March 27, 2024 • 47 mins
Jason sits down with Julie Perkins to talk about her journey from being raised in a family owned business to going out on her own, why women need a lot of support when they are starting a business and the health event that changed her outlook on life.
"There's only one great way of growing business, and that's your way of growing business. "
Key Takeaways:
- The Entrepreneurial Spirit: Julie's background in a high-paced entrepreneurial family and how it shaped her career.
- Transition to Empowerment: The pivot from a 30-year career in a family business to founding Wise Minds.
- Supporting Women Entrepreneurs: Julie's mission to accelerate the success of women in business.
- Overcoming Challenges: Insights into Julie's personal challenges and triumphs in starting her own venture.
- Valuing Your Journey: The importance of personal values, purpose, and envisioning growth on your own terms.
- Learning from Failure: Embracing failure as a stepping stone to success.
- Mindset Matters: Unpacking the critical role of mindset in entrepreneurship, especially for women.
- Ultimate Ownership: Julie's upcoming project focusing on instilling internal motivation in young individuals.
Whatever your business problems, Julie Perkins has lived them and learned how to look forward and survive. From picking herself up after sixth form to witnessing the ins and outs of a business founded in a spare room and launched onto the world stage, from surviving cancer to writing books (The Wyse Way) and hosting her own podcast, she is sought after for her advice and guidance, not only as a business leader but as a thought leader.
https://wyseminds.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/wyseminds/
https://www.instagram.com/wyseminds/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jason Frazell (00:11):
Hey, everyone.
I am very excited about this onetoday.
We've been trying to make thishappen for I don't know, Julie,
maybe a couple of months.
And here we are halfway, nothalfway around the world from
each other, but I have on today,a very special guest, Julie
Perkins.
She's a founder of wise minds.
Good afternoon to you, Julie.
And I say that from somebodythat's good morning here on the
East coast.
(00:32):
My time is 9 AM.
Julie, good morning.
Good afternoon.
And where are you joining usfrom today?
Julie Perkins (00:36):
Well thank you very much for having me first
Jason.
And, and I think it's going tobe well worth waiting for, for
me.
I've looked forward to speakingon your podcast, having listened
to my cue London, even thoughI'm based in Amsterdam.
I came over to London thismorning.
So I sort of rushed with mypodcast equipment in hand and,
(00:56):
and London has delivered, it istruly raining.
So it's certainly the Londonwelcome weather that one, one
loves at this time of the year.
Jason Frazell (01:06):
So what a great day to do a podcast when it's
raining, we can do a podcast andhopefully it'll let up and you
can go out and enjoy some of theLondon early evening.
But Julie, I'm, I'm so gladwe're making this happen.
You have a fascinating story andwhat you do now is really
important.
And we're going to talk aboutthat.
So I thought we would kick offtoday and start with having you
share with us anything you'dlike to about your past.
(01:27):
It's led you to hear because andfolks, folks listening can read
your bio and everything, but I'dlove, I always like to hear it
from the person.
So what would you like us toknow about you and what's
important for us to understandcontextually as we talk about
what you're up to today?
Julie Perkins (01:41):
I think there's very few people in life that
could say, I love my workingjourney from start to finish.
I come from quite a hard highpaced entrepreneurial family.
So doing business and being outthere was always part of the way
that we've grew up, which was Ithink sort of painted the
natural way into business growththat I've taken.
(02:02):
And after working an incredible30 years.
For an optical brand, opticaland hearing health brand.
Which is a family, familybusiness.
After poor health, I decided tostart up my own business, taking
what I've learned from anincredible 30 years and
(02:23):
thinking, I wonder if I cantranslate this into a great
support program for womenentrepreneurs.
Who are in that early stage ofgrowing and perhaps shorten some
of the timescales of thelearning that I had and support
them to creating this joy ingrowing businesses.
(02:44):
And, and doing it quicker andsmarter.
That was my objectives that Isent that I set myself.
And here I am today loving lifeand hopefully helping a few more
women love theirs.
Jason Frazell (02:57):
Yeah.
So Julie, thank you.
I have, I want to, I have aquestion that came up around the
30 years in the family businessand then pivoting to do your own
thing.
Do you remember what it waslike?
That's a big shift.
And Do you remember what it waslike or when you had that aha
and most entrepreneurs that Iknow had that aha of When you
(03:18):
get the call to do your ownthing, especially for somebody
That's got to be especiallystriking for somebody who grows
up in an entrepreneurial familyand is in a family business.
So you have emotional ties, youhave relationships there.
Do you remember that moment?
Julie Perkins (03:33):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, we still have very goodties, but the family I still
support there.
And I think it's somethingthat's always been within me.
I think growing up in anentrepreneurial family you
absorb.
Some things that some dots thatyou're going to take forward,
you know, coming from a strongparental entrepreneurial couple,
(03:58):
you're picking up good ways ofdoing business and, you know,
the strength of partnership,which is what our company is
completely built on and thatgrowing businesses is fun.
So there's an always, alwaysseeing things that you can do
better.
But I think the pivotal momentwas that I was at a pitch event
(04:20):
and it was for womenentrepreneurs being on the stage
sort of selling their life anddreams.
So I think for 10, 000, itprobably wouldn't have even
bought them the next couple ofmonths.
You know, we're there.
Maybe
Jason Frazell (04:31):
attorney fees.
Yeah.
Julie Perkins (04:35):
Yeah, exactly.
And you're sat there and you'reactually paid to go and see
these, these guys.
And you know, each one of theirideas was incredibly special and
had such an important part incommunity.
I automatically knew which onewas going to win.
Because when you're there withinvestors, you want the shortest
runway.
There are things that they'relooking for.
(04:57):
I thought to myself, whathappened to the four women who
had equally good dreams thatprobably will really support
communities to, to, to growwell.
And I thought, you know, do theygo off and just think, Oh my
goodness, that's it.
And I thought, I want to set upa company.
For all of those businesses thatinvestors and venture
(05:20):
capitalists and things theydon't want Yeah, because they
such a key role in society orperhaps that they don't know
that they want yet And I thoughtto myself Could I set up a
company that either supportswomen to grow their business
beyond that sort of, very sortof death zone time or be able to
(05:43):
knock on that door with astronger knock so that they're
heard better or a differentstage of their business growth?
And I've always loved that.
I've absorbed so much experiencefrom my parents and the people
that I've worked with that itjust was just such a beautiful
give back.
And then I thought, Oh yes, I'dlove to do that.
(06:05):
And then poor health stopped theprevious one.
And when I came back, whichwasn't when I came back was
during that recovery.
I just thought, well, there's nogreater time than now.
You know, you have time toreflect when you're lying in
that bed.
So and then I developed wiseminds in my thoughts.
(06:25):
And then when I was strongenough.
and went into remission.
It was born and I just thoughtevery part of my life has been
waiting for this moment.
I love it, I really
Jason Frazell (06:36):
do.
Yeah, that's so cool, Julie.
Question for you about learningfrom your parents, and I'm
asking this a bit selfishly.
It's not selfish, but I did notgrow up in an entrepreneurial
family at all, and I am anentrepreneur myself now, and it
doesn't mean that my parentsaren't great people and know a
(06:58):
little bit about no business.
But I didn't grow up with that,like drive and building
businesses and making money.
What are some things that youpicked up as a child?
And these might be things thatyou didn't realize until you
became an adult and startedworking in a business.
And some of these, you may be,cause you know, cause like some,
you meet some kids that arelike, I want to start a business
and they're like 12.
(07:19):
And other kids, it takes awhile, but I'm curious about
that.
What are a couple of things thatyou picked up that you're
realized now that you picked upas a child?
Like I hear the work ethic.
I hear that it can be fun.
What else did you learn?
Julie Perkins (07:32):
Yeah.
I mean, well, the first thingyou learn is that there is only
life.
There's not work.
There's not this, there's just.
Life and it's busy and there'salways people around the house
and, you know, and, and it's,everything's integrated.
There's no separation oranything like that.
And of course there is, youknow, separation, but it's just
(07:53):
getting busy and everybody playsa role and you just get on with
it.
I think that's really the first,the first lesson you
subconsciously learn.
And then you sort of start torealize that business is really
fun.
Because everyone comes around tothe house.
And often when they're at ahouse, it's normally a party or
(08:13):
a celebration or, you know, andyou're constantly looking at
challenges where your parentscome in.
No one says they've had a badday at work.
No one's angry with their boss.
So this kind of self managingstyle, you're picking up and you
know, these are the things,these values in life that
you're, you know, veryconsciously absorbing.
(08:37):
And I think it's always in, inyou.
And I never thought at any stagein my life that I would have a
miserable career.
I, I, it just never, and when itwas time for work, it was like,
Oh, it's now the era of work.
And, and, you know, I was alwaysa little one of those little
entrepreneurs that had a littlestall at the end of her garden,
(08:58):
telling things for the RSVP.
Yay.
And you know, I used to raisefunds by sort of, I think,
robbing my parents cabinets andreselling it on the street, in a
good way, of course.
But, you know, obviously alljoke in part, but I, I did, I
always liked to be out there andselling things.
And, and I think that comesfrom, you know, that you're born
(09:21):
like that.
I think it's what you see, whatyou, this is what, what you see.
This is what happens.
This is what life is.
And, and I think then as yougrow older, you start to learn
about business, what works,working partnerships, the
mantras that our parents, well,my parents told me, you know,
share, success is shared.
And that, that reflects intothe, we've never owned anything
(09:44):
because the company, it's alldone on partnerships in, in our
schools.
And I think that's, Theselessons are such an important
little thing.
And of course, as a teenager,every teenager is, I don't want
to learn anything.
I know everything.
Yeah, of course, of course.
So, but those little thingslike, you know, my dad would
(10:05):
carry a little A4 piece of paperin his pocket and he said, I'm
always thinking of the customerin five years time.
Always.
He said, whenever I'm asked aquestion, you know, he would
note this down.
In this sort of spiral notebook,just with a biro.
He never had a brief, just thisin his pocket.
And I just, it's little thingslike that.
(10:25):
Always being a step ahead forthe customer.
It's just.
you know, so many life lessons.
Jason Frazell (10:31):
Yeah.
Brilliant.
Brilliant.
Were you, were you, was it aforegone conclusion?
You're, you were going to workwith a family as you got old
enough to go into the workforce.
Julie Perkins (10:41):
Well, actually funny enough, I first worked
out, I worked out in the States.
I worked in Baltimore for on andoff for two years, on some
accounts, I was a lifeguardthere and I knew him as a
teacher, it inspired me so much.
I always remember this littleboy came back and he came back
(11:02):
and I was there for the secondseason.
He goes, He said, Jules, I'venamed my hamster after you.
I thought, oh gosh, you know, totouch a child's life with
everybody that surrounds them.
And he's chosen you to be, tocall his hamster that, you know,
and I nearly became a teacher.
And I suppose in many ways I am,you know, coaching women today.
(11:25):
I love to give people something.
That helps them live a betterlife, which I think is teaching
and learning is all about.
And and, and then I reallydidn't know what I was going to
do and I just fell in love withserving customers.
That was it.
I, I, I loved the mix of people.
(11:46):
I loved the people I work withand that's where at Specsavers,
everyone starts on the shopfloor.
Certainly back in the old days,I loved it.
I had such a blast and well, asthey say, the rest is a
fantastic 30 year history.
It was wonderful.
I nearly became a teacher.
I, you know, nearly became ateacher.
Jason Frazell (12:05):
Yeah.
That's very cool.
I want to talk in a few minutesabout the, some of the, the
ethos of your business.
Some of the, some of the thingsyou believe in some of the
things you work on with women.
I have some really interestingthings in there before we do
that.
I want to ask you about some ofthe challenges you had.
(12:27):
When you started your ownbusiness, because you are now
coaching and teaching others andthis is something you didn't, it
sounds like you didn't reallyhave to do for 30 years.
Like you didn't have to gothrough the very early stage and
then you did that.
So, Julie, what, well, and thiscould be, what are some things
that surprised you?
What might have been somechallenges?
And what did you learn aboutyourself?
(12:48):
Any entrepreneur I talk to, itnever goes as expected, no
matter what, as they say, best,I think it's, you're a
countryman.
John Lennon's like life is whathappened.
Life is what happens whileyou're making other plans.
I believe John Lennon said that.
So what are some things thatwere surprises to you or that
the obstacles that maybe you hitwhen you started wise
Julie Perkins (13:05):
minds?
I think when I started WiseMindsbecause I actually did start the
family company completely on itsown, but we'll, we'll come on to
that one because failure is agreat learning for me.
When I started WiseMinds, Ithink it was, it was so tough
coming from a corporatesituation that I built in the
Netherlands where you have Somany people sharing you know,
(13:29):
that journey with, and thensuddenly you're on your own and
what you relied on everybodywith, and you're like, oh my
goodness, that's me.
Jason Frazell (13:39):
It's me.
Yeah, it's me.
Julie Perkins (13:41):
I, you know, my first social media post.
I mean, I was like, shall Ipress the button?
It was so, those, those sorts ofthings of you know, what is that
very, very first step?
And I, I think it's wearingevery single hat yourself.
(14:01):
And realizing that I had to goback on my own course that I was
writing, because of courseyou're writing it, but your
foundation is the fact you had ateam of like 90 odd people.
So you have to go back and kindof go right.
Remind yourself really strongvalues.
I'm going to come on a littlebit to that.
I'm sure for women, but I thinkit was, how do I manage to wear
(14:27):
every single hat.
And not lose myself again.
And I think that is, isabsolutely key.
And reminding myself to have funand, and, and to have joy with
it.
One thing I was very good at wasiterating very rapidly.
Because.
When you've got a small team andit was me and I had well, I
(14:49):
still have this fabulous opsmanager, project manager for two
days a week when it's just twoof you, you know, I love that
startup mentality.
And I had that when I opened upthe Netherlands, that, that
iteration, what's working,what's working, the excitement,
the whole thing.
And I think that was somethingThat I'm glad that I had the
(15:09):
startup background from forsure.
Yeah.
But I think for me it was how doI deal doing this on my own?
How do I deal with theloneliness?
How do I deal with the fact thatI only answer to myself?
How do I deal with, yeah.
Not turning on Netflix andgetting on with the job when I,
Jason Frazell (15:29):
well, there's a great new show out.
Come on.
You could not, yeah, it's
Julie Perkins (15:33):
no's waiting for that.
It's.
It's doing the things I wassuper uncomfortable doing.
And I'm glad I've done itbecause I think it's just
broadened my viewpoints ofdifferent viewpoints of how
people look at stuff.
You know, like, well, I've hadto learn for communications and
(15:53):
social media and what it's liketo see through young people's
eyes, be in their shoes.
You know, I had 20 people to dothat.
I had to learn that.
And I'm so happy I've done it.
It's given me, I think many newlevels of life, but it was
tough.
You know, it was tough.
Jason Frazell (16:14):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I had a similar, I, I think.
Most people I know that havestarted their own thing had a
similar experience.
I Worked at a couple of verylarge companies early in my
career.
And I worked in sales and I'llnever forget when I decided to
go out on my own and I had likethe first day where I took
myself seriously and I said, Ihad this realization.
(16:35):
I'm, it's probably the same asyou.
I'm like, no boss is going toemail me.
There's no meetings on mycalendar unless I put them on
there.
Nobody's asking for reports oractivities.
It's just me and Mike.
And it was like, wow, I've gotthe most relaxed boss, but also
the biggest asshole boss all atthe same time, which is me, it
(16:57):
was such a mindset shift.
And I realized, and I don't knowif you realize this.
But what really struck me,Julie, was how much I had been
reliant on other people, peopletelling me what I needed to do
and how, and, and when you workat a big company, you know, and
how to do it.
Here's the way you fill out thisreport.
Here's the thing you, here's theway you go to the marketplace.
(17:17):
And now I'm like, well, thesky's the limit and that is not
always a good thing.
Julie Perkins (17:23):
I felt I had to write apology letters to black
people.
I've just gone, Oh, could youjust go on the website and just
alter that please?
You know, I went, Oh, right.
That's why you can't just, youknow, I thought it was like a
dog that they just typed in.
I mean, it
Jason Frazell (17:39):
was like, dear everybody.
I'm just so very sorry.
It's such a, such an interestingexperience.
Let's talk about some of the,the values that you really,
Stand for in your business.
And I'm a S I don't know enoughabout you to know this, but I
would assume the values youstand for with your clients are
similar values to how you, howyou run wise minds as well.
(18:02):
I want to start with onespecifically.
And then from there, you can letme know what other else is
interesting, but I'm reallyinterested in the thing about
sole ownership.
I'm assuming you mean do nottake investment or do
partnerships with people whereyou equal, but don't take on
like venture capital or.
Private equity or things thathave you give up part of the
(18:23):
business.
I'm so curious about that.
And now that you just sharedthat story about being in that
meeting and watching peoplepitch, I'd love to just hear
your thoughts on that.
And maybe how you, where thatcomes out for you.
And, and I do a lot of work inthe tech community, which is
that's, it's all about that.
That's how you, but you need to10 X.
Or.
You go out of business and thenyou don't get to make decisions
(18:45):
anymore.
And suddenly your board isfilled with people that are in
the line of your values.
And I think most people wholisten to this podcast
understand the risks there, buthow do you look at that?
And then is there anythingspecifically as it relates to
the females, femalesentrepreneurs that you work
with, that's different thanmaybe a male owned organization?
Julie Perkins (19:03):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, I think the mostimportant thing I always start
the women entrepreneurs.
Who I'm working with is to askthem what growth means to them,
because it's, it's like anyleadership position, you're
leading a brand, but you, youhave to be able to lead yourself
first before you can lead anydirection.
(19:26):
And you know, quite often wehave a conversation.
And part of my course is aboutwhat's your relationship with
money and success.
Yeah.
You know, there is definitely awant to grow, but the question I
always put back on them is, isthat because of what you read
and what does growth look liketo you?
(19:48):
There's many ways of growingbusinesses.
And I think one of the mostimportant things is to get the
picture clear for theentrepreneurs I'm working with.
That is absolutely essentialbecause, of course, as you're
growing, investment isabsolutely key.
Sure.
You have to be, you know, veryclear about what that looks
(20:10):
like.
You know, even though it can bea real challenge to get the
funds, You could be looking fora resource.
You could be looking for apartnership.
You could be looking foralliances, etc.
What is that very firstinvestment that you're going to
make?
And it's not always money.
So we get this whole point aboutgrowth is in a series of waves.
(20:32):
And the company, the company Ipreviously referred to, you
know, it turns over 3 billion ayear in 12 countries.
It's never taken a loan.
I'm not saying that that is theway, but I'm saying, be clear
about what you're looking for,because if you're clear with
yourself, you'll come acrossstronger.
(20:53):
You'll come across much, muchclearer to whether it's the
investment in the bank, whetheryou're looking for giving away
shares, I kind of emphasize, besure, because I don't want you
to fall in love with the firstperson you meet.
You know, in terms of the firstperson who wants you
particularly we quite often getin startups with the need for
(21:14):
digital, the need for a website.
And I'm saying, do you reallywant to give shares away to
tech?
You know, what's your greatestpartnership to have not now, but
maybe in two years or one year.
And is there any way so we getthem to budget really for
investment?
And the answer can be that, butI want to see the bigger
(21:36):
picture, not just this pictureof now.
And I think that's veryimportant.
We spent a long time looking atwho are you, what's growth mean
to you?
And how do you translateyourself into that growth?
And what does it mean?
Who needs to come in and supportyou on that first growth wave?
And just budgeting for resourcesand investments is also a really
(21:57):
important part of that growthjourney.
So that you can be confident andyou know, I've got to admit,
sometimes we sort of say it'sthe fear of failure, but with a
lot of women, it's the fear ofsuccess.
What happens if I am so big?
What happens if I'm not therefor my family and all of these
society rules start to build upon us.
(22:18):
And, you know, so I, I actuallydo a training part of that
training is to say, what do youdo?
I'm a founder of my own companyand then full stop to it.
You don't have to justify,you've got kids and that you
feel, you know, that you'refulfilling every role in your
life and everything.
So it is about self confidence,but it's only self confidence
(22:39):
when you can paint that picturethat's good for you.
And that's such an importantpart of that growth journey,
even before they're eventhinking about, you know, money
or venture capitalists orinvestments of any sort, angel
investment, whatever, you knowyou, you, if someone's going to
offer you a hundred thousand,you want to be pretty clear what
(23:02):
you're going to spend thathundred thousand on, where it's
going to be spent.
Totally.
Where are you going to fit?
I think I wrote a blog oncegoing onboarding your most
expensive employee, your bank oryour investor.
Jason Frazell (23:15):
Yeah.
Yeah.
They're also going to requirethe most management.
Julie Perkins (23:21):
And they have the greatest ability to hurt you
Jason Frazell (23:24):
the most.
And they're actually not youremployee.
They're your boss in most ways.
Well, Julie, what I was, whenI'm working with.
People that are talking aboutmoney, whether it be in a
corporation, like, oh, I'd likea promotion for more money.
Great.
For what?
So that I can XYZ.
Great.
So that what happens when thathappens?
(23:44):
Then what?
And then at some point you runout of the what would I do with
the money and you run into whatdoes the money mean to you?
I am, if I, if I have somebodythat says I want to grow up to a
unicorn status company, and I'mwilling to take a venture
capital because that's what Iwant.
And I truly want it.
Wonderful.
I was just having a conversationyesterday with a friend of mine
(24:05):
who was telling myself and twoother people that we've been
friends for a long time.
And she's, she's a coach and atrainer, and she's written a
bunch of intellectual property.
And she was telling us how she'ssitting at a, at a cabin on a
lake and down in Georgia becauseshe's writing a book.
And she said, you know, I'm kindof living my retirement life
(24:25):
because I have this passiveincome through intellectual
property and I work what I wantAnd I said, yeah, you have a
lifestyle business She saidyeah, it is it's a lifestyle
business.
She said and I want for nothingand she's not independently
wealthy She has family.
She has a young children and ahusband, but i'm like, are you
happy?
She goes I couldn't be happierbecause I get to do whatever I
want And she goes and and forher And i'm sure you run into a
(24:48):
lot of people that you work withlike this She goes for me to
bring this to the next levelwould be so much time and effort
You Because it would requiredigitization and scaling.
And she goes on, I don't want todo it because I've made enough
where I know this will sustainmy husband and I, our kids are
going to be fine and we'll getto retire, do what we want when
we get older on that, I thinkthere's something really
powerful about getting to thatpoint.
(25:10):
And I've known her for years.
She's the happiest she's everbeen.
And it's not because she'smaking 2 million a year.
It's because she's reached thatpoint.
I think that's something thatyou work with a lot of your,
your clients around.
And I want to go into the, andyou, I know you listened to my
episode of Laura, Laura Johns, afew weeks ago, she talked about
(25:30):
this as well, female ownedbusiness and all female
business, which we talked abouton the podcast.
She has all female employees.
I think they were trying to hireher their first male employee.
I said, that's a brave person.
Whoever that man, whoever thatguy is.
Is brave.
I said, I don't think I could doit.
But you know, and she talkedabout this.
She's a mother of youngchildren, working husband.
(25:51):
What are some of the things thatwomen especially are up against
when it comes to the story ofentrepreneurship, as much as
we'd like to say in 2024, it'sall equal, to be clear, it's,
it's still not, it's about herein America.
It's not, I don't know what it'slike in the EU and England, but
here in the U S there's stillsome, Long held beliefs and
systems and ways of working.
(26:12):
So what are some of the thingsthat you see both around the
practicality of running abusiness as a woman, but also
some of the mindset work thatyou have to do, especially if
you're a parent and a parent ora wife, there's some things that
come up there.
And as you've seen, I've had alot of women entrepreneurs on
the show and I've heard fromthis from numbers.
Well, what do you, what do yousee both for yourself and also
for any clients you work
Julie Perkins (26:33):
with?
I mean, I think it's, you know,it's module one.
It's the very first thing thatwe work on.
Yeah.
Is the mindset you come through,because it's not necessarily a
smooth path.
It's not, I've got an idea, Iwant to make it happen.
And you know, my dad's alwaystaught me, he said, don't put
half the world in a big basketand start claiming big
(26:55):
headlines.
And I do agree.
There are some fundamentalthings that I think it's really
important to talk about, andthat is the importance of trying
to understand what your valuesand personal purpose is.
We spend a massive amount oftime doing that.
(27:16):
And then how do you live thosevalues and purpose in all areas
of your life?
Because what happens is, youknow, you're starting to juggle
plates, kids, family.
business, friends, and you'rejust juggling.
But Then you start readingmagazines with titles like work
life balance, which drive menuts.
But I hate that terminologybecause I just, it won't be
(27:40):
achieved.
You're creating you know, asthey say in mindfulness, you're
creating artificial capsules.
It won't work.
Yeah.
The most important thing is tofind out how you want to live
all areas of your life.
And your purpose, your values,what's that touched you want to
put on parenting, what's the,you know, thing you want to be
for your friends when you turnup, what do you bring to the
(28:02):
table and who are you for yourbusiness?
What's the essence of you andyour business and the space
between you and all of the rolesin your life is incredibly
powerful for a woman founder.
Because.
It can't be measured by time inyour business or you know with
your kids because there is justlife and you You can't control
(28:25):
it.
So you can just control who youare in each of those areas And I
think that is the very firstimportant part that we do is
separate them often from theirbusiness you know, they've got
the family and then they'rebuilding the business around
them and then they're sort ofholding on to both and sinking
right down the middle.
So we spend a lot of timeseparating the founder from
(28:48):
their business to leave space.
How do you translate yourselfinto your company and how do you
translate yourself into yourfamily, your friends?
And don't start counting.
That's the last thing you needjust to make percentages or more
charts.
It's just.
Yeah, exactly.
And that's probably what, youknow, your friend that you refer
(29:08):
to, she has this beautifulfulfillment.
So she's not counting thebigger, the size of the growth.
She's just.
Fulfilled, you know, she's, Iwould, without even meeting her,
I can imagine she's very clearon the person.
She is purpose and values.
Very clear.
Yes, she is beautifully.
It's a great example.
(29:28):
Of what the outcome is.
Yeah.
What next?
She doesn't have to grow thebusiness.
She might want to growvolunteering or she might just
want to grow more time withfamily.
It's, it's, it's just, it's theplethora.
of roles that we play.
And I think that's one of thevery first examples that we do.
And then we work on undoing thesocial rules that we have
(29:51):
absorbed in our lives.
What's a success to us?
What's that relationship we havewith money?
And quite often, if you comefrom a very conservative family
where And everything's right,time to move on where, you know,
your dad's gone out to work andyour mom's stayed at home or
vice versa, or your mom's alwaysdone pick up or whatever.
(30:12):
There is a subconscious thingthat's given to you from that
role model.
How do you create your ownmantra towards success?
That fits in today's world, fitsin with your family.
You know, we managed it in a bigentrepreneurial family.
It's like But then, oh, well,maybe I'm a prime example.
I've absorbed that success aboutrunning around being busy.
(30:35):
And I work on having to slowdown.
So it's good to undo those mapsthat perhaps you've you've taken
on board subconsciously.
So that's, those are the firsttwo things about mindset.
So you're, you're, you're,you're stronger and clearer.
To, to work forward and, andthat's why you say, how'd you do
it differently?
(30:56):
I said, we spend more time onthat and the entrepreneurs who
find me allow us to spend moretime on that.
Yeah.
They know it's a pain.
Jason Frazell (31:05):
Yeah.
Well, Julie, one I'll say is.
This is coaching.
This is not consulting.
This is not, here's how youscale.
This is coaching because thethings that you just mentioned,
you don't have an answer forthat client because it's unique
to them and everybody, you know,related to the money thing.
One of the things that is sointeresting about money and like
(31:26):
our, we all come with a storyabout money from how usually how
we were raised and how we sawher, our parents operate with
money is we all come with astory with money.
And you see this all the timewith folks that.
You look at them and they'reaffluent beyond any reasonable
measure for most of us.
And they're still complete jerksabout money.
(31:47):
When it comes, you see storiesabout these really rich and
famous people who don't tip inthe United States or people
they're like, they're stiffing,you know, vendors, even though,
you know, it's, it, it wouldn'teven matter to them, it wouldn't
even cause a thing because ofthe story.
And you also see people thatthat there's also history is
littered with the stories offolks who grew up affluent who
ended up broke because again,they bring in a story about it.
(32:11):
That's really beautiful.
So the really beautiful the workyou're doing.
I love I love the idea to have.
Who are you being?
I hear the coaching in that ofwho are you being in your
business?
What's the essence of what youbring?
There's so many programs focusedon what you do.
How do you grow this accountingproduct?
How do, and there's nothingwrong with that.
(32:32):
People, people need sometimes toknow how to do it, but what
you're, it sounds like the workthat you're doing, at least part
of it is the soul work.
I call it the heart and the soulwork so that you can have fun in
your business.
Because if you're, I don't knowabout you.
I'm gonna, we've only known eachother for 40 minutes, but I'm
gonna guess based on what you'vetold me about yourself, that you
(32:54):
don't like being told what todo.
I hate it too.
Julie Perkins (32:59):
I hate it.
I always have.
Yeah, totally.
And I think, I think what I wasthinking, I realized going, oh
yeah.
I don't like being told what todo.
Jason Frazell (33:09):
It's terrible.
Well, you know, and I'll justsay this already, if you've had
this experience, I'm, I'm sureyou've had clients that have
tried other things that justdidn't maybe work for their
business or it didn't resonatefor them.
And it doesn't mean that there'sanything wrong with those
programs.
I'm not saying anything's wrong,it might just not be for them.
But the thing that I find reallyinteresting about, Entrepreneur,
(33:31):
entrepreneur space and businessowning space is most of us who
do this.
It's because we don't like beingtold that to do, and we don't
like having a boss.
And then we go out and we hirepeople who tell us exactly what
to do that.
And I'm speaking for myself now.
And then you go, ah, thisdoesn't really resonate.
And then I, I know myexperience.
I got frustrated until Irealized I'm like, I actually
(33:51):
want a coach who's going to helpme uncover what's true for me
and how I can best be in theworld, not tell me the way to do
a thing.
And so.
This kind of leads me to startto wrap up here for today is
What kind of people do you loveworking with?
Like, obviously you're, youfocus on female entrepreneurs,
(34:12):
but how do you know thatthey're, I like to ask this of
anybody who's in this sort ofspace, how do you know they're
ready to work with you andactually do the work?
Because, and you don't have tosay, but haven't you had
somebody hire you that's notready?
And you get on and you're like,you're like, this is not
working.
Julie Perkins (34:29):
No, there are.
I mean, of course, with anycoaching situation, you know,
it's really important that youhave that, that strong
relationship.
And I'm putting one thing I findwith entrepreneurs is they need
to do things on their own terms,which is.
Part of motion.
I say, grow on your own terms.
We always put the entrepreneurfirst.
(34:50):
That's why most of our programis online.
And I keep putting more of itonline because you can get up at
three in the morning, seveno'clock at night, and then they
can call upon me when they needme.
And that's very, very, and Youknow, we always put halfway
through, don't forget to call onyour guide, don't forget, it's
not always me, it's they couldneed something else.
(35:12):
And I think that balance is veryimportant because you, you
become an entrepreneur becauseyou've got this incredible idea
that you believe that somethingcan be done better.
But you want to be guided.
And you don't want to be toldhow to make that happen because
you know how to make it happenbecause you've got that picture
(35:33):
in order to make it thatjourney, that vision of change.
And I think that's why thatbalance, I suppose, reflects
also someone who can't bearbeing told what to do.
We're trying to put as much ofit online as possible.
And I'm trying to, with womennot half the world in a box, but
majority of my situations, myrelationships I've had with
(35:54):
founders is.
Being in charge, having thatconfidence to be able to take
that journey and to pull uponthe tools that you need.
So the biggest change that Ioften have with women
entrepreneurs in early stagebusiness growth is the
importance of turning passioninto a purpose that other people
(36:15):
can follow.
Because quite often you are sopassionate about your idea.
How do you take that ideawithout losing you and put it
into practice?
Something that other people canfollow and this is this first
step to making yourselfredundant off that wave.
Yeah.
So you're not trying to hold onto everything.
(36:37):
And yeah.
And this is such an importantpoint for, for, for the
entrepreneurs I work with is oneyou're in charge of your own
journey.
I am a guide.
You call upon me, you don't haveto call upon me.
Here are all the tools.
I'm going to inspire you to usethose tools by giving you a
(36:57):
partner that you're in controlof, and that's called the
Powerball.
That's, they can measure howaligned they are to, to things
going on as they journeythrough.
So someone can start a courseand I might not see them, you
know, one or two times maybe.
The most important thing isthere's only one great way of
growing business and that's yourway of growing business.
(37:20):
Yeah.
As a woman entrepreneur, youknow, often they come, they're
like, Oh my gosh, what should Ido?
And I go, first things first,businesses grow in a similar
pattern.
So you're in exactly the rightplace, wherever you're feeling
now, it's not your fault.
Your business is fighting you.
Because you're trying to holdonto it like a small child and
(37:40):
it's growing up to be a teenagerand you won't let go.
So we are, you know, it's, it's,we're, it's not your fault.
You're in the right place.
And once you reassure them ofthat, it's like, Oh, thank
goodness.
I thought it was me.
Then they open up and take thetools, but they're still in
control of their journey.
Which is why sometimes thatownership.
(38:01):
It's pretty tough.
You know, you don't want to beowning these businesses because
the journey to get onto thatnext wave, which could result in
owning that business, you know,they need to be strong when they
turn up to that.
What growth is to me, what am Ilooking for and, and what do I
believe needs to change so that,you know, change that.
(38:24):
And
Jason Frazell (38:25):
you mentioned something there.
It's.
Really apropos from for my lifeand a lot of people that I work
with is the What's true for youtoday is probably not going to
be true for you For whateverthat next level or the next wave
is like how you how you feelabout things but more
(38:45):
importantly like It's actuallyokay to change.
It's not even just to grow asyour skillset, but it's okay to
be like, you know, that thing Iwas so passionate about in my
business last week.
It's not resonating.
It's actually okay to releasethat and go with the thing that
feels more right for you.
But I don't, I don't know aboutyou, but you, you know, it's
somebody who spent 30 years in acorporation that doing your
(39:07):
thing, there's probably, youcould probably point at a
variety of times when you heldonto it for too long, when you
knew it wasn't right.
Yeah.
I mean, and any business personcan held onto it for too long.
And be like sunk cost or, Oh,like we've always done it this
way.
It's work.
We can get it back.
And you see this in business allthe time is, and it's not about
it, even about innovation, it'sjust about, there is a better
way, but I'm so, but I believethat I'm right, but what if you
(39:31):
weren't right?
What if there was no right?
And instead it was what's truefor you.
Julie Perkins (39:37):
Definitely.
Yeah.
A series you know, of mistakesand successes, and you just have
to learn how to iterate very,very quickly.
You know, Quite often, just asmentioned, just to build on that
point, I often get womenentrepreneurs that go, but
they're passing me, they seem tobe growing faster.
It's because you're too heavy toclimb.
(40:00):
You haven't let go.
It's like trying, you're at campfour, and you're watching
everyone go through, andeveryone's sort of letting go of
the food and stuff that's gotthem there, and you're trying to
carry, Everything, plus oxygen,plus everything else, and with a
whole lot of people that aren'tfit to climb with you, and
you're wondering why you'reburdened.
(40:21):
And I think it's a beautifulthing, I think we have to learn
to let go.
of what doesn't serve us.
And, and that's a big part of,of getting onto the next growth
Jason Frazell (40:31):
wave.
That's really cool.
Well, Julie, I want to wrap andI want to make an offer here to
you to share and you can do itconfidentially, or you can
actually share the names if youwant.
I leave that to you.
They're your clients on some ofthe businesses that you've
worked with that are, that youthink are doing like really good
things in the world.
And Again, keep it high level,name them by name, whatever's
(40:52):
true, whatever's going to workfor your business.
But I'm really interested tohear about, I'm always really
interested.
What are some cool thingshappening in the world from
female owned businesses?
So what, yeah, what, what comesto mind?
Julie Perkins (41:03):
Well, you're in tech.
I probably I mean, that's partof everybody's journey at the
moment.
I work with a lot of women whowork in sustainability goals.
So and that gives me a huge, ahuge kick because we need super
human minds to think of theworld differently and mended
with Agnes, she's, she, sherecycles genes men's genes,
(41:26):
resells genes, and.
If you think that in theNetherlands alone, 10, 000 pairs
of jeans a month are thrown onthe, you know, it's the national
uniform after the time ofEurope.
Right, yeah.
How do you keep these greatclothes in play?
Yeah.
And, and, and not, To sort ofwaste material, not just keep
(41:47):
creating material aftermaterial.
And she's, she is makingincredible grounds on that.
One by encouraging people tomend what they've got, but the
more often people spent a lot ofmoney on genes, people want to
extend the lifetime of theirgenes as well.
Sure.
Puts it back onto the bigcompanies to say, what guarantee
(42:09):
are you going to give me?
And what happens when theybreak?
How are we going to get themmended?
So she's doing a super jobthere.
That's cool.
And also working with Paul andPaulina and they're doing an
amazing job on online educationin low economic.
Groups where education's fallenapart to a certain extent, where
people can't get access to jobsand school and education.
(42:32):
How do we teach online sewing,how to run a business, cooking,
mending mobile phones, so thatpeople become self sufficient,
places like Jordan Rack.
On raising money and fulfillingbusiness after business and
plastic free.
It's the beautiful thing aboutthem is everybody thinks of
(42:55):
these great ideas.
It doesn't matter if they're bigbecause the larger companies can
look at those ideas, go, that'sgreat.
I want to connect.
I want to, and you don't have toown this business for 50 years.
You can own it for life, buildupon the idea and sell it.
Exactly.
Yeah.
This is where good ideas arecoming from.
(43:17):
And it's really gives you hopefor a good future.
I know everyone's very easy totalk about the negative, but
when these ideas are growing,every little step that we take
will make for a better world ifwe all come together, for sure.
Jason Frazell (43:32):
Beautiful.
Last question for you, Julie.
I actually have a couple morequestions.
I'm curious for you as somebodywho does this work, And don't
mean, don't mean to put you onthe spot, but I, that's actually
not true.
I'm very happy to put you on thespot.
What, what are you working on?
What's next in your journeyaround your development and your
mindset?
Because as somebody who workswith us, you know, the work
never stops for us who are doingthis work for others.
(43:53):
We're always working on ourstuff too.
So what's next for
Julie Perkins (43:55):
you?
Well obviously I'm putting mywhole course online which takes
people sort of into up tobusiness canvas level, just to
read, I mentioned the mountain.
So there'll be able to get upand back and call upon me.
That's just an amazingexperience.
But my personal project at themoment is called ultimate
ownership.
And the work that I've done withyoung women founders, I've
(44:19):
actually started to work.
I booked together, sorry, with abehavioral sort of psychologist.
And I said, but if it's helpingyoung women in terms of their
business to really find theirmotivation and their purpose in
life, can we adapt the way thatwe work with young women for
young people as a whole and workon trying to support them to
(44:40):
become more internally motivatedrather than externally motivated
all the time.
So our program is nearlyfinished.
So, and it's very short, butit's just to get.
Young people, you know, 17 earlytwenties just looking at who am
I and how am I going torepresent myself in this world?
(45:01):
It's very simple.
It's not like a lifetime study,but it just gets people on the
right track about personalpurpose and values and who you
surround yourself by, who do youfollow and where do you get your
energy and people from to followthe path that you want.
So that, that's a personal onefor me.
So I'm looking forward to thenext
Jason Frazell (45:20):
couple of months.
Very cool, Julie.
Well, I want to thank you somuch for coming on, spending
part of your London afternoonwith us here.
Really appreciate it.
How can people connect with youand find out more about all the
things you're up to in theworld?
Julie Perkins (45:34):
Well, firstly, thank you so much for having me,
Jason.
It's been an absolute pleasureand well worth all my
disorganization waiting to speakto you.
So big thanks for that.
It's been great.
Jason Frazell (45:44):
It's been all good, Julie.
Julie Perkins (45:46):
And people can get hold of me on wiseminds.
com, which is.
Probably the best way and it'swise with a Y LinkedIn or just
reach out for a virtual coffee.
All of the ways of connectingare there.
So it's a really good start.
And if you want to have a bit offun with your business, early
startup, completely free, youcan try the growth evaluation.
(46:06):
Which talks a little bit aboutsome of the balances and purpose
led growth we've talked abouttoday, especially for where the
founder is positioningthemselves.
So that's a lot of fun.
Jason Frazell (46:18):
Awesome, Julie.
Well, thank you so much forbeing on.
Really appreciate the good workyou're doing in the world.
I love talking to people and forthose who are listening, Julie
and I didn't know each otheruntil 55 minutes ago.
I always really appreciate, andI think most of my, almost all
my guests are like The purposebased of your business and
making a difference for peopleoutside of just the way to do
(46:39):
something, focusing on theheart, focusing on the purpose
and focusing on what might be inthe way from a mindset
perspective to get your clientsand The thing we didn't talk
about.
What's beautiful about this isif your clients have employees,
it affects their employees too,because founders with a good
mindset generally will hireemployees with a good mindset.
Laura and I talked about thistoo, and, and knowing that
(47:01):
you're creating a cascadingimpact, even if you don't know
these people personally.
So I just want to thank you forall the great work you're doing
and look forward to talking toyou again soon on here.
Thanks,
Julie Perkins (47:09):
Julie.
Thank you.
Thanks.
Cheers.
Thanks for listening to anotherepisode of Talking to Cool
People with Jason Frizzell.
If you enjoyed today's episode,please tell your friends, follow
us on Instagram and Facebook,and give us a shout out, or take
a moment to leave a review oniTunes.
If something from today'sepisode piqued your interest and
(47:31):
you'd like to connect, email usat podcast at jasonfrizzell.
com.
We love hearing from ourlisteners because you're cool
people too.
Hey, everyone.
I am very excited about this onetoday.
We've been trying to make thishappen for I don't know, Julie,
maybe a couple of months.
And here we are halfway, nothalfway around the world from
each other, but I have on today,a very special guest, Julie
Perkins.
She's a founder of wise minds.
Good afternoon to you, Julie.
And I say that from somebodythat's good morning here on the
East coast.
(00:32):
My time is 9 AM.
Julie, good morning.
Good afternoon.
And where are you joining usfrom today?
Julie Perkins (00:36):
Well thank you very much for having me first
Jason.
And, and I think it's going tobe well worth waiting for, for
me.
I've looked forward to speakingon your podcast, having listened
to my cue London, even thoughI'm based in Amsterdam.
I came over to London thismorning.
So I sort of rushed with mypodcast equipment in hand and,
(00:56):
and London has delivered, it istruly raining.
So it's certainly the Londonwelcome weather that one, one
loves at this time of the year.
Jason Frazell (01:06):
So what a great day to do a podcast when it's
raining, we can do a podcast andhopefully it'll let up and you
can go out and enjoy some of theLondon early evening.
But Julie, I'm, I'm so gladwe're making this happen.
You have a fascinating story andwhat you do now is really
important.
And we're going to talk aboutthat.
So I thought we would kick offtoday and start with having you
share with us anything you'dlike to about your past.
(01:27):
It's led you to hear because andfolks, folks listening can read
your bio and everything, but I'dlove, I always like to hear it
from the person.
So what would you like us toknow about you and what's
important for us to understandcontextually as we talk about
what you're up to today?
Julie Perkins (01:41):
I think there's very few people in life that
could say, I love my workingjourney from start to finish.
I come from quite a hard highpaced entrepreneurial family.
So doing business and being outthere was always part of the way
that we've grew up, which was Ithink sort of painted the
natural way into business growththat I've taken.
(02:02):
And after working an incredible30 years.
For an optical brand, opticaland hearing health brand.
Which is a family, familybusiness.
After poor health, I decided tostart up my own business, taking
what I've learned from anincredible 30 years and
(02:23):
thinking, I wonder if I cantranslate this into a great
support program for womenentrepreneurs.
Who are in that early stage ofgrowing and perhaps shorten some
of the timescales of thelearning that I had and support
them to creating this joy ingrowing businesses.
(02:44):
And, and doing it quicker andsmarter.
That was my objectives that Isent that I set myself.
And here I am today loving lifeand hopefully helping a few more
women love theirs.
Jason Frazell (02:57):
Yeah.
So Julie, thank you.
I have, I want to, I have aquestion that came up around the
30 years in the family businessand then pivoting to do your own
thing.
Do you remember what it waslike?
That's a big shift.
And Do you remember what it waslike or when you had that aha
and most entrepreneurs that Iknow had that aha of When you
(03:18):
get the call to do your ownthing, especially for somebody
That's got to be especiallystriking for somebody who grows
up in an entrepreneurial familyand is in a family business.
So you have emotional ties, youhave relationships there.
Do you remember that moment?
Julie Perkins (03:33):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, we still have very goodties, but the family I still
support there.
And I think it's somethingthat's always been within me.
I think growing up in anentrepreneurial family you
absorb.
Some things that some dots thatyou're going to take forward,
you know, coming from a strongparental entrepreneurial couple,
(03:58):
you're picking up good ways ofdoing business and, you know,
the strength of partnership,which is what our company is
completely built on and thatgrowing businesses is fun.
So there's an always, alwaysseeing things that you can do
better.
But I think the pivotal momentwas that I was at a pitch event
(04:20):
and it was for womenentrepreneurs being on the stage
sort of selling their life anddreams.
So I think for 10, 000, itprobably wouldn't have even
bought them the next couple ofmonths.
You know, we're there.
Maybe
Jason Frazell (04:31):
attorney fees.
Yeah.
Julie Perkins (04:35):
Yeah, exactly.
And you're sat there and you'reactually paid to go and see
these, these guys.
And you know, each one of theirideas was incredibly special and
had such an important part incommunity.
I automatically knew which onewas going to win.
Because when you're there withinvestors, you want the shortest
runway.
There are things that they'relooking for.
(04:57):
I thought to myself, whathappened to the four women who
had equally good dreams thatprobably will really support
communities to, to, to growwell.
And I thought, you know, do theygo off and just think, Oh my
goodness, that's it.
And I thought, I want to set upa company.
For all of those businesses thatinvestors and venture
(05:20):
capitalists and things theydon't want Yeah, because they
such a key role in society orperhaps that they don't know
that they want yet And I thoughtto myself Could I set up a
company that either supportswomen to grow their business
beyond that sort of, very sortof death zone time or be able to
(05:43):
knock on that door with astronger knock so that they're
heard better or a differentstage of their business growth?
And I've always loved that.
I've absorbed so much experiencefrom my parents and the people
that I've worked with that itjust was just such a beautiful
give back.
And then I thought, Oh yes, I'dlove to do that.
(06:05):
And then poor health stopped theprevious one.
And when I came back, whichwasn't when I came back was
during that recovery.
I just thought, well, there's nogreater time than now.
You know, you have time toreflect when you're lying in
that bed.
So and then I developed wiseminds in my thoughts.
(06:25):
And then when I was strongenough.
and went into remission.
It was born and I just thoughtevery part of my life has been
waiting for this moment.
I love it, I really
Jason Frazell (06:36):
do.
Yeah, that's so cool, Julie.
Question for you about learningfrom your parents, and I'm
asking this a bit selfishly.
It's not selfish, but I did notgrow up in an entrepreneurial
family at all, and I am anentrepreneur myself now, and it
doesn't mean that my parentsaren't great people and know a
(06:58):
little bit about no business.
But I didn't grow up with that,like drive and building
businesses and making money.
What are some things that youpicked up as a child?
And these might be things thatyou didn't realize until you
became an adult and startedworking in a business.
And some of these, you may be,cause you know, cause like some,
you meet some kids that arelike, I want to start a business
and they're like 12.
(07:19):
And other kids, it takes awhile, but I'm curious about
that.
What are a couple of things thatyou picked up that you're
realized now that you picked upas a child?
Like I hear the work ethic.
I hear that it can be fun.
What else did you learn?
Julie Perkins (07:32):
Yeah.
I mean, well, the first thingyou learn is that there is only
life.
There's not work.
There's not this, there's just.
Life and it's busy and there'salways people around the house
and, you know, and, and it's,everything's integrated.
There's no separation oranything like that.
And of course there is, youknow, separation, but it's just
(07:53):
getting busy and everybody playsa role and you just get on with
it.
I think that's really the first,the first lesson you
subconsciously learn.
And then you sort of start torealize that business is really
fun.
Because everyone comes around tothe house.
And often when they're at ahouse, it's normally a party or
(08:13):
a celebration or, you know, andyou're constantly looking at
challenges where your parentscome in.
No one says they've had a badday at work.
No one's angry with their boss.
So this kind of self managingstyle, you're picking up and you
know, these are the things,these values in life that
you're, you know, veryconsciously absorbing.
(08:37):
And I think it's always in, inyou.
And I never thought at any stagein my life that I would have a
miserable career.
I, I, it just never, and when itwas time for work, it was like,
Oh, it's now the era of work.
And, and, you know, I was alwaysa little one of those little
entrepreneurs that had a littlestall at the end of her garden,
(08:58):
telling things for the RSVP.
Yay.
And you know, I used to raisefunds by sort of, I think,
robbing my parents cabinets andreselling it on the street, in a
good way, of course.
But, you know, obviously alljoke in part, but I, I did, I
always liked to be out there andselling things.
And, and I think that comesfrom, you know, that you're born
(09:21):
like that.
I think it's what you see, whatyou, this is what, what you see.
This is what happens.
This is what life is.
And, and I think then as yougrow older, you start to learn
about business, what works,working partnerships, the
mantras that our parents, well,my parents told me, you know,
share, success is shared.
And that, that reflects intothe, we've never owned anything
(09:44):
because the company, it's alldone on partnerships in, in our
schools.
And I think that's, Theselessons are such an important
little thing.
And of course, as a teenager,every teenager is, I don't want
to learn anything.
I know everything.
Yeah, of course, of course.
So, but those little thingslike, you know, my dad would
(10:05):
carry a little A4 piece of paperin his pocket and he said, I'm
always thinking of the customerin five years time.
Always.
He said, whenever I'm asked aquestion, you know, he would
note this down.
In this sort of spiral notebook,just with a biro.
He never had a brief, just thisin his pocket.
And I just, it's little thingslike that.
(10:25):
Always being a step ahead forthe customer.
It's just.
you know, so many life lessons.
Jason Frazell (10:31):
Yeah.
Brilliant.
Brilliant.
Were you, were you, was it aforegone conclusion?
You're, you were going to workwith a family as you got old
enough to go into the workforce.
Julie Perkins (10:41):
Well, actually funny enough, I first worked
out, I worked out in the States.
I worked in Baltimore for on andoff for two years, on some
accounts, I was a lifeguardthere and I knew him as a
teacher, it inspired me so much.
I always remember this littleboy came back and he came back
(11:02):
and I was there for the secondseason.
He goes, He said, Jules, I'venamed my hamster after you.
I thought, oh gosh, you know, totouch a child's life with
everybody that surrounds them.
And he's chosen you to be, tocall his hamster that, you know,
and I nearly became a teacher.
And I suppose in many ways I am,you know, coaching women today.
(11:25):
I love to give people something.
That helps them live a betterlife, which I think is teaching
and learning is all about.
And and, and then I reallydidn't know what I was going to
do and I just fell in love withserving customers.
That was it.
I, I, I loved the mix of people.
(11:46):
I loved the people I work withand that's where at Specsavers,
everyone starts on the shopfloor.
Certainly back in the old days,I loved it.
I had such a blast and well, asthey say, the rest is a
fantastic 30 year history.
It was wonderful.
I nearly became a teacher.
I, you know, nearly became ateacher.
Jason Frazell (12:05):
Yeah.
That's very cool.
I want to talk in a few minutesabout the, some of the, the
ethos of your business.
Some of the, some of the thingsyou believe in some of the
things you work on with women.
I have some really interestingthings in there before we do
that.
I want to ask you about some ofthe challenges you had.
(12:27):
When you started your ownbusiness, because you are now
coaching and teaching others andthis is something you didn't, it
sounds like you didn't reallyhave to do for 30 years.
Like you didn't have to gothrough the very early stage and
then you did that.
So, Julie, what, well, and thiscould be, what are some things
that surprised you?
What might have been somechallenges?
And what did you learn aboutyourself?
(12:48):
Any entrepreneur I talk to, itnever goes as expected, no
matter what, as they say, best,I think it's, you're a
countryman.
John Lennon's like life is whathappened.
Life is what happens whileyou're making other plans.
I believe John Lennon said that.
So what are some things thatwere surprises to you or that
the obstacles that maybe you hitwhen you started wise
Julie Perkins (13:05):
minds?
I think when I started WiseMindsbecause I actually did start the
family company completely on itsown, but we'll, we'll come on to
that one because failure is agreat learning for me.
When I started WiseMinds, Ithink it was, it was so tough
coming from a corporatesituation that I built in the
Netherlands where you have Somany people sharing you know,
(13:29):
that journey with, and thensuddenly you're on your own and
what you relied on everybodywith, and you're like, oh my
goodness, that's me.
Jason Frazell (13:39):
It's me.
Yeah, it's me.
Julie Perkins (13:41):
I, you know, my first social media post.
I mean, I was like, shall Ipress the button?
It was so, those, those sorts ofthings of you know, what is that
very, very first step?
And I, I think it's wearingevery single hat yourself.
(14:01):
And realizing that I had to goback on my own course that I was
writing, because of courseyou're writing it, but your
foundation is the fact you had ateam of like 90 odd people.
So you have to go back and kindof go right.
Remind yourself really strongvalues.
I'm going to come on a littlebit to that.
I'm sure for women, but I thinkit was, how do I manage to wear
(14:27):
every single hat.
And not lose myself again.
And I think that is, isabsolutely key.
And reminding myself to have funand, and, and to have joy with
it.
One thing I was very good at wasiterating very rapidly.
Because.
When you've got a small team andit was me and I had well, I
(14:49):
still have this fabulous opsmanager, project manager for two
days a week when it's just twoof you, you know, I love that
startup mentality.
And I had that when I opened upthe Netherlands, that, that
iteration, what's working,what's working, the excitement,
the whole thing.
And I think that was somethingThat I'm glad that I had the
(15:09):
startup background from forsure.
Yeah.
But I think for me it was how doI deal doing this on my own?
How do I deal with theloneliness?
How do I deal with the fact thatI only answer to myself?
How do I deal with, yeah.
Not turning on Netflix andgetting on with the job when I,
Jason Frazell (15:29):
well, there's a great new show out.
Come on.
You could not, yeah, it's
Julie Perkins (15:33):
no's waiting for that.
It's.
It's doing the things I wassuper uncomfortable doing.
And I'm glad I've done itbecause I think it's just
broadened my viewpoints ofdifferent viewpoints of how
people look at stuff.
You know, like, well, I've hadto learn for communications and
(15:53):
social media and what it's liketo see through young people's
eyes, be in their shoes.
You know, I had 20 people to dothat.
I had to learn that.
And I'm so happy I've done it.
It's given me, I think many newlevels of life, but it was
tough.
You know, it was tough.
Jason Frazell (16:14):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I had a similar, I, I think.
Most people I know that havestarted their own thing had a
similar experience.
I Worked at a couple of verylarge companies early in my
career.
And I worked in sales and I'llnever forget when I decided to
go out on my own and I had likethe first day where I took
myself seriously and I said, Ihad this realization.
(16:35):
I'm, it's probably the same asyou.
I'm like, no boss is going toemail me.
There's no meetings on mycalendar unless I put them on
there.
Nobody's asking for reports oractivities.
It's just me and Mike.
And it was like, wow, I've gotthe most relaxed boss, but also
the biggest asshole boss all atthe same time, which is me, it
(16:57):
was such a mindset shift.
And I realized, and I don't knowif you realize this.
But what really struck me,Julie, was how much I had been
reliant on other people, peopletelling me what I needed to do
and how, and, and when you workat a big company, you know, and
how to do it.
Here's the way you fill out thisreport.
Here's the thing you, here's theway you go to the marketplace.
(17:17):
And now I'm like, well, thesky's the limit and that is not
always a good thing.
Julie Perkins (17:23):
I felt I had to write apology letters to black
people.
I've just gone, Oh, could youjust go on the website and just
alter that please?
You know, I went, Oh, right.
That's why you can't just, youknow, I thought it was like a
dog that they just typed in.
I mean, it
Jason Frazell (17:39):
was like, dear everybody.
I'm just so very sorry.
It's such a, such an interestingexperience.
Let's talk about some of the,the values that you really,
Stand for in your business.
And I'm a S I don't know enoughabout you to know this, but I
would assume the values youstand for with your clients are
similar values to how you, howyou run wise minds as well.
(18:02):
I want to start with onespecifically.
And then from there, you can letme know what other else is
interesting, but I'm reallyinterested in the thing about
sole ownership.
I'm assuming you mean do nottake investment or do
partnerships with people whereyou equal, but don't take on
like venture capital or.
Private equity or things thathave you give up part of the
(18:23):
business.
I'm so curious about that.
And now that you just sharedthat story about being in that
meeting and watching peoplepitch, I'd love to just hear
your thoughts on that.
And maybe how you, where thatcomes out for you.
And, and I do a lot of work inthe tech community, which is
that's, it's all about that.
That's how you, but you need to10 X.
Or.
You go out of business and thenyou don't get to make decisions
(18:45):
anymore.
And suddenly your board isfilled with people that are in
the line of your values.
And I think most people wholisten to this podcast
understand the risks there, buthow do you look at that?
And then is there anythingspecifically as it relates to
the females, femalesentrepreneurs that you work
with, that's different thanmaybe a male owned organization?
Julie Perkins (19:03):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, I think the mostimportant thing I always start
the women entrepreneurs.
Who I'm working with is to askthem what growth means to them,
because it's, it's like anyleadership position, you're
leading a brand, but you, youhave to be able to lead yourself
first before you can lead anydirection.
(19:26):
And you know, quite often wehave a conversation.
And part of my course is aboutwhat's your relationship with
money and success.
Yeah.
You know, there is definitely awant to grow, but the question I
always put back on them is, isthat because of what you read
and what does growth look liketo you?
(19:48):
There's many ways of growingbusinesses.
And I think one of the mostimportant things is to get the
picture clear for theentrepreneurs I'm working with.
That is absolutely essentialbecause, of course, as you're
growing, investment isabsolutely key.
Sure.
You have to be, you know, veryclear about what that looks
(20:10):
like.
You know, even though it can bea real challenge to get the
funds, You could be looking fora resource.
You could be looking for apartnership.
You could be looking foralliances, etc.
What is that very firstinvestment that you're going to
make?
And it's not always money.
So we get this whole point aboutgrowth is in a series of waves.
(20:32):
And the company, the company Ipreviously referred to, you
know, it turns over 3 billion ayear in 12 countries.
It's never taken a loan.
I'm not saying that that is theway, but I'm saying, be clear
about what you're looking for,because if you're clear with
yourself, you'll come acrossstronger.
(20:53):
You'll come across much, muchclearer to whether it's the
investment in the bank, whetheryou're looking for giving away
shares, I kind of emphasize, besure, because I don't want you
to fall in love with the firstperson you meet.
You know, in terms of the firstperson who wants you
particularly we quite often getin startups with the need for
(21:14):
digital, the need for a website.
And I'm saying, do you reallywant to give shares away to
tech?
You know, what's your greatestpartnership to have not now, but
maybe in two years or one year.
And is there any way so we getthem to budget really for
investment?
And the answer can be that, butI want to see the bigger
(21:36):
picture, not just this pictureof now.
And I think that's veryimportant.
We spent a long time looking atwho are you, what's growth mean
to you?
And how do you translateyourself into that growth?
And what does it mean?
Who needs to come in and supportyou on that first growth wave?
And just budgeting for resourcesand investments is also a really
(21:57):
important part of that growthjourney.
So that you can be confident andyou know, I've got to admit,
sometimes we sort of say it'sthe fear of failure, but with a
lot of women, it's the fear ofsuccess.
What happens if I am so big?
What happens if I'm not therefor my family and all of these
society rules start to build upon us.
(22:18):
And, you know, so I, I actuallydo a training part of that
training is to say, what do youdo?
I'm a founder of my own companyand then full stop to it.
You don't have to justify,you've got kids and that you
feel, you know, that you'refulfilling every role in your
life and everything.
So it is about self confidence,but it's only self confidence
(22:39):
when you can paint that picturethat's good for you.
And that's such an importantpart of that growth journey,
even before they're eventhinking about, you know, money
or venture capitalists orinvestments of any sort, angel
investment, whatever, you knowyou, you, if someone's going to
offer you a hundred thousand,you want to be pretty clear what
(23:02):
you're going to spend thathundred thousand on, where it's
going to be spent.
Totally.
Where are you going to fit?
I think I wrote a blog oncegoing onboarding your most
expensive employee, your bank oryour investor.
Jason Frazell (23:15):
Yeah.
Yeah.
They're also going to requirethe most management.
Julie Perkins (23:21):
And they have the greatest ability to hurt you
Jason Frazell (23:24):
the most.
And they're actually not youremployee.
They're your boss in most ways.
Well, Julie, what I was, whenI'm working with.
People that are talking aboutmoney, whether it be in a
corporation, like, oh, I'd likea promotion for more money.
Great.
For what?
So that I can XYZ.
Great.
So that what happens when thathappens?
(23:44):
Then what?
And then at some point you runout of the what would I do with
the money and you run into whatdoes the money mean to you?
I am, if I, if I have somebodythat says I want to grow up to a
unicorn status company, and I'mwilling to take a venture
capital because that's what Iwant.
And I truly want it.
Wonderful.
I was just having a conversationyesterday with a friend of mine
(24:05):
who was telling myself and twoother people that we've been
friends for a long time.
And she's, she's a coach and atrainer, and she's written a
bunch of intellectual property.
And she was telling us how she'ssitting at a, at a cabin on a
lake and down in Georgia becauseshe's writing a book.
And she said, you know, I'm kindof living my retirement life
(24:25):
because I have this passiveincome through intellectual
property and I work what I wantAnd I said, yeah, you have a
lifestyle business She saidyeah, it is it's a lifestyle
business.
She said and I want for nothingand she's not independently
wealthy She has family.
She has a young children and ahusband, but i'm like, are you
happy?
She goes I couldn't be happierbecause I get to do whatever I
want And she goes and and forher And i'm sure you run into a
(24:48):
lot of people that you work withlike this She goes for me to
bring this to the next levelwould be so much time and effort
You Because it would requiredigitization and scaling.
And she goes on, I don't want todo it because I've made enough
where I know this will sustainmy husband and I, our kids are
going to be fine and we'll getto retire, do what we want when
we get older on that, I thinkthere's something really
powerful about getting to thatpoint.
(25:10):
And I've known her for years.
She's the happiest she's everbeen.
And it's not because she'smaking 2 million a year.
It's because she's reached thatpoint.
I think that's something thatyou work with a lot of your,
your clients around.
And I want to go into the, andyou, I know you listened to my
episode of Laura, Laura Johns, afew weeks ago, she talked about
(25:30):
this as well, female ownedbusiness and all female
business, which we talked abouton the podcast.
She has all female employees.
I think they were trying to hireher their first male employee.
I said, that's a brave person.
Whoever that man, whoever thatguy is.
Is brave.
I said, I don't think I could doit.
But you know, and she talkedabout this.
She's a mother of youngchildren, working husband.
(25:51):
What are some of the things thatwomen especially are up against
when it comes to the story ofentrepreneurship, as much as
we'd like to say in 2024, it'sall equal, to be clear, it's,
it's still not, it's about herein America.
It's not, I don't know what it'slike in the EU and England, but
here in the U S there's stillsome, Long held beliefs and
systems and ways of working.
(26:12):
So what are some of the thingsthat you see both around the
practicality of running abusiness as a woman, but also
some of the mindset work thatyou have to do, especially if
you're a parent and a parent ora wife, there's some things that
come up there.
And as you've seen, I've had alot of women entrepreneurs on
the show and I've heard fromthis from numbers.
Well, what do you, what do yousee both for yourself and also
for any clients you work
Julie Perkins (26:33):
with?
I mean, I think it's, you know,it's module one.
It's the very first thing thatwe work on.
Yeah.
Is the mindset you come through,because it's not necessarily a
smooth path.
It's not, I've got an idea, Iwant to make it happen.
And you know, my dad's alwaystaught me, he said, don't put
half the world in a big basketand start claiming big
(26:55):
headlines.
And I do agree.
There are some fundamentalthings that I think it's really
important to talk about, andthat is the importance of trying
to understand what your valuesand personal purpose is.
We spend a massive amount oftime doing that.
(27:16):
And then how do you live thosevalues and purpose in all areas
of your life?
Because what happens is, youknow, you're starting to juggle
plates, kids, family.
business, friends, and you'rejust juggling.
But Then you start readingmagazines with titles like work
life balance, which drive menuts.
But I hate that terminologybecause I just, it won't be
(27:40):
achieved.
You're creating you know, asthey say in mindfulness, you're
creating artificial capsules.
It won't work.
Yeah.
The most important thing is tofind out how you want to live
all areas of your life.
And your purpose, your values,what's that touched you want to
put on parenting, what's the,you know, thing you want to be
for your friends when you turnup, what do you bring to the
(28:02):
table and who are you for yourbusiness?
What's the essence of you andyour business and the space
between you and all of the rolesin your life is incredibly
powerful for a woman founder.
Because.
It can't be measured by time inyour business or you know with
your kids because there is justlife and you You can't control
(28:25):
it.
So you can just control who youare in each of those areas And I
think that is the very firstimportant part that we do is
separate them often from theirbusiness you know, they've got
the family and then they'rebuilding the business around
them and then they're sort ofholding on to both and sinking
right down the middle.
So we spend a lot of timeseparating the founder from
(28:48):
their business to leave space.
How do you translate yourselfinto your company and how do you
translate yourself into yourfamily, your friends?
And don't start counting.
That's the last thing you needjust to make percentages or more
charts.
It's just.
Yeah, exactly.
And that's probably what, youknow, your friend that you refer
(29:08):
to, she has this beautifulfulfillment.
So she's not counting thebigger, the size of the growth.
She's just.
Fulfilled, you know, she's, Iwould, without even meeting her,
I can imagine she's very clearon the person.
She is purpose and values.
Very clear.
Yes, she is beautifully.
It's a great example.
(29:28):
Of what the outcome is.
Yeah.
What next?
She doesn't have to grow thebusiness.
She might want to growvolunteering or she might just
want to grow more time withfamily.
It's, it's, it's just, it's theplethora.
of roles that we play.
And I think that's one of thevery first examples that we do.
And then we work on undoing thesocial rules that we have
(29:51):
absorbed in our lives.
What's a success to us?
What's that relationship we havewith money?
And quite often, if you comefrom a very conservative family
where And everything's right,time to move on where, you know,
your dad's gone out to work andyour mom's stayed at home or
vice versa, or your mom's alwaysdone pick up or whatever.
(30:12):
There is a subconscious thingthat's given to you from that
role model.
How do you create your ownmantra towards success?
That fits in today's world, fitsin with your family.
You know, we managed it in a bigentrepreneurial family.
It's like But then, oh, well,maybe I'm a prime example.
I've absorbed that success aboutrunning around being busy.
(30:35):
And I work on having to slowdown.
So it's good to undo those mapsthat perhaps you've you've taken
on board subconsciously.
So that's, those are the firsttwo things about mindset.
So you're, you're, you're,you're stronger and clearer.
To, to work forward and, andthat's why you say, how'd you do
it differently?
(30:56):
I said, we spend more time onthat and the entrepreneurs who
find me allow us to spend moretime on that.
Yeah.
They know it's a pain.
Jason Frazell (31:05):
Yeah.
Well, Julie, one I'll say is.
This is coaching.
This is not consulting.
This is not, here's how youscale.
This is coaching because thethings that you just mentioned,
you don't have an answer forthat client because it's unique
to them and everybody, you know,related to the money thing.
One of the things that is sointeresting about money and like
(31:26):
our, we all come with a storyabout money from how usually how
we were raised and how we sawher, our parents operate with
money is we all come with astory with money.
And you see this all the timewith folks that.
You look at them and they'reaffluent beyond any reasonable
measure for most of us.
And they're still complete jerksabout money.
(31:47):
When it comes, you see storiesabout these really rich and
famous people who don't tip inthe United States or people
they're like, they're stiffing,you know, vendors, even though,
you know, it's, it, it wouldn'teven matter to them, it wouldn't
even cause a thing because ofthe story.
And you also see people thatthat there's also history is
littered with the stories offolks who grew up affluent who
ended up broke because again,they bring in a story about it.
(32:11):
That's really beautiful.
So the really beautiful the workyou're doing.
I love I love the idea to have.
Who are you being?
I hear the coaching in that ofwho are you being in your
business?
What's the essence of what youbring?
There's so many programs focusedon what you do.
How do you grow this accountingproduct?
How do, and there's nothingwrong with that.
(32:32):
People, people need sometimes toknow how to do it, but what
you're, it sounds like the workthat you're doing, at least part
of it is the soul work.
I call it the heart and the soulwork so that you can have fun in
your business.
Because if you're, I don't knowabout you.
I'm gonna, we've only known eachother for 40 minutes, but I'm
gonna guess based on what you'vetold me about yourself, that you
(32:54):
don't like being told what todo.
I hate it too.
Julie Perkins (32:59):
I hate it.
I always have.
Yeah, totally.
And I think, I think what I wasthinking, I realized going, oh
yeah.
I don't like being told what todo.
Jason Frazell (33:09):
It's terrible.
Well, you know, and I'll justsay this already, if you've had
this experience, I'm, I'm sureyou've had clients that have
tried other things that justdidn't maybe work for their
business or it didn't resonatefor them.
And it doesn't mean that there'sanything wrong with those
programs.
I'm not saying anything's wrong,it might just not be for them.
But the thing that I find reallyinteresting about, Entrepreneur,
(33:31):
entrepreneur space and businessowning space is most of us who
do this.
It's because we don't like beingtold that to do, and we don't
like having a boss.
And then we go out and we hirepeople who tell us exactly what
to do that.
And I'm speaking for myself now.
And then you go, ah, thisdoesn't really resonate.
And then I, I know myexperience.
I got frustrated until Irealized I'm like, I actually
(33:51):
want a coach who's going to helpme uncover what's true for me
and how I can best be in theworld, not tell me the way to do
a thing.
And so.
This kind of leads me to startto wrap up here for today is
What kind of people do you loveworking with?
Like, obviously you're, youfocus on female entrepreneurs,
(34:12):
but how do you know thatthey're, I like to ask this of
anybody who's in this sort ofspace, how do you know they're
ready to work with you andactually do the work?
Because, and you don't have tosay, but haven't you had
somebody hire you that's notready?
And you get on and you're like,you're like, this is not
working.
Julie Perkins (34:29):
No, there are.
I mean, of course, with anycoaching situation, you know,
it's really important that youhave that, that strong
relationship.
And I'm putting one thing I findwith entrepreneurs is they need
to do things on their own terms,which is.
Part of motion.
I say, grow on your own terms.
We always put the entrepreneurfirst.
(34:50):
That's why most of our programis online.
And I keep putting more of itonline because you can get up at
three in the morning, seveno'clock at night, and then they
can call upon me when they needme.
And that's very, very, and Youknow, we always put halfway
through, don't forget to call onyour guide, don't forget, it's
not always me, it's they couldneed something else.
(35:12):
And I think that balance is veryimportant because you, you
become an entrepreneur becauseyou've got this incredible idea
that you believe that somethingcan be done better.
But you want to be guided.
And you don't want to be toldhow to make that happen because
you know how to make it happenbecause you've got that picture
(35:33):
in order to make it thatjourney, that vision of change.
And I think that's why thatbalance, I suppose, reflects
also someone who can't bearbeing told what to do.
We're trying to put as much ofit online as possible.
And I'm trying to, with womennot half the world in a box, but
majority of my situations, myrelationships I've had with
(35:54):
founders is.
Being in charge, having thatconfidence to be able to take
that journey and to pull uponthe tools that you need.
So the biggest change that Ioften have with women
entrepreneurs in early stagebusiness growth is the
importance of turning passioninto a purpose that other people
(36:15):
can follow.
Because quite often you are sopassionate about your idea.
How do you take that ideawithout losing you and put it
into practice?
Something that other people canfollow and this is this first
step to making yourselfredundant off that wave.
Yeah.
So you're not trying to hold onto everything.
(36:37):
And yeah.
And this is such an importantpoint for, for, for the
entrepreneurs I work with is oneyou're in charge of your own
journey.
I am a guide.
You call upon me, you don't haveto call upon me.
Here are all the tools.
I'm going to inspire you to usethose tools by giving you a
(36:57):
partner that you're in controlof, and that's called the
Powerball.
That's, they can measure howaligned they are to, to things
going on as they journeythrough.
So someone can start a courseand I might not see them, you
know, one or two times maybe.
The most important thing isthere's only one great way of
growing business and that's yourway of growing business.
(37:20):
Yeah.
As a woman entrepreneur, youknow, often they come, they're
like, Oh my gosh, what should Ido?
And I go, first things first,businesses grow in a similar
pattern.
So you're in exactly the rightplace, wherever you're feeling
now, it's not your fault.
Your business is fighting you.
Because you're trying to holdonto it like a small child and
(37:40):
it's growing up to be a teenagerand you won't let go.
So we are, you know, it's, it's,we're, it's not your fault.
You're in the right place.
And once you reassure them ofthat, it's like, Oh, thank
goodness.
I thought it was me.
Then they open up and take thetools, but they're still in
control of their journey.
Which is why sometimes thatownership.
(38:01):
It's pretty tough.
You know, you don't want to beowning these businesses because
the journey to get onto thatnext wave, which could result in
owning that business, you know,they need to be strong when they
turn up to that.
What growth is to me, what am Ilooking for and, and what do I
believe needs to change so that,you know, change that.
(38:24):
And
Jason Frazell (38:25):
you mentioned something there.
It's.
Really apropos from for my lifeand a lot of people that I work
with is the What's true for youtoday is probably not going to
be true for you For whateverthat next level or the next wave
is like how you how you feelabout things but more
(38:45):
importantly like It's actuallyokay to change.
It's not even just to grow asyour skillset, but it's okay to
be like, you know, that thing Iwas so passionate about in my
business last week.
It's not resonating.
It's actually okay to releasethat and go with the thing that
feels more right for you.
But I don't, I don't know aboutyou, but you, you know, it's
somebody who spent 30 years in acorporation that doing your
(39:07):
thing, there's probably, youcould probably point at a
variety of times when you heldonto it for too long, when you
knew it wasn't right.
Yeah.
I mean, and any business personcan held onto it for too long.
And be like sunk cost or, Oh,like we've always done it this
way.
It's work.
We can get it back.
And you see this in business allthe time is, and it's not about
it, even about innovation, it'sjust about, there is a better
way, but I'm so, but I believethat I'm right, but what if you
(39:31):
weren't right?
What if there was no right?
And instead it was what's truefor you.
Julie Perkins (39:37):
Definitely.
Yeah.
A series you know, of mistakesand successes, and you just have
to learn how to iterate very,very quickly.
You know, Quite often, just asmentioned, just to build on that
point, I often get womenentrepreneurs that go, but
they're passing me, they seem tobe growing faster.
It's because you're too heavy toclimb.
(40:00):
You haven't let go.
It's like trying, you're at campfour, and you're watching
everyone go through, andeveryone's sort of letting go of
the food and stuff that's gotthem there, and you're trying to
carry, Everything, plus oxygen,plus everything else, and with a
whole lot of people that aren'tfit to climb with you, and
you're wondering why you'reburdened.
(40:21):
And I think it's a beautifulthing, I think we have to learn
to let go.
of what doesn't serve us.
And, and that's a big part of,of getting onto the next growth
Jason Frazell (40:31):
wave.
That's really cool.
Well, Julie, I want to wrap andI want to make an offer here to
you to share and you can do itconfidentially, or you can
actually share the names if youwant.
I leave that to you.
They're your clients on some ofthe businesses that you've
worked with that are, that youthink are doing like really good
things in the world.
And Again, keep it high level,name them by name, whatever's
(40:52):
true, whatever's going to workfor your business.
But I'm really interested tohear about, I'm always really
interested.
What are some cool thingshappening in the world from
female owned businesses?
So what, yeah, what, what comesto mind?
Julie Perkins (41:03):
Well, you're in tech.
I probably I mean, that's partof everybody's journey at the
moment.
I work with a lot of women whowork in sustainability goals.
So and that gives me a huge, ahuge kick because we need super
human minds to think of theworld differently and mended
with Agnes, she's, she, sherecycles genes men's genes,
(41:26):
resells genes, and.
If you think that in theNetherlands alone, 10, 000 pairs
of jeans a month are thrown onthe, you know, it's the national
uniform after the time ofEurope.
Right, yeah.
How do you keep these greatclothes in play?
Yeah.
And, and, and not, To sort ofwaste material, not just keep
(41:47):
creating material aftermaterial.
And she's, she is makingincredible grounds on that.
One by encouraging people tomend what they've got, but the
more often people spent a lot ofmoney on genes, people want to
extend the lifetime of theirgenes as well.
Sure.
Puts it back onto the bigcompanies to say, what guarantee
(42:09):
are you going to give me?
And what happens when theybreak?
How are we going to get themmended?
So she's doing a super jobthere.
That's cool.
And also working with Paul andPaulina and they're doing an
amazing job on online educationin low economic.
Groups where education's fallenapart to a certain extent, where
people can't get access to jobsand school and education.
(42:32):
How do we teach online sewing,how to run a business, cooking,
mending mobile phones, so thatpeople become self sufficient,
places like Jordan Rack.
On raising money and fulfillingbusiness after business and
plastic free.
It's the beautiful thing aboutthem is everybody thinks of
(42:55):
these great ideas.
It doesn't matter if they're bigbecause the larger companies can
look at those ideas, go, that'sgreat.
I want to connect.
I want to, and you don't have toown this business for 50 years.
You can own it for life, buildupon the idea and sell it.
Exactly.
Yeah.
This is where good ideas arecoming from.
(43:17):
And it's really gives you hopefor a good future.
I know everyone's very easy totalk about the negative, but
when these ideas are growing,every little step that we take
will make for a better world ifwe all come together, for sure.
Jason Frazell (43:32):
Beautiful.
Last question for you, Julie.
I actually have a couple morequestions.
I'm curious for you as somebodywho does this work, And don't
mean, don't mean to put you onthe spot, but I, that's actually
not true.
I'm very happy to put you on thespot.
What, what are you working on?
What's next in your journeyaround your development and your
mindset?
Because as somebody who workswith us, you know, the work
never stops for us who are doingthis work for others.
(43:53):
We're always working on ourstuff too.
So what's next for
Julie Perkins (43:55):
you?
Well obviously I'm putting mywhole course online which takes
people sort of into up tobusiness canvas level, just to
read, I mentioned the mountain.
So there'll be able to get upand back and call upon me.
That's just an amazingexperience.
But my personal project at themoment is called ultimate
ownership.
And the work that I've done withyoung women founders, I've
(44:19):
actually started to work.
I booked together, sorry, with abehavioral sort of psychologist.
And I said, but if it's helpingyoung women in terms of their
business to really find theirmotivation and their purpose in
life, can we adapt the way thatwe work with young women for
young people as a whole and workon trying to support them to
(44:40):
become more internally motivatedrather than externally motivated
all the time.
So our program is nearlyfinished.
So, and it's very short, butit's just to get.
Young people, you know, 17 earlytwenties just looking at who am
I and how am I going torepresent myself in this world?
(45:01):
It's very simple.
It's not like a lifetime study,but it just gets people on the
right track about personalpurpose and values and who you
surround yourself by, who do youfollow and where do you get your
energy and people from to followthe path that you want.
So that, that's a personal onefor me.
So I'm looking forward to thenext
Jason Frazell (45:20):
couple of months.
Very cool, Julie.
Well, I want to thank you somuch for coming on, spending
part of your London afternoonwith us here.
Really appreciate it.
How can people connect with youand find out more about all the
things you're up to in theworld?
Julie Perkins (45:34):
Well, firstly, thank you so much for having me,
Jason.
It's been an absolute pleasureand well worth all my
disorganization waiting to speakto you.
So big thanks for that.
It's been great.
Jason Frazell (45:44):
It's been all good, Julie.
Julie Perkins (45:46):
And people can get hold of me on wiseminds.
com, which is.
Probably the best way and it'swise with a Y LinkedIn or just
reach out for a virtual coffee.
All of the ways of connectingare there.
So it's a really good start.
And if you want to have a bit offun with your business, early
startup, completely free, youcan try the growth evaluation.
(46:06):
Which talks a little bit aboutsome of the balances and purpose
led growth we've talked abouttoday, especially for where the
founder is positioningthemselves.
So that's a lot of fun.
Jason Frazell (46:18):
Awesome, Julie.
Well, thank you so much forbeing on.
Really appreciate the good workyou're doing in the world.
I love talking to people and forthose who are listening, Julie
and I didn't know each otheruntil 55 minutes ago.
I always really appreciate, andI think most of my, almost all
my guests are like The purposebased of your business and
making a difference for peopleoutside of just the way to do
(46:39):
something, focusing on theheart, focusing on the purpose
and focusing on what might be inthe way from a mindset
perspective to get your clientsand The thing we didn't talk
about.
What's beautiful about this isif your clients have employees,
it affects their employees too,because founders with a good
mindset generally will hireemployees with a good mindset.
Laura and I talked about thistoo, and, and knowing that
(47:01):
you're creating a cascadingimpact, even if you don't know
these people personally.
So I just want to thank you forall the great work you're doing
and look forward to talking toyou again soon on here.
Thanks,
Julie Perkins (47:09):
Julie.
Thank you.
Thanks.
Cheers.
Thanks for listening to anotherepisode of Talking to Cool
People with Jason Frizzell.
If you enjoyed today's episode,please tell your friends, follow
us on Instagram and Facebook,and give us a shout out, or take
a moment to leave a review oniTunes.
If something from today'sepisode piqued your interest and
(47:31):
you'd like to connect, email usat podcast at jasonfrizzell.
com.
We love hearing from ourlisteners because you're cool
people too.
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