#135: A 2023 wrap up - Kat asks me YOUR questions from Instagram!
To wrap up what’s been the most challenging, yet also the most transformational and exciting year yet for Health with Bec, Kat takes the mic and we have a chat about what you guys have asked me.
Kat has been my left-hand woman on the team, working very closely with me for over 2 years now. She is the customer support manager and trains the other team members, along with many other tasks behind the scenes to help me keep this business running and growing!
Through a wild year, it’s actually brought us so much closer together so this was a very special experience to reflect on the year and sit down together to record this for you.
A few of the questions I answer:
What happened with the app you were building?
How do you structure your work day with Kat? How do your different styles complement each other AND, how do you make it fun?
What has been your biggest challenge this year?
Do you feel like your business growh this year has almost multiplied too fast to comprehend?
What was your happiest moment this year?
Are you happy with your body and health now?
What’s the biggest health mistake / trend that you made?
I want to start my own business but not in my current field, any advice on how to find your passion and confidence to start something?
What does a full day look like? Eg? What time do you get up etc
Do you ever eat naughty foods like hot chips and donuts?
Do you ever feel lonely?
Where is your green necklace and ring from? I love them
When you travel by yourself, how do you make friends in another city / country?
Why do you always choose Rome?
Fav restaurant in Rome?
How did you learn to be so successful in business? Any tips?
Why didn’t you keep the beach apartment as an investment?
If you didn’t have a career in health / nutrition what do you think you would be?
Would you offer mentoring to other women who want to start their own business?
As always, I get very vulnerable and honest and I hope that my experiences, lessons, lows and highs from the year inspire you!
Links:
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Read This Episode:
KW: Hello, everybody. Welcome to Body Bites with Bec. This is her beautiful podcast that comes out every week. Do not be alarmed. I know it doesn't sound like Bec. It is actually Kat. What we like to do at the end of every year is interview Bec and we can reflect back on what the year has been like, some of the challenges that she has faced, and also some of the biggest highlights. We have some really interesting questions that we are going to ask, how are we feeling?
BM: I'm good, but that was amazing. You sounded like an actual professional, almost a bit too professional for Body Bites with Bec, but it was good. No, it's exciting. There's lots of questions. Kat's given me an idea. It's not just about the year. There's some personal questions, there's some health questions, so let's get into it. I'm excited and I'm a bit nervous because I don't really know what you're going to ask.
KW: So let's start nice and simply. Where did you get your beautiful green necklace from and the matching ring?
BM: In Rome, when I went to Rome in July last year. It was the first time I've traveled in five years because I just worked way too hard for five years and didn't take a holiday and that five weeks in Italy, especially Rome, I fell in love with and I had the best five weeks of my entire life.
At the end of that trip, I bought myself the ring. It's like an emerald ring with some little diamonds on it, just as a little memoir and then when I went back there about four months later for my 30th birthday, all of my best friends gave me money to buy a matching necklace in Rome, so they're both really sentimental.
KW: Beautiful and why do you keep going back to Rome?
BM: A couple of reasons. One, I love it. Two, this year has been the biggest year of my life. It has just been non-stop, but I found my travel bug and my happiness last year and if I went back to lots of different places in Italy and different places in the world, of course you want to be exploring all day, but realistically this year I've had to work every single day. Obviously I take Saturday and Sunday off most weekends.
There was a while there that I couldn't take Saturdays off with the app, but to get away and still travel, I needed to be somewhere familiar. I know where the gym is, and I don't have to explore because I've seen it so many times. I love Rome and it's nice to go somewhere and just live and work.
So that's why I keep going back there as a base and then I've been twice this year, so I do Rome and then one or two other places and I have a little bit more time off in the other places, but it's mainly because I still have to work. I'm still running this business. It's a place to go and settle without having to explore every single minute of the day.
KW: Do you have a favourite restaurant over there?
BM: Mimi and Coco.
KW: What's your favorite meal?
BM: Oh, there's a couple - Eggplant Parmigiana and the Meatballs, the Polpette. Every restaurant in Italy is quick, just quick, to the point, not too overpriced, big meals.
KW: Do you like travelling by yourself?
BM: Obviously. I love it. I think if I didn't have this business that kept me busy because, I can go to cafes and I'll sit down and I can do some work or usually when I travel I'll do like the mornings of work and then I try my best to finish by 2 or I'll go out for lunch and I'll do some work there and then I'll have the afternoon to explore or meet up with someone. I love working, so going and working in Italy, I still enjoy it, but if I didn't have this business, I don't think I would enjoy traveling alone as much, but I do love my own company.
KW: Do you make many friends when you go to Rome or on holidays?
BM: Yes. I've actually surprisingly made some really good friends over there and met people, which when I went for the first time in July last year, I was meeting up with one of my friends, Steph, who some of my listeners would know. She lives in Brisbane and she's such an inspiring business woman who I'm now really good friends with her, so I knew that I was meeting her for one week in the middle of the trip.
Other than that, I didn't know that I'd meet people in July, but that trip in July last year actually showed me that you can and of course, before I went, I was a bit nervous and I was thinking - will I feel lonely? Will I enjoy being alone? Then I met people which I wasn't expecting. So yeah, that's really nice.
KW: Can we shift focus? I know there's been a lot of requests to ask if you went back to Rome to meet a certain somebody. Was there any catch-ups with any old friends from last time?
BM: Yeah I did see that boy, just for one day. He doesn't live in Rome anymore. He's been living in France, but I've seen him a couple of times. Every time I've gone back, he's randomly been in Rome for one day, so I see him, but it's never planned either. I'll tell him a week before I'm going and he's like - oh, I'm there for a day too and so I've seen him. I have not gone back to see him. That's not my reason. I go back because Italy makes me happy and like I just said, I've only seen him for one day each time, but on the trip in October, I actually just sat down next to this group of two guys and a girl and everyone's so much more approachable and I think I'm just very approachable too.
Everyone's social in Rome and I would never just go out for dinner by myself in Perth. I just wouldn't, but in Rome you do and I sat next to them and then I made conversation with them. It was funny how it happened. They were all talking and one of the men had a shaved head and a beard and a few tattoos, just a really tough looking man said - oh yeah, my dog, Maple Butter. He was talking about his dog called Maple Butter and I just leaned over to their table and I was like, you've got a dog called Maple Butter? That started a beautiful friendship with all of them, in particular one of the guys and I had dinner with them. They had a massive night and then I've caught up with that one that I met a couple of times on the trips and he's just a good friend. He's lovely.
KW: Do you have any more travel plans coming up for next year?
BM: Yes, hopefully.if all goes to plan and this second app launches, which it will. My plan for this year was to do a beautiful four week trip in Italy after I launched my app, as we worked so hard to build it and it kept getting delayed. I was like - oh my god, my vision for travel is gone and that's why I made the trip that I went on a month ago just happen for two weeks, even though it was still full of work and it could only be a quick two week trip.
So my vision is to actually get back there for at least three or four weeks after the app next year in July or August. I won't just do Rome and one other spot. I want to do a few other places. I've got one of my best friend's weddings in London as well, in August, so that'll probably be my first destination and have a bit more balance in rest and play time and not just be smashing work 24/7 over there. That's the aim! Then after we launch the app, who knows?
KW: Can I come with you?
BM: I would love you to come. I would love that.
KW: Talking about the app, I know you've spoken a lot about all of the troubles that we've had to go through in the last 12 months together with the original app and I know we don't want to keep talking about that, but we've got a new app team. Are you enjoying the process this time around?
BM: Yeah, I really am. The beginning was a bit frustrating to get through because, as I've said to a lot of people, we were building an app last year. Kat was working really hard with me too to do it and just starting again from scratch whilst all of my design files and everything I've paid for and own is being held hostage and having to repeat the process ourselves through every single thing, I haven't enjoyed it for the first few weeks. I was like - this is just such a shame. I was still hanging on to a little bit of disappointment and annoyance that I'm just repeating myself and wasting time when I could be focusing on other areas of the business.
Also some of those app meetings where I'm repeating myself and some law meetings were on that two week trip in Italy where it would have been good to explore Italy a bit more, rather than building an app again and having those conversations together on different continents when we could have been spending that time doing so much more exciting stuff. There's just constant things to improve to grow the business. I had to take a break from the podcast for instance, and I could have still done the podcast if I didn't have app meetings and law meetings, but this team is incredible. We're both really enjoying working with them.
KW: Yeah, absolutely. They are a lot of fun and it's just looking really beautiful and I'm excited and it's nice to be excited about the launch next year.
BM: It's just a bit less time from us that they've needed compared to the last time. They just know what they're doing. They don't need to ask us questions every single minute of every single day to approve things and find spelling mistakes, so it's going well.
KW: On top of all of that, the business has seen a lot of big growth this year as well and we've had to really adapt to that quick growth. Have you felt at any point that maybe it's been too quick this year and we've not been able to handle it?
BM: Yes and no. I'm so proud of the business growing so fast and it has grown exponentially since February and with that being in line with building an app … I really feel like the first five years of my business journey was just hustle, so much work. I didn't have enough staff and then I spent a good year or two systemising. Last year I really found this blissful balance where I never felt overwhelmed. I had the perfect amount of staff, things were tracking along. I was just doing five hour days every day and it was where I want to be in life, but then I knew as soon as you build something new, like as soon as you add something new to your existing business, I'd had the 3 Week Body Reset and the Health with Bec Tribe for already a couple of years. I'd really systemised them. They were working well and last year it was just about keeping them going, attracting new people, refining things, doing podcast episodes, writing for the media more and it was just a good year.
This year I knew that the work hours would increase with building an app, because building an app is a huge project and investment. So I was prepared for a busy year, but I wasn't prepared at the same time for the business to grow exponentially. It's been a very busy year and I don't like to conform to you have to hustle 24/7 to grow a business because I felt last year that I was working 5 or 6 hour days and it took time to get there, but last year was still amazing business wise, it grew last year and I was really comfortable.
I got to go to Italy twice and it was incredible. This year, I would not change a thing for the world. I'm so happy it's growing because the more it grows, the more lives are changing and how good are the results that are coming through?
KW: It's actually insane and I can't believe it myself. And it is a joy to read them every single day. They don't stop. It's just incredible.
BW: I've kept up with it purely because, credit to Kat. Kat is the best. Kat started as my full-time customer support woman, lots of admin and so many other things that you would just have no idea about that goes on behind the scenes with this business. So luckily she had a lot of it sorted in terms of, we just really nailed our systems even more last year. We had the business set up right. So then when it started to grow, we just had to hire quickly, but this is another testament to it all adds up through my life. The Health with Bec Tribe, which is Step 2. after the 3 Week Body Reset, are just the most beautiful, supportive women who believe in this lifestyle so much and have so much love and care.
When the business started to grow, me and Kat were like, we need more help, because the more people we get, it's just so much customer support. When the business grows, it's just more customer support that we need on emails and so I actually reached out to the Tribe and hired more women from the Tribe and it all happened very fast and yes, that wasn't easy, but Kat has been like the manager of them and the trainer of them and if that was me, there's no way I could cope. I don't know what I would do. It's been a challenge, but we've done it, it's been doable.
KW: That's right, we're succeeding.
BM: Our team is amazing.
KW: Absolutely, and I love the community that we've built within the business now and we've got our own little family and it's really nice watching them just kick goals and receive the feedback that they deserve as well from customer support and yeah, it's been awesome. It's been exhausting, but we're still standing and we're just going to smash it out next year.
BM: Yep, exactly and so it hasn't been too much to keep up with. It has been a lot, but I feel if the business grew and all these app issues didn't happen, it would have been fine. We've been on top of the business growing and on that side of things, it's just because there was the app building and the app problems and law case, it's just been a big year.
KW: It's been a big year. There's not been a single moment this year where you've thought what should I do today? There's always been something demanding your attention and then something else demanding it equally at the same time.
BM: Not something and something. It's 10 different things. It was 10 different things for a while there.
KW: So on a typical day, what does your work day look like? I know how it's looking at the moment is different to how it looked last year because you did find that balance, but on any typical day, when does it start? What do you do? Do you have a routine?
BM: Yeah, I do have a bit of a routine and I do want to say, I still really believe in balance and self care and not working myself to the ground. Yes, it's been a busy year and it's been demanding and when I get overwhelmed, it does affect my sleep and then it's a whole vicious cycle, but I still never let myself work past six o'clock. I still take breaks.
So on a day to day life in terms of tasks, it changes every single day, so I might be planning and recording a podcast. I might be helping you train the staff. I might be having meetings with the staff. Just things every single day that are different, but I always wake up really early, 5am or 6am. I do a couple of hours of work, whatever that is. I try my best to do the thing that I know that I'm going to put off.the most first if I can, it's called ‘Eating the Frog’ apparently, then I do morning movement. I'll walk Winston and go to the gym or Pilate. Some days, I miss my morning movement.This week I've missed it twice. I think last week I missed it a couple of times because I'm meeting trades but normally I do exercise every morning and then I come back and I'll work all day but I'll break for lunch. I remember last year I was finishing at 4pm or 5pm every day and I would go get a facial at the end of the day or just walk Winston. I think I've walked Winston once at the end of the day this year because Mum's just had to do it. It's just been too full on. I try to finish at 5pm or 6pm some days.
KW: We'll try and push back to 4am or 5pm next year.
BM: I will find that balance again. I will because it's my life. I'm designing it and we all can design our own lives, but when you're building something extra, you can't help it sometimes.
KW: Even this year, you've actually made sure that I've done those things as well and you saw me working hard and then just starting to fall to pieces a little bit and you've pushed me to make sure I found that balance too. So you not only say it for yourself, but you actually actively encouraged it in your staff and your team this year and told me that I needed to prioritise the downtime and switching off and that it was okay and it just reminded me that's exactly who you are and that's exactly what your business is about and I just had to be reminded of that. I was really grateful for that day.
BM: You only do good work when you have a clear mind and I know because I've been there before in my first four years of business, I did reach burnout and chronic insomnia. I know that I get insomnia if there's just too much going on and so then I don't sleep. I truly believe that you have to feel good to do good quality work and to stay creative and for this business, it's all about creativity to come up with new ideas to help people, new ways to change things, new ways to make systems faster, so if I don't take care of me, that creativity doesn't happen and the business wouldn't grow. So I'm all about doing my best to find balance and making sure my team has balance too.
KW: Yeah, absolutely. A great question that came through on your Instagram was how do we structure our work days?
BM: How do we work together? We boss each other around. Sometimes it's bossy.
KW: Occasionally it's bossy, but it's always meant with love and that's why it's okay, but every now and then we'll be at each other and that's fine. It's been a big year.
BM: I'm really grateful that Kat has just as much work drive as I do. She's not someone that would come over and just get her phone out and slack off. It's quite funny sometimes we're multitasking, we're doing things together. We really try to get a few dot points together of the things that we have to do that day and then we smash them out.
We do a work day every Wednesday together and every Wednesday is different, so it'll depend what is the most pressing thing at the time, but it might be talking about how we can improve systems or app edits, staff meetings or sometimes we're just working together on our own things and just having our own company side by side.
KW: We've spent many hours on zoom, not actually looking at each other, but just knowing that the other person's there and it's really nice.
BM: I agree. It's really nice. I feel like I work harder when I'm with someone for some reason.
KW: you can just ask that quick question and check something over and we'll share each other's screens and I really like those work hours together that we do. Sometimes we go missing on the million tabs on our screens. We don't know where the other person is.
KW: What has been the biggest challenge for you this year?
BM: Getting to the point of realising that the app we were building, will it ever be launched? When will it be ready? Then realising that even though it seems 70% done, trying to get through the process of interviewing so many other developers, feeling really unsure, feeling really uneasy, feeling like I'm losing trust in that team, who I thought were just really beautiful people and it was really hard.
For me and so many people, the most challenging times is when you're in the in-between. When you haven't made a decision to cut something because you're unsure if it's the right thing to do or not. So much money went into that, so much time and effort went into that. I feel like the hardest part there for me was trying to work out whether to just leave and start again with someone or get someone to take over and then, it continued on because it turned so nasty with the team that we're working with that I had to employ lawyers, but now I know everything. Ask me anything?! I've learned so much this year about apps because I had to then interview all these other people to see if I was being ripped off, if I'm overreacting with the quality, all these things.
At the same time, I was learning about law. At the same time, I was just grieving this year of work that isn't ready and feeling like I might lose trust from my Tribe members and things like that.
KW: That was a big thing for you
BM: We were teasing it for so long and that was my vision for this year. And also just the vision of not launching it. That was my goal all year, every day, I would cancel anything for the app meetings and what they needed just all year, like in taxis to the airports, everywhere, I was just all about the app, and then for a couple of months there, it was finding another team, deciding to get lawyers and at the same time was when I actually found this house and I thought - okay, I want to sell my house and buy a new house and so it was the most overwhelming, busy time and it affected my sleep.
My mental health was bad. I don't often suffer from poor mental health, but that was definitely a time that I was suffering for about three months and on top of that, a personal thing that I was going through in my personal life that I've never shared with anyone on here. I shared it with my best friends and my family, then feeling like that and having to deal with all of those challenges on my own and make those huge decisions on my own - challenging!
I still showed up for work every single day though and I think what was challenging about it is just still showing up on Instagram, showing up for the Tribe, putting a happy face on, my work does make me happy so I'm very lucky in that way, but my energy was so low, I was hardly sleeping, so it was a battle to get through every day for about three months there, but I still did it. So it was challenging, but now I'm feeling very proud of myself.
KW: You should. It was huge. You've done really well.
BM: It was huge, but we're on the other side, I think. I feel so happy now!
KW: I know that you touched on saying that it felt really isolated having to make all those big challenges by yourself. Do you often feel lonely?
BM: Yeah, there's times in my life that I feel lonely, of course. I think everyone probably does. It's hard at the moment because I don't feel one bit of loneliness at the moment and so I'm trying to think back on through that period, I did feel lonely, but as soon as I start to feel lonely, I just make sure that I reach out for support and I'm not embarrassed about it. Yes, it's a lot to go through alone, but I just had to lean on my parents more, a couple of my best friends more and just a couple of people in my life that did help me, and you were amazing. I can be vulnerable with you. I cried to you a few times.
I think you only feel lonely in life, if you're holding things in to yourself and not sharing them with other people because then no one knows what you're going through. Sometimes I feel lonely when I'm sharing stuff on Instagram. This is a really weird thing to say, but if I'm sharing things and pretending like everything's okay, but I'm actually really suffering with other things going on in the business, that kind of makes me feel lonely and that sort of relates to what I just said as well, but then as soon as I did open up about the fact that the app's not happening, I'm in a law case, I'm signing again, I got more support from my followers and the Tribe.
KW: It reconnected you to so many people on a different level and I think that was a really poignant moment that you were able to do that and everybody just thought - oh my gosh, this is what's going on. This makes so much sense. How can we help you? Even if it was just through a DM or a message or yeah, it all helped and it just stopped you feeling like you were sitting there having to make all these big decisions by yourself and then put on a face, because you never want to put a face on for anybody.
BM: And that's not the way I am, so I would never do that on Instagram. Obviously there are days where I'm going through things and I'll still show up, but I love being real on Instagram, but I also don't want to show up every day being like challenge after challenge, because no one wants to do that either.
In terms of loneliness, I love my time alone anyway, probably more than most people. I know my balance. I need at least one catch up with friends through the week, on a weekday and then one over the weekend, maybe two. I see my parents a bit and then I just love time alone as well, but I love being social. I've got a good balance there. So I don't often feel lonely in terms of spending too much time alone.
KW: What's been your happiest moment this year? Just a flip.
BM: November this year was my happiest moment because I decided enough was enough with what I was going through in terms of my mindset. I finally got over the grief of stuff I was going through in my life and the app situation and I just said to myself - I need to just move forward and when I decided to start again with another app team, that made me feel great. It was a weight off my shoulders.
I know what makes me happy and that's Italy and I just booked a flight three days before I left and I know that Italy brings me amazing things and happiness. For some reason when I'm on the other side of the world, even though the business is still running, I feel so much more free and a little bit less stressed and happy and when you're happy good things come your way. I met some of my friends over there. I felt so good and I knew that I was moving into this house a week after I got home. I met Anneke in Venice. She bumped into me, who I've just had on the podcast last week and I was like, that's a blessing! It was two weeks full of fun and blessings and apart from one law situation that made me cry, it was amazing. Since then, I've moved into this house and I've just felt so happy. It's been a really good end of the year since mid October.
KW: Ending on a high!
BM: I think a lot of that high is me reflecting and I'm really proud of myself for being in this house and doing it because it was a busy time to think about real estate and do all of this, but I knew I would never find anything better. I wasn't expecting to buy a house this year. I really wasn't, but it came up and I was like I will never find anything better and I was ready to move next year and a lot of the happiness at the moment comes from me knowing how hard that year was and what I went through, but I still showed up every single day and I just feel really proud of myself that the business could still grow despite all of that going on in the background and I can do this for myself. It's really exciting. It's such a fun project. A bit stressful too!
KW: Would you ever mentor other women who wanted to start their own business because I feel like you have a lot to offer.
BM: Yeah, I love talking about business and personal growth so much. So if I had a clone, 100% I would do that. I just don't have the capacity for it at the moment, but I think in the future it definitely might be something that I explore. I feel like every single year the business changes and evolves and I haven't really planned much. It's all just evolved depending on what people on Instagram or through emails or in the Tribe want. I do things depending on what they ask, so if that keeps coming more and the app has launched and I find more time, it might happen, but right now, no, unfortunately.
You will see deep-chat Bec back on Instagram. I love talking about personal growth facts and business and it is one of my favourite things to talk about. We've had a couple of people reach out over the year as well, asking if you would mentor them and we've said the exact same thing to them that you would love to, but you've just not got the capacity at the moment, so maybe we can look at it next year as a project.
KW: Why didn't you keep the other apartment as an investment?
BM: I would if I could! This house was a lot of money, and so I needed to sell that to put towards the deposit of this house, so that I could afford this house, because when you own a business as well, it's really hard to get loans from the bank, so I had to sell that house to be able to afford this better one and it was so sad to see that go. If I found this house next year, like April, May or July next year, I would have been able to keep that house as an investment, but this just happened sooner than I was ready and money wise, it had to go.
KW: If you didn't have your career in health and nutrition, what do you think you would be?
BM: Oh that's thrown me because I just can't see myself as anything else. This is my calling. This is my truth and it's all happened from going through my own health journey and transformation and I love helping people. If I didn't go through those health issues, I wouldn't have this career because that's what's given me the passion, but my favourite subject was human biology at school and I was a science nerd, so I would've probably just continued with something in Science, but then I'm sure I would've figured out that I've really got an entrepreneur mind and I really love business and I love helping people. I'm sure I would end up being some sort of business that helps people in some way.
KW: You're very much an acts of service person and a role would have to be around how you would be helping somebody, in some capacity. If it wasn't in nutrition, it would be in some other form.
BM: I think I would still always work for myself. I feel like I've got it in my body. When I was a little kid, I used to make little beaded key rings and set little stalls up down the road and sell them. I was only 10.
KW: So did being successful in business just happen or did you learn how to be successful? How did you find yourself in this position?
BM: I've just taught myself every single day. It's been a seven year journey. So it hasn't just happened at all. It takes constant dedication. I just lead with wanting to help people and making women not feel like a number and then that led into one on one client work, and then I just had to help more people because I just want to change as many lives as I can and naturally if you want to scale a business, you have to learn about business.
So I binged business podcasts every moment I could on walks, on drives down South in the car, at the gym, just constant bingeing and just teaching myself and learning from my mistakes, trial and error, listening to my clients, and it's just evolved from that, but it has been a slow burn and then I feel like last year and the year before it did increase quite rapidly and then this year it's gone on a new trajectory.
KW: Are you happy with your health and your body now?
BM: I actually am. I've definitely had body image issues for most of my life. I think a lot of us do, but since I've been doing way more consistent weight training, I feel like I'm getting a bit more muscle. I feel like I'm just really balanced with what I'm eating and I'm just learning to love my body a lot more, so I do feel quite happy in that way, but I think that comes with age too. There's still some things on my body that I used to be insecure about that haven't changed that are still the same now, but maybe I'm older and I just don't care about it as much or something.
KW: Have you ever made a huge health mistake or have you followed a trend and thought - oh, that was the wrong thing to do?
BM: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I would restrict calories too much in my early 20s and I would cut fat out. I talk about this all the time in other podcasts too - you feel starving if you don't eat fat. I was a bit calorie focused for a couple of years before I did all my research and figured out my approach and realised that fat makes you full. I would feel hangry every single night because I was probably eating too little calories for my body and not enough fat and doing no weight training either. Now I've really realised the benefit of adding more weight training in.
KW: The Body Pump Instructor in me is very happy to hear that. Do you ever eat “naughty foods” like hot chips and donuts?
BM: I don't eat donuts, it's not something that I would gravitate towards. Hot chips - if I get a burger from Grill’d and it's a Sunday … I wouldn't be someone that would eat like a whole tub of hot chips. I'll share some with someone or have three or four, but naughty foods like that, I don't eat all the time because they don't make me feel good, but if it's a Sunday and I've had drinks the night before, then that's usually the day that I'll eat foods that I wouldn't normally eat through the week and it's totally fine. It's all about 80/20.
KW: Absolutely. You don't like to brand things as “good” and “bad”. It's just food at the end of the day, but you want to make the right choices for your body and that's what you're trying to demonstrate in the programs as well. Do you actively avoid eating chocolate because that's the biggest thing for me - eating chocolate, do you avoid it?
BM: When you don't eat sugar and chocolate, you don't crave it as much, so I don't feel like I have to actively avoid it. I don't eat chocolate much. If I do, it's dark chocolate, but like I said before, if I'm hungover and it's a Sunday and I feel like chocolate, I'll eat chocolate and that's when I'll eat it, or occasionally, maybe once a week.
KW: If somebody wanted to start their own business, not necessarily in the field that they're in now, what advice would you give that person to try and figure out what their passion actually is?
BM: Make yourself get gut issues or a health issue and then overcome it and then you'll have a passion. I don't know the advice to help you find a passion, because I do really believe that it's a lot easier to start, grow and sustain a business if you have passion because you just need so much motivation to get you through the tough times and to stay dedicated every single day.
So finding a passion is definitely important and I don't know how to suggest finding one because we've all got different ones. What I can recommend though is that creative ideas and realising what your passion is will only come to you when you slow down. I think it's really good for people that are in that situation, to go on a solo retreat or a solo camping trip or just spend a bit more time alone. Even if it's like an hour's walk a day and then ideas can come to you, but if you're in that trap where you're just go go go, you're stuck in your full time job, you're socialising all the time, just take some time to yourself and then that's when you might be able to realise what that calling is.
KW: One final question for you - what is your goal for next year? Have you got an idea in mind? What is it that we're going to be aiming for next year for Bec and Health with Bec?
BM: Obviously launching the app, but I'm laughing because I remember when you asked me this last year and you said something like, “I feel like it's going to be a big year Bec” and we don't know what's in store for us. Like I said before, I didn't know that I'd be buying my dream house. I didn't know that I'd be growing my customer support team from two to six. I didn't know that the business would grow exponentially. I knew that I would be launching the app, but I didn't know that would fail and we'd have to create a new one. So my point is that I've got a vision to obviously launch the app.
Other than that, you just don't know what's coming in life. Like I'm ready for challenges, because they come your way without you expecting it. I'm ready for a lot more business growth. It might stay the same. It might grow more but my vision is the main vision that I'm pretty certain on is that I hope the app will launch and it's just going to improve women's lives even more than it already is and I really want to be able to schedule a bit more time off, but not even that I really want all the teams to get together somewhere and do a weekend somewhere.
We do work quite remotely. We were all in different areas and so that’s my vision, maybe after the app launch. I'd love to do that and travel again. I just want to travel as much as I can. Even if it's just five days in Bali and I'm still working there, I need to make sure that I still do what makes me happy and that is traveling as much as I can.
KW: Absolutely. Yes, I did say it last year that we didn't know what was in store for us, but it would be a big year and I feel like that statement is just as true going into next year, but I feel like we're a little bit more savvy or prepared. It could be famous last words again and something's thrown at us, but I think 2024 is going to be huge for us and I'm really excited to see what the business does and how it grows and how the team grows and what we manage to achieve.
I'll probably say this on behalf of thousands of people that love and follow you, but I'm just so incredibly proud of what you've done this year, and it's probably going to make me cry, but we've faced a lot this year, and we've cried in front of each other a lot, and we've both burnt out. I see the Bec behind the camera, and I see the Bec behind the computer, and I'm so proud of you and how you've handled all of this. I don't know how you did it and we both said that we loved each other this year for the first time and I love you. I just think you're amazing and honestly, if you can handle what you have this year with the amount of grace that you have, anything is possible for you and I'm just so excited to be part of it.
BM: Oh, thank you so much. I love you too. It's been a really wild year and we will only be better next year. I feel like if we've got through this year and I've got through the challenges that I've got through this year, I feel like I can handle anything with support always.
I always say it teaches you a lesson and it makes you stronger and I feel so much stronger after going through that this year. I know that every challenge will do that and there's always going to be challenges in business and everyone's life, but you get through them and I've proved to myself that I got through that and there is a lot of happiness on the other side and beautiful things that will come our way.
Thank you for interviewing me, that was nice. You've been so amazing this year. I'm so blessed to have someone that is so hardworking, so committed. She's got two kids, she's a body pump instructor, she works for me full time … All my other team members that have joined the team this year Lemme, Georgie, Dannii, Honey, everyone's so incredible and most people say the hardest part about a business is staff. Yes, it's hard to train them and stay on top of everyone and make sure everyone's doing the right thing in a way. The hardest part is when people leave and then you have to employ new people and that hasn't happened. I think we're just really blessed to have our team because everyone loves the job.
Thank you for that interview.