaker 3 (27:22):
I think I would definitely tell myself to pull
my head out of the sand andactually get across Xero and my
accounting books and all thatsort of stuff.
I have very reluctantly comeinto paying more attention to
that world and it's not as scaryas I thought it would be.
This felt so overwhelming.
I mean, I did do someaccounting at uni, but as soon
as I thought it would be, itjust felt so overwhelming.
I mean, I did do someaccounting at uni, but as soon
as I could stop doing it forpart of my degree, I did.
It's just I've told myself I'mnot very good at it, but now I'm
(27:46):
starting to see it more as justkind of a great tool.
Yes, yes, only information thatI need to know.
So I wish I hadn't sort of putthat off for so long.
What else is something that Iwish I'd knew?
Probably well, no, I don't wishI knew this, because then it
would have been disheartening.
I now I think I have a really amuch deeper appreciation for
(28:08):
what it is to run your ownbusiness and how hard it is to
kind of actually make money andmaybe how lonely it can be as
well.
That sort of stuff I don't wishI knew when I started, but we
really do need to start thisWhatsApp group.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
We really do.
We really do and I think it'sso interesting that you say that
about you know about thenumbers, because there are so
many creative people that I getto work with and I think at the
heart of it I'm a creativeperson and my story is
definitely that girl who did notdo numbers, because I was
essentially a writer at the timegot myself into a world of
(28:47):
trouble with the ATO and thendug myself out of it by choosing
to become a qualified BAS agent, which I would not recommend
because clearly I've got somepersonality disorder there.
But let's not go into that.
But I just kind of view it now.
As you know, the numbers tell astory and so choose to be the
author of your own story.
(29:08):
That's what I say to all mycreative friends and business.
You know kind of colleagues andclients, just like you know you
wouldn't give away thatcreativity of that thing you're
doing to somebody else.
Look at the numbers the sameway.
So yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
And I've also found that the worry of the unknown is
, more often than not, fargreater than the reality.
Exactly, you know it's like oh,okay, it's not that bad.
Like being able to quantify howmuch you should be worried has
more often than not been arelief.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Yeah, I literally had someone say that to me this
morning.
I said you know, she just saidto me I've been neglecting the
numbers for so long because Iwas worried about what it would
tell me, but now that I knowit's not as bad as I thought and
I'm like I've wasted the lastsix months panicking for no
reason.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Yeah, it's quite incredible.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
If you have your own business, you're pretty good at
problem solving, like to sort ofuse the numbers to kind of make
okay, this is what we need todo.
It's like oh, then you just nowhave a plan rather than a vague
sense of dread, Exactly,Exactly.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Well, look, we could talk about business.
I know all day, I just havethis sense, but thank you so
much for coming on the podcasttoday.
Annabelle Galah the magazine isobviously available when it
comes out, but Galah, the book,which is just a beautiful if you
want something beautiful onyour coffee table, it looks
(30:41):
beautiful, it feels beautifuland it looks fabulous on the
inside as well.
So many beautiful stories andimages and it is available now
from all good booksellers.
What is the best way, Annabelle, for listeners to get in touch
with you?
Speaker 3 (30:58):
So well, something your listeners who are overseas
might be interested in, becauseyou know the magazine is really
chunky and it's really expensiveto ship.
The book will be published inthe US and the UK, so that's
great, get the book.
You can just get it throughyour people.
But we've got a digital kind ofworld for Galah where you can
come and sort of check out whatthe mag's about, which is
digitalgalahpresscom, and that'sa really good way to kind of
(31:23):
well to get in contact with me.
You can leave comments on thestories, but just to sort of dip
your toes into the Galah watersto see what it's all about.
Also, instagram at galahpresson Instagram, and that's about
it.
For me in terms of social media, I feel like I've got one app
in me.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Yes, social media does my head in too, but I'll
follow you after this.
Now, before we go, can I askyou just one last question?
If you had a billboard withanything on it, what would it be
?
Is?
Speaker 3 (31:55):
this too cheesy Fortune favours the brave, no.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
I love it.
It's fabulous.
The cheesier the better, Ireckon.
Annabelle, thank you again andgood luck with the book.
It's just yeah.
I can't say how beautiful it is.
So go buy a copy.
Great present too.
So thanks, so much.
Thanks for having me, justine.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Thanks for listening to the Secrets of Successful
Business podcast.
For more information on allthings business, head to
flossycomau and make sure youhit subscribe on the show so you
don't miss another new episode.
If you're enjoying the show,please give it a quick rating or
review, share it on yoursocials or with friends who
might enjoy it.
(32:39):
Catch you next time.
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