Brand You Magazine - The Profesh Issue

ISSUE 3

COVER WOMAN

ANITA SIEK

Find your inner fetti.

MisFIT ENTREPRENUER

The rebel herself, Kate Toon.

I OBJECT

Sharni's putting the family back into family law.

Life lit queen

From teacher to author.

ASK DR. BRON

Getting back to you.

profesh

And loads more.

THE

ISSUE

KATE TOON | 08

DR GERLINDA STELLA | 28

| 16 ON BR

ANITA SIEK | 04

SHARNI MWENDA | 30

R AC H

KRISTY FORBES | 20

bec MCFARLAND |34

A EL

JOH

NS

|2

6

DIANA TODD

|12

04 Find your inner fetti.

ANITA SIEK OF WORDFETTI

08 Misfit Entrepreneur.

KATE TOON OF STAY TOONED

12 It's the Instagram Accountant.

DIANA TODD OF BALANCE TAX

16 Ask Dr. Bron.

BRONWYN BAILLIE OF DR BRON OSTEO

20 I am who I am.

KRISTY FORBES OF INTUNE PATHWAYS

26 Life Lit Queen.

AUTHOR RACHAEL JOHNS

30 Putting families first.

SHARNI MWENDA OF ALIGN FAMILY LAW

34 Get clear on your strengths.

BEC MCFARLAND OF POP YOUR CAREER

stereotypes DOWN THE

Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor. The industries may have changed but the stereotypes stay the same.

There once was a time when we were all expected to be cut from the same cookie cutter mold. Perfectly formed to fit on the conveyor belt of life.

Thank F we now live in an era where we can shape our own paths.

Don't want a cookie? How about a donut? Or smoosh it up and reshape it as a cake pop?

Overcoming stereotypes can be a challenge, but the women in this issue are breaking old beliefs in their own way. How? By stepping up and doing things their own way by being true to themselves.

Welcome to Issue Three, “The Profesh Issue”.

ROWENA PREDDY

FOUNDER | DESIGNER | EDITOR

Find your

inner

Confetti is Anita’s currency, personality and way of life. Her brand Wordfetti is a brightly coloured copywriting beacon. However, her original career path would have had her warring with words in an entirely different way. So pop the party poppers, let loose the confetti, and get ready to party hearty.

4

I want to be

part of more

FUN

How does it feel to leave a corporate career you have studied for?

When we leave something that is stable for something that is completely unstable, our body is gonna go, “Whoa, are you sure? Are you sure you want to do that?

Like, what about the bills? What about the mortgage? What about the kids? What about this? Have you not thought about that?”. Growth happens when there is discomfort. There are times when really bad things can happen; a breakup, a bad business decision, being treated like complete BS in your corporate role. It is always in moments like those, when it is just disastrous, or bad or terrible, where you really learn, where you really grow as a person, where you really start to see and are able to embrace the way you are and how you think. When I look at it like that now, I am like, “Oh, that’s uncomfy. Good.”

5

How do you feel about ‘hustle culture’?

I’m very anti-hustle. But I have to be honest and say for the first year or two of my business, I was a hustler. I hustled bad. I worked 15 hour days and in the hustle, I burnt out a few times. And it was not pretty. One of the things my students, my community and my clients say is, “I don’t have enough time. I’m so overwhelmed. I have so many things I have to do’’. If you’re feeling like that right now, I want to say two things. One, take stock of this relationship you have with your time; what are you saying with your time?

Are you saying, “I’m so overwhelmed? I have so many things I have to do. I’m already juggling all the things!” with a negative energy attached to the word and idea of time? If so, you’re already setting yourself up to fail. Who said, you don’t have enough time? What if you started to say things like, “You know what, I have all the time in the world! How awesome is it that I get to choose my own schedule?!”. Imagine if we just changed that. We are the cause of time, but we are also the source of time. Looking at it that way, as the cause of time, we can drain our freakin energy in doing all the things and during this we can cause the time to go away. But! We can also be the source of time if we want to.

Example being, I actually put my holidays marked in first now. I make sure I’ve got my days for myself in and then I wrap everything else around it. I’m so anti-hustle.

Speaking of words, do you have a fave? I really love the idea of just fetti. But like,

fetti in a lot of different realms, which is why I’ve called my business Wordfetti. It sounds so happy and vibrant, like a party. I’m trying to own this idea of ‘The Fetti Family’ - because, to me, the idea of fetti just sounds so fun. And I want myself and others to be part of more fun.

freebie Want 5 copy secrets

for your web, socials, ad copy, and more delivered straight to your inbox?

CLICK HERE

What do you think of copycats?

People can mimic your color palettes, people can mimic the look of your website, service offerings, your product offerings, your pricing and your copy - but the ONE thing that people cannot replicate is YOU and your story because literally no one can replicate your story, yo!

Like NO ONE. No one!

How has the entrepreneur life changed you?

I now show up so much better for everyone else around me. Because I know so much more about who I am, what I stand for, what’s important to me and what’s not. I had never got to know myself in this way before. It’s such an exciting, terrifyingly scary journey. Yes - I feel things, I cry and have bad days as

Listen

HERE

Want to hear more?

Click to listen to Anita's podcast.

well. It doesn’t stop, but I would not give it up. It is freakin extraordinary.

www.wordfettigroup.com

MISFIT

ENTREPRENUER Welcome to the Tooni-verse

Kate Toon is a Wonder Woman of words and a she-e-o of SEO. We get really real and break down the urban legends of creative copy, and how you can embrace your inner rebel.

8

If you are not ranking well on Google, you may as well not be on the internet.

Everyone’s banging on about personal branding at the moment?

True personal branding is about understanding your values, what you stand for and what you won’t stand for. It’s also understanding your brand personality, and not just the good bits.

If we were to only put our best self out there, we would all be professional and knowledgeable and authoritative and creative. But we’re also impatient and jaded and a bit bitter and sarcastic, and short tempered; and the true personal brands embrace both the good and the bad. People worry that you can’t be that and also make money. But you really, really can. I understand why because it’s scary and some people are going to not like it. If you put a product out there, and people don’t like it, well, that’s okay - because it’s separate from you. However, if you put yourself out there as your true self with all your lumps and bumps and wierderies, and people don’t like it, then what they are actually saying is, “I don’t like you”. And that takes a lot of confidence to accept and say, “Well, jog on then”.

What the F is SEO and why should we invest in it?

SEO is quite simply making Google fall in love with your website. I compare it to The Bachelor. He’s got 20 websites to choose from, but he knows that he wants one that’s fast, that loads really well, that looks good on his mobile, has nice colors, is easy to read and gets to the point - that’s what he wants in his ideal ‘Website Bachelor Partner’. There’s 200 or so things that Google is looking for, and most of them are common sense because Google is based on human interaction. What humans want, Google also wants. Around 70% of all transactions start with a Google search. They don’t start on Instagram, Facebook or Clubhouse. I go to Google. If you are not ranking well on Google, you may as well not be on the internet.

9

How important is your website copy?

I should be able to tell from the first couple of lines on your home page who you are, what you do, why you do it better than anybody else, what you stand for and what you don’t stand for. What makes you funny, what makes you interesting and what makes you smart should be evident in every page, every piece of content, every image, every photo, every design.

It’s not a checkbox to be ticked; if we’re truly our own personal brand, then everything we do is on brand, because we are ourselves.

FREE CLICK HERE Why hire a copywriter?

Most of us make typos, our sentences ramble on, we don’t pick the most interesting adjectives. A copywriter enables you to sound like you. But the you that you hear in your head. Some people do not have the skill to turn their thoughts and their desires and their

PERSONAL BRANDING WORKBOOK How to build a personal brand without spending a cent on ads

values into words. A good copywriter will be able to pull that out of you; they’ll get the insights and the stories and also see you in a way that you just can’t see yourself - and then turn all of that into prose, so that you when you read it, you go, “Oh my god, this is exactly how I want to go out into the world!”.

Get Kate's 'Personal Branding Workbook' and learn how to build a personal brand without spending a cent on ads

it’s addictive, liking yourself

What would you say are some of the biggest impacts of showing up as yourself?

The confidence - you just stop giving as many F’s. You get more diehard friends from being yourself. You can have 10,000 followers on Instagram, but how many of those people are actually handing over cold hard cash month after month, year after year? That’s what really matters.

What advice would you give someone hesitant to be more themselves in their business?

Go through all your individual fears and try to counter them. Stop judging yourself, stop being a perfectionist, stop waiting to get things perfect because you’re YOU. Give it a try! At the end of the day if you try being yourself for a year and you don’t like it, you can stop and go back to being vanilla, wearing a polo neck jumper and having your hands over the keyboard like every other copywriter. Once you start it’s addictive, it’s addictive liking yourself. It’s really rather lovely. And ask yourself, “What would 10 year old me want me to do?”. That would be my piece of advice.

Listen

HERE

<<< Want

to hear more? Click to listen to Kate's podcast.

www.katetoon.com

WATCH OUT The Instagram Accountant has arrived!

BY DIANA TODD

12

"Disrupting the tax industry was not my intention, but now that I’m on this path, I think I’ll keep going."

I don’t personally know many accountants in my industry, so when I decided to join a public practice group full of experienced tax firm owners, I was quite intimidated. I gave myself a pep talk before entering the room to find a seat. As the meeting progressed, I noticed someone staring at me from across the room.

During the break, the lady made a bee-line towards me.

“I apologise if I’ve been staring at you, but your face looks so familiar to me. Do I know you?” Before I could breathe a word, she realised, “I know - You are the Instagram Accountant! I don’t even go on Instagram, but I have been following you, and can I just say, you are great!”

Whelp, there goes my low profile.

STEREOTYPE: ACCOUNTANTS AND SOCIAL MEDIA DON’T MIX. While I do love solving algebra equations, calculating numbers don’t light up my world. What does is encouraging entrepreneurs, which is why I started my business Instagram account in 2016. I found Instagram to be the easiest way to directly reach a business owner. This proved particularly useful when COVID hit in 2020 and the Australian government was announcing new support measures by the hour. It took a major dose of confidence to show up on Instagram stories everyday and share with my community how the government was helping us.

Most accountants would have waited until the news announcements were turned into law to comment publicly on these matters. The developments were happening quicker than the law could keep up with, and my community craved support in that moment. This brave move led to an influx of new clients who were desperate for support during this time. I also caught the attention of the industry via the Institute of Public Accountants, who awarded Balance Tax Accountants the 2020 WA Practice of the Year for these efforts. Now that I have broken accountant protocol, why stop there.

14

STEREOTYPE: PERSONAL SERVICE IS DELIVERED IN-PERSON.

My vision for Balance Tax Accountants was always to be an online accounting firm that could serve clients Australia-wide. But let’s face it, when first starting out no one knew me. I needed clients to start my business and found that the quickest way to build the trust factor and grow my clientele was to meet people in-person. I treated clients to coffees while I did their taxes.

By doing this, I gained a deeper understanding of my customers through our conversations.Mixing this intel with technology, I was able to create the personalised customer experience for the services we deliver 100% online today.

After working with us, it’s common for clients to share on their Instagram stories their experiences of having their tax sorted by us and brag about skipping the dreaded annual office visit to the accountant. It’s made me realise the work we are doing is beyond tax returns – it’s helping entrepreneurs overcome ATO anxiety and changing their money beliefs. And 95% of the time, we have yet to meet them in person.

It hasn’t always been easy smashing stereotypes in this industry.

Disrupting the tax industry was not my intention, but now that I’m on this path, I think I’ll keep going. I’m inspiring entrepreneurs to confidently show up for their business money, and that’s a return on investment they can take straight to the bank.

MY HIGHER MONEY METHOD guides entrepreneurs to overcome money blocks and build the wealthy business of their dreams.

You can join the waitlist now at this link. >>>>

www.balancetax.com.au 15

Ask Dr. Bron

Absolute powerhouse Dr. Bron owns a boutique high vibes, osteopathy clinic focused on a holistic and positive approach to each woman’s whole health and wellbeing journey. Her own brand of sunshine, big laughs and real rawness is a breath of fresh air in the often stuffy world of medicine.

Get ready to be inspired to focus on the most important part of your business: You.

16

You’re focusing on something and you’re nurturing it, you’re growing it.

How can women in biz prioritise themselves more?

Women in business, we are the hardest working people of all time.

The amount of juggling, self sacrificing and things that can happen, that over time, you begin to realise that something has gotta give. As much as we try to separate ourselves from our business, we can’t. In those first few years, it’s just us. A lot of women in our 20s and 30s; in that stage of our lives where you’re either birthing a business or you’re birthing a child. You’re focusing on something and you’re nurturing it, you’re growing it, then in your 40s, and 50s; you’re living it, you’re reaping the benefits.

So, instead of thinking, “Oh, I need to do that for my business”, flip it and think, “I need to do it for me”, and trust that it’s going to flow onto your business. If you’re not nurturing yourself, it is going to reflect in your business. If you’re not aligned with where you want to be, it’s because your energy is not where it needs to be focused - and that energy should always be focused inwards. It’s within YOU. And I think you just need to create quiet, to figure out what works best for you. Figure out what nurtures you the most.

Being an entrepreneur and elusive self care.

Again, it comes back to really investing in yourself. The pathways of stress and anxiety are the same as pain and inflammation; they go hand in hand. If we’re achy, tired and sore and we keep pushing it all to the side, the body is going to go, “Alright, I was whispering now I’m gonna YELL!”. When people see me, and they’ve got a lot of niggles going on, I know they’re not moving enough. It’s stiffness, it’s facial tightness, it’s congestion; you need to move, you need to breathe. It can be anything that gets the endorphins going and that brings you joy. Dropping more into that feminine, soft, fun, playful, nurturing energy on a more regular basis. And, YES - it does absolutely mean you put on that Cyndi Lauper track and lock yourself in your bedroom to dance! Choose anything that’s going to change your vibration, your energy. It will change the tone of your day.

Intuition plays a big part of business, especially as a woman.

You need to make business decisions from a place of gut feelings versus all from your head. Balance, always. I encourage you to drop into your gut before you make all of those big decisions. The other day, a woman who has recently opened her own business, she said to me, “What should I do with my business?”.

And I said, “What should you do with YOU?”.

18

Dr. Bron Osteo is a high vibes osteopathy clinic focused on womens' wellbeing.

What does empowerment mean to you?

Empowerment for me is being grounded and being able to make decisions from a place of being centred. Being authentic, feeling supported and being informed about what you want to do or what you want to talk about.

It’s making decisions from that place of self-awareness.

It’s those gut decisions. When you make a choice from a really empowering place, you feel a sense of peace and calm, because you know, it’s the right thing to do for you.

Empowerment is a process more than anything.

And! For the women who are approaching 40 and moving onto that next life stage; you’re now becoming the teacher for other people, you’re not the student anymore. You’re offering wisdom or helping other women and thinking, “I’ve learned this, let me share it”. That’s the next stage you’re moving into.

You need to be able to do that from that centered space as a woman; the wiser you get, it all becomes SO much clearer.

Nurturing those transitions for yourself is always about coming back to your health, self-reflecting and asking yourself things like, “How am I going through these transitions? How am I feeling?”.

Want to hear more? Click to listen to Bron's podcast. Listen

HERE

www.drbronosteo.com 19

Kristy is an Australian based autism and neurodiversity support specialist with experience working with clients from all over the world. Her most valuable insights, however, come from lived experience.

20

I am disabled by my environment rather than inherently flawed.

BY KRISTY FORBES

In what ways are you truely, uniquely you in your business?

My companies, my programs, services and offerings are always centred around my experience as a neurodivergent person. I’m autistic, ADHD and PDA and although I have an extensive background in education and social work, my work is based on my personal experiences; and also my experience as a Mother to autistic children and wife to an autistic man.

What was your ‘aha’ moment when you knew your industry was it for you?

I had always assumed that the things I thought and the experiences I had and were sharing were not unique,

until I started to receive the most incredible feedback from families and other individuals. I then began to radically accept the terror that came from exposing myself as ‘the vulnerable autistic person’; and have been moving forward ever since.

What is the importance of understanding nuerodivergance in business today?

When people hear about autism, they have a stereotype in mind because that’s what has been the predominant narrative since the 40s and is still heavily perpetuated now. But when you truly know and understand what neurodivergence is and what it looks like, you begin to see that there are many nuerodivergent people successfully leading their businesses.

Courageous, brilliant, monotropic, interest led leaders who really care about the impact their business has on social justice, on peoples’ lives and wellbeing and on the planet.

They are showing up as authentically and unapologetically

How has embracing your own autism in your career had a positive impact?

themselves.

Radically accepting and embracing my own autism absolutely leads my career. When I started out, I was adamant that I would

think of my own children and our coming

NEVER be open about being autistic,

generations of autistic people and their

ADHD or PDA. I thought if I were to share

families - I want better for them.

those aspects of me, people would either

It would have changed my life to see

think I was lying and attention seeking or

just one person publicly sharing and

that I was ‘less than’ and unreliable.

celebrating their experiences and

But a really important part of who I

themselves as a neurodivergent person;

am in my everyday life is sitting with

normalising being autistic.

discomfort and exploring my pain points further. It was terrifying to take off my

It’s a beautiful thing to witness so many

mask, let go of the need to be liked and

autistic people going forth and creating

to show up as my full self. The feedback

their own businesses where they

at times still hurts, but it’s rare and small

are showing up as authentically and

in comparison to the satisfaction and

unapologetically themselves when I’ve

growth that comes from being oneself.

seen where they came from. They are

I continually put my own fears aside and

so inspiring.

22

I practice sitting with what is.

What are some stereotypes of your industry that you have overcome?

What does it mean to “overcome”? I think this is probably so different for everyone; but for me, I place emphasis on radical acceptance versus the need to overcome things. I practice sitting with what is.

I don’t even know if I belong to a particular industry! If we’re talking about the stereotypes of autistic adults in advocacy, then yes, there are some. We’re often told we’re black and white or rigid, harsh or brutal in activism. Inside of the autistic community, there is significant trauma.

I have been called names, sent awful pictures and been sworn at. That depiction of black and white thinking and rigidity is our conviction to the cause; it is knowing the difference between what feels right and wrong and having a fierce, unshakable sense of justice to advocate for.

My neurokin are a population of people who have sacrificed being treated well and being respected to pave a smoother path for the good of our neurokin and their families to come.

There are things about what I choose to do with my life that make me grossly uncomfortable where I see others enjoying those same things. Being referred to as a ‘thought leader’, my skin crawls to be honest. What I advocate for is not unique. Autistic elders have been advocating for the same things for decades upon decades. I am heard and listened to much of the time due

to my privilege, due to the colour of my skin, due to my education and the way I articulate. Being called an influencer also doesn’t sit right with me. Being called an inspiration or inspiring makes me uneasy.

I’m just a person who made some choices and ran with them.

I really do get my cocky feathers up over functioning labels, however.

The stereotypes around what an autistic person looks like, sounds like, etc.

Those of us deemed “high functioning” or as being “mildly autistic” have our challenges and our disability dismissed and overlooked repeatedly and it’s really, really unfair. Because of my privilege and the way I “present” people make assumptions about me based on their focus on my skills. Autistic people mask.

We learn to adapt and go unnoticed in order to not be targeted - so what you see is not always what you get.

Underneath it all, I have my own trauma.

My teen years and early 20s were fraught with disordered eating, self harm, poor

Autism is a complete

neurobiology I am disordered by the co-occurring conditions that have manifested as the result of unidentified. neurodivergence for 33 years of my life.

Not by the fact that I am autistic. mental health, chronic fatigue and other chronic illnesses associated with autistic burnout. There are many things I can’t do, or can’t do well. I require support in several areas and will do for the rest of my life. Whilst I reject that autism is a disorder, it most certainly is a disability. I am, however disabled by my environment rather than inherently flawed.

Under the social model of disability, how well understood, accommodated and supported a person is by society and

Nor is autism a superpower. I am just an everyday, garden variety autistic person.

The last issue I want to mention is the language we use when referring to autistic people.

I am autistic. I prefer identity first language because autism influences every part of me. It is central to my being.

It influences the way I think and feel, my sleep, my food choices, my sensory systems, the way I move my body.

Autism is a complete neurobiology.

by their environment will influence the

I am not a non autistic person with a side

fluctuating nature of my ability to cope

of autism that can be treated or cured or

and our ability to do well.

rewarded and/or punished away.

My neurokin who are non speaking

I don’t “have” autism. I’m not a person

autistic people consistently have

“with” autism. It isn’t a disease.

their intelligence and their ability

When we refer to our intersectional kin in

undermined due to their presentation.

The sounds they make, the way they move their bodies and the fact that their communication may not be via speaking means that others assume

the LGBTQIA+ community, we don’t refer to them as people with gay. Or people with trans. They don’t “have” gay.

Apples are apples. They’re fruit, yes. But

their intelligence is congruent with their

they’re apples and not oranges “with” apple.

physical expression. And it isn’t.

I’m just an autistic person.

Want to learn more? www.kristyforbes.com.au

The social imagery membership for brands that want to stand out!

Over 16,000 images and quote graphics in our library

pinkpompomsocial.net/vipp

LIFE LIT

ueen

26

Rachael Johns is an Aussie romance author and chick lit queen who went from high school English teacher to internationally published novelist. Her story, like her books, is inspirational and a total page turner.

What sort of books do you write?

They’re about family relationships, sibling rivalry, sisters, family dramas, friendships between women. I write in two different genres; rural romance and what we call contemporary women’s fiction, I prefer the term life-lit.

Writing can be seen as a quite high-brow profession...

You don’t have to write serious or literary fiction to make an impact. You can write fun, enjoyable stories, like beach reads, but they can still be about serious, important issues. Like identity or about love and the big things in life. Even though it’s an enjoyable, fun, lighthearted book that makes you laugh, it still can make an impact and be important.

How would you define what kind of writer you are?

There are two types of writers; there are those that focus more on plot, and there are those that focus more on character, and of course, they’re intertwined.

For me, it’s all about the character and the emotional reactions in a situation. I have to let the characters make the decisions. I love a good plot as well. But I heard a quote a few years ago, it was, “Strong characters can carry a weak plot, but a great plot can’t save weak characters”. And I think that’s really true, in life and in books.

27

write what you LOVE

What advice would you give to people that say ‘I want to write a book one day’?

There’s a lot of advice that suggests to write what you know. I don’t necessarily think that’s the case - you should write what you love, what you’re passionate about or what you want to know. Make sure whenever you’re writing that you’re obsessed with it. So many people say they want to write stories and books but say that they don’t have enough time or they don’t know where to start. It doesn’t need to be perfect. People often don’t do it because they’re scared of it not being perfect, but it doesn’t need to be. What you read in someone’s book has been through a number of drafts.

How do you deal with comparison?

It’s so easy in this era of social media, to compare yourself with other people. We need to look back on what we want to do, what we really want out of things and what’s important to us. Also I find it’s a good idea to look at how far we’ve come. All I ever wanted was to make a teaching wage from my writing. And I do that. Yet I have to remind myself that I’ve achieved what I set out to do, especially when I’m thinking, “I’m not published overseas, I’m not on the New York best seller list, no one wants to make my book into a movie”. It’s so easy to look at what you don’t have, rather than what you do have.

What advice do you have for those who are scared to change direction in their careers?

A lot of it is just going out on a limb, hoping for the best, having faith in yourself and the confidence that it is all going to work. Then part of it is being practical. You need to look at your situation realistically, and ask yourself, “Can I afford to do this?”. My advice would be if you can, do it slowly.

Take your time, maybe cut down to a couple of days a week if you can so you’ve still got that sort of safety net over your income. That places less pressure on the passion. Pursuing your passion is a privilege, but it doesn’t have to be all or nothing.

Listen Want to hear more?

HERE

Click to listen to Rachael’s podcast.

www.rachaeljohns.com

families PUTTING

FIRST

Family comes first for lawyer, Sharni Mwenda. After a career of working in the many facets of law, she saw a gap for a more holistic approach that put the ‘family’ back into family law. She has seen the effects that humanizing and personalizing can have and the positive long lasting results for all involved. Her new practice looks forward to doing things differently.

30

We don’t talk enough about marriage being difficult.

Can you tell us a little bit about your new venture, Align Family Law and why it is so close to your heart?

What I want to do with Align Family Law is look at how we can try and minimise conflict for families. Once the separation and divorce is done, and you resolve your property settlement, the lawyers go away and you’re left with that separated family.

Hopefully, with minimised conflict, they can then move on to being a happy separated family as opposed to what I have seen. It feels good when clients are leaving feeling more empowered and happier to move on towards their future.

What have you learnt about relationships?

We don’t talk enough about marriage being difficult. I always worry that because there’s such a large emphasis on showcasing the highlight reel of marriage being perfect, happy and light all the time, that people aren’t talking about the fact that marriage is actually really tricky. Then you add kids to the mix! The more we talk about how marriage can be hard, but that you can get through it, the less people are going to feel isolated at home thinking that they’re the only couple who argues about things or don’t get along or aren’t getting flowers from their spouse like ‘everyone else’. To me, what that means is, what families really need is to communicate more.

Be really open about what your needs are.

What needs to change to see healthier couple dynamics and family units?

I don’t think people talk enough about how tricky the juggle is.

Example, you’re trying to do all the things, you have kids in school, you might have kids at home, you’re sleep deprived... is anyone really meeting their own needs or getting their needs heard? The only way to make relationships sustainable is to be really open about what your needs are. Talk about sharing that mental load, because that mental load that we have and carry is HUGE in relationships. You’re carrying a lot, you’re trying to think of all the things; dinner, bedtime, what have I got to do for school, what have I got to do for this, I’ve also got to pay this bill and do all of that.

And if one person is doing that themselves, that’s so much.

Resentment can build, and with it, the breakdown of trust and love can happen. I’m a big supporter of trying to share that mental load.

32

It must be emotionally draining being in such a career?

I won’t lie, family law and dealing with it, is a really difficult and emotionally charged career. It takes a lot out of you because you’re trying to give so much to your clients. The burnout rate for family lawyers, understandably, is incredibly high.

We feel good when clients leave feeling more empowered and happy to move towards their future; and this happens when we, as lawyers, start embracing a process that feels more aligned to what we want to do.

Aiming to minimize family conflict leaves us feeling less burnt out. We can begin to feel really recharged from this career, which so much of the time can be full and stressful. What is good for us, is good for families and therefore good for the community.

What advice would you give to others in typically professional fields who want to step out and stand out as themselves?

It is quite scary! One of things I did was start to be myself on social media professionally, separate to my firm. It is good for firms, if you’ve got a good personal brand. Seeing a positive reaction made me think, I might be able to do this.

People started connecting with me being a bit more human, being a bit more honest about the difficulties

Listen Want to hear more?

HERE

Click to listen to Sharni’s podcast.

of being a family lawyer, but also the difficulties for families going through it. It’s a really scary step, but I’ve

www.alignfamilylaw.com.au

not talked to one business owner who has said they regret it.

GET CLEAR

STAND on your strengths and

OUT!

BY BEC MCFARLAND

How to understand and articulate your strengths in order to stand out in a crowded industry or take the next steps in your career.

Do you know what your key strengths are? I mean, do you really know? When I ask my clients this question, I’m often met with a lot of silence, followed by some very superficial responses.

When you really understand your strengths, and can articulate them persuasively; you then have the ability to have a greater power of influence in your industry and beyond. This is useful whether you’re writing a job application, going for an interview, pitching your brand for an opportunity or selling your services online.

34

HERE ARE SOME TIPS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND AND ARTICULATE YOUR STRENGTHS: Dive deep into uncovering your strengths

You may have a vague idea, but it’s time to go deep. Ask your colleagues, managers or clients what they believe your strengths are. Use an online diagnostic tool to gain new insights into the way you work most effectively. Look past the basic, superficial and typical strengths that everyone claims to have, and focus on the strengths that are more unique to you.

Don’t discount your natural talents

It comes easily to you, so it probably comes easily to everyone, right? No way.

This is a common mistake people make. If it comes easily to you, it’s more likely to be one of your natural talents and you should investigate this further rather than diminishing it.

Mindmap your strengths to empower your language

Some common strengths I see are “stakeholder engagement” and “leadership”, but what do these words actually mean? I’d suggest creating a mindmap and exploring these words in greater detail. Break them down into specific tasks or actions – this can support you in developing your language around your strengths and will allow you to articulate them with more depth.

Practice talking about your strengths

Like anything, practice makes perfect. Start talking about your strengths more often and practice describing how you have used them in different scenarios.

This is highly recommended for interview preparation, but is also useful when negotiating with your employer or promoting your business.

When you understand your strengths, they can support you in so many ways. Take the time to acknowledge and discover what you’re REALLY good at – you never know when this information will come in handy.

Get one free one month trial to Bec's small business membership, Bec's Business Besties.

In the membership you'll receive access to training, group coaching, a library of courses, exclusive events, discounts, the most amazing, supportive community, and so much more.

www.popyourcareer.com/bbb

We also are looking for expressions of interest from: • magazine contributors • article writers • podcast guests

brandyou@preddycreative.com.au

We are opening up advertising from next issue

EMAIL

s

wants you