For The Love of Small Business with Louise Coker
Description:
In this week's episode of the Future-Proof Your Business Podcast, and the second in my For the Love of Small Business Series, I'm joined by a great friend of mine and client Louise Coker.
Louise is the CEO of a wonderful charity organisation called Take Part, a fully inclusive performing arts provision which is a creative community for all who SHARE in a passion for Performing Arts and the wellbeing rewards it brings to our young generations.
We have a conversation about the rollercoaster ride of running a business and we share our thoughts about:
Louise’s story and why and how she came to be CEO of Take Part
The challenges for young people and our younger generations
The challenges of growing a team and managing people
Being able to let go of control and delegate more
The power of goal-setting and being able to look forward to where you want to be
Making sure you’re always looking ahead and evolving, not sitting still
The need to put on your own oxygen mask first
Louise's Resource Links:
https://www.facebook.com/wearetakepart
https://www.instagram.com/wearetakepart/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/louise-coker
Here are the highlights from this episode:
(00:00) Introduction
(05:51) You can win in business if you can move your passion into your day-to-day life.
(10:21) It’s a community where people can feel like they belong.
(16:59) Becoming a charity and finding the right team.
(23:03) The hardest thing to let go of
(31:41) Dream big, but not in a skirt-sized scale.
(35:23) What you don’t want in your life.
(40:47) The most important success factor of running a business and future-proofing.
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I'm Lucy Rennie, and welcome to my Future Proof your Business Podcast.
The podcast that provides you with everything you need to know to build solid foundations and ultimately Future-Proof your Business.
I'm on a mission to share my love for small business with you and help you to enjoy the extraordinary ripple effect that comes through harnessing the power of people and relationships.
And I want to make sure that you can reap the benefits of being a business and a brand that people know, like and trust.
I'm a huge champion for small business and a massive believer in the fact that people do business with people.
This podcast is here to inspire you, encourage you and support you on this roller coaster ride that is building, growing and Future Proofing your business.
Lucy Rennie 00:49
Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of the Future-Proof your Business Podcast. I'm Lucy Rennie and this week, I'm super excited because I have got a wonderful guest with me today to talk about business and all things rollercoaster ride. And she's a great friend of mine, someone I've known for a long time. And that's Louise Coker, who is the CEO of just a wonderful organisation, which is called Take Part. And I'm actually going to let Louise tell you a little bit more about what that is. So Louise. Hi, thanks so much for being here. Would you introduce yourself?
Louise Coker 01:25
Yeah. So I'm Louise Coker, and I'm the founder and CEO of Take Part. And we're a fully inclusive performing arts provision. And we work at two local high schools out of two local, local high schools. And we also do lots and lots of work with their feeder primary schools as well. And the main sort of aim and objective of what we do is we provide interventions for all children and young people to increase confidence, and also to work on their strengths as well. So that they feel more resilient and have better self esteem. And all of that links with confidence. And we can blend that with performing arts as well.
Lucy Rennie 02:19
It's so important, isn't it? I think these are skills that are desperately needed today. And our children really need to learn and have the opportunity to kind of strengthen, isn't it? So? It's brilliant, what you do. And I know this firsthand, because my daughter Ellia has been going to Take Part hasn't she for many years now since sort of when she was small, when she was three.
Lucy Rennie 02:41
But yeah, do you want to tell us a little bit more than that? How did you come to be doing this? Because I know you've got a wealth of experience in all sorts of different things. What was it that led you here? And you know, I know you've been on a journey the last few years as well with it all, know a little bit more about that.
Louise Coker 02:58
Absolutely. So I had a mad passion when I was a little girl for musical theatre. And I would sit on a Sunday afternoon, my parents run a pub. So I spent a lot of time upstairs watching the telly. And I would put on the old VHS musicals and would literally
Louise Coker 03:22
spend the whole day writing scripts from the TV, My Fair Lady, Sound of Music and Bugsy Malone. You name it the lot. So that used to be my, my weekend, basically, along with dancing, so I used to go to a local dancing school. And when I was a teenager, I used to teach at that dancing school as well. So had a real passion for Performing Arts. Not necessarily at school. In fact, not at school, not at school at all. I didn't take drama for a GCSE. I didn't take dance. Our local school didn't do dance. But definitely my my hidden passion, I guess, was performing arts definitely. So going to the local theatre as much as possible and watch the musicals, the amateur dramatics and, you know, I just loved it. I just absolutely loved it. And I love the feel of it and loved what it did for you as a person, as an audience member, and then later on as a performer. So, by the time I was 25, I was a professional dancer. And
Louise Coker 04:42
I was also involved in the Manchester Giants, Shooting Stars, which were the cheerleading group, and I was the oldest member of the cheerleading team, so they used to get me to do the PR for that and
Louise Coker 05:00
Yeah, that was when I first became a cheerleader. So I have kept those skills, and I absolutely am the cheerleader for youth and young people. And I've worked in schools for a long time, I'm a qualified school business manager. So
Louise Coker 05:22
I was a business manager of a private school for 15 years. And then I went into mainstream, worked in primary schools, I was the heads PA at two, actually three secondary schools. And now I work with lots of different education establishments, looking at personal development, both for the children, and the young people and the staff. So
05:53
all everything I do, kind of blended together. And that feeling of being on a stage is like no other. And I think you can, any kind of passion that you have as a person, you can win in business, if you can, you know, move that fall into what you do in day-to-day life. And that's exactly what I've done with Take Part. So in 2014, I set up Take Part as a performing arts provision at the local theatre, I have an adopted son, and he was always that quick little kid spinning around and singing and dancing and estimate there's there was no way he was going to conform to the local dancing school and stand still and speak to burst his arms in brava that was never going to happen. So I decided to create this, this place where young people and children don't need to stand still. And they don't need to conform, they can be themselves, and they can use performing apps to build their confidence. And basically, I've just created a community where people can belong. And as the years have gone on, we've developed that further. And it's fully inclusive now. So you know, it really doesn't matter who you are, or what, what you present, it's available for you to develop yourself personally, as well. It says so
Lucy Rennie 07:30
far, and it's interesting to hear, because when you hear your story, and you're talking about being a cheerleader, or being a dancer, and then suddenly you switch and you are kind of this school business manager that sounds really formal and kind of and not so strange. But then actually, when you hear where you are now and how you've got those things together, it's almost like that perfect blend, isn't it of skill set, and passion. And all those things allow you to do what you're doing. I'm intrigued though, so I get where you are today and kind of the, like, inclusivity side of things. Can you explain a little bit more about what you weren't trying to be? So talk to me about what traditional performing arts schools or what, what's the real difference? What do you mean by that, for those who don't necessarily know? Yeah, what was
08:13
like, performing arts and I suppose, like, sports can be quite elitist. And, you know, if you've got, if you really got you can go far. But I wanted to change that. And I wanted to make sure that you don't have to be good, you know, you just have to be you. So I think I would sit in my office, as a Heads PA particularly, and I would spend a lot of time de-escalating children that had been, for want of a better phrase, thrown out of the classroom. And realise that actually there was a big blend in what I did. So what I did, in my hobby, which was sort of championing, these children and cheerleading for them to be fair, and wondering why this why is this behaviour, like is, you know, what, what is it about? And I do the thing, you know, I am a firm believer, their behaviour is for a reason.
So, I also invited some of these children, not all of them, and it wasn't, wasn't that it's not everybody's bag, but some of these children into some of the sessions that we used to do. And I found the common ground was music. So it didn't have to be musical theatre. But, you know, most children and young people liked music. So it was just tapping into something that these kids liked, and could connect with and could belong. So I just suddenly thought, You know what, this doesn't have to be about elites. It can be very, very inclusive. And, you know, why not, why not be part of something that you can feel what I felt as a young person and feel that passion.
So, there it is, that's Take Part and it is, it is very much taking part in your life, I think it also connects to the parents and the carers as well. And the families feel like they belong. And often parents say, you know, this is like our family. And so it's a community, it's a creative community where people can feel like they belong, and whatever that is, we can find that place for you. So some of our children don't actually go on the stage, they are very much involved in the technical side of theatre. Or, you know, though, some children will just sit and design a costume for a session, or a different set of lyrics or, you know, so it's not specifically about the end product isn't very much about the journey. And there's many, many different ways that you can engage young people with music. And so yeah, I think creative subjects have been put to the bottom of the list, if we're honest, with, you know, Ofsted requirements, and various different external factors that have pushed schools and educational settings one way. And what we've missed is that happy children learn.
And I've noticed that once you can tap into a child, and you can actually work out what's going on, and what makes them tick, or how to engage. Building up relationships is massive, a lot of our coaches, and I call them coaches, that they're not necessarily teachers, it's about whoever's in front of you, it's not ego driven from the front at all. And they can really make a difference in their child and young person's life. So now we're actually moving more towards interventions in schools, and how that can work, how that can build, help build relationships, friendship groups, relationships with teachers, relationships with parents. Org, lots and lots of different interventions that we can work with lots of different diverse ranges of children and young people.
Lucy Rennie 12:34
I think there's, there's I mean, there's definitely a need. And I'm going to ask you about that shortly, as well with the impact of COVID and everything that's, you know, I know, it's been hard on the business in a good way, hasn't it? And I'll let you sleep. But just for a second, if I can ask you to put your business owner hat on now. Tell us a little bit sort of, of, I suppose really, you said it was 2014 when you launched the business? So tell us a little bit did you start as a business owner? did was that the plan in the beginning?
13:03
It was it was the plan. In the beginning, a lot of people ask me this, it was the plan in the beginning. And it was very much based around musical theatre at the beginning, which it isn't necessarily now. We do do a lot of performances. We do, you know, performance a term in both of the Saturday schools that we run, but it's it's developed into a far bigger and more diverse business now, as we've actually got into the schools and worked out who required what, you know what the problem is, I guess. And the senior leadership teams that we work with, are very open to discussing their problems and the children that we can reach through the activities that we do. So has it changed? Yes, yes, it has changed, we're reaching an awful lot more children, and therefore, that opens doors to different things. And the coaches that we have on board are extremely nurturing, and, you know, have qualities to really, really reach these children and young people. So the more children that we've, that we've worked with, the more ideas that you know, they're teaching us basically, yeah, and you can develop a lot. I think, personally, from listening and learning from young people and children.
Lucy Rennie 14:39
I suppose that's the natural course of a business isn't it really is always moving and listening to who you're serving and your customers and but yeah, the roller coaster ride there, because I know it's, I mean, we've all we all know, it's a roller coaster ride, but if you think back to 2014, and then obviously it was 2022. So what's that six, eight years. Do you want talk us through kind of maybe the big milestones or the big challenges that you've overcome? The UPS, maybe there's some highs and lows that you want to share as a kind of the person behind the business driving the business. And yeah, share a little bit of insight into how that's evolved and what you've sort of experienced over the last few years.
15:19
Yeah. So going back, my mom died when I was 25. And that was a huge milestone in my life. And I created a charity along with lots and lots of friends. And amazing people, really, we made a company called the Christie Theatre Company. And I went along to Christie's, very soon after my mom and dad, and said, You know, I feel like I should be doing something, couldn't save her, I feel like maybe some of the work that we do, could be beneficial to Christie's. And I pledged 10,000 pounds to Christie's hospital, and to cut a very, very long and intense five year story short. And in fact, over five years, the final check that we gave Christies was £100,000. So that was the first real big step on fundraising and, you know, creating something that could be a charity. So I've done that before, before we started Take Part. And when we started Take Part as a company, I kind of thought this feels very similar, you know, that feeling of giving something back, and educating was still there. So I decided to make Take Part a charity. So it is that we have got charitable status, and we do get quite a lot of grant funding so that we can deliver some of our workshops to those less, you know, there's a lot more scope for what we can do, because we worked in education for so long. I know there was very little money available. So I wasn't going to stop there. I'm not a very good yes person. I try and find ways outside of the box. So yeah. People say No, we haven't got any money. That wasn't okay for me. So I had to try and find another way so that the children and young people could benefit from the amazing work that we were doing at Take Part. Yeah. So that was a huge milestone in the Take Part journey. Bearing in mind, we are on year eight. So that came into force in 2017 whenwe became a charity. And yeah, that was huge. That was a big, big step.
Lucy Rennie 18:22
What did that change, then? Did it change anything? Yeah. What did actually change? Was it the perception of people towards the charity? Was it what you could do? Yeah, it
18:33
was definitely opening doors to what we could do and how we could reach people without having the, you know, having to cross that bridge of the financial implications to deliver what we were doing. So that was yeah, that was huge. I guess the other thing was finding a team, finding the people to deliver. Yeah, so important. And I don't really do things by myself. I like to be part of a team. Yeah, I do like to be part of the team. But I also like to lead a team. That's another really big. It's just a big driving force for me to have a team of people that feel passionate, and that you can work with. So yeah, finding the team has been a challenge. And where I am now is, there's a lot of people jumping out of education for various reasons. And I am finding that some of those people are kind of knocking on my door. So I'm in a great place now where we have got qualified teachers. We've got qualified sencos, I've got a deputy head on board. I've got you know, ret really great skill staff, that some have got a background in performing arts, but some haven't. And I think because we are now fully inclusive, and we're not all about the singing, dancing and acting side of things, especially working in schools, then it doesn't matter for a lot of the stuff that we're doing. In fact, it's better if some of those staff aren't skilled in that area. So that's also been a huge change and changing curve. And, you know, quite a big transition really, from where we were a few years ago. And certainly when we started off, that's been very exciting for me,
Lucy Rennie 20:41
I'm from a, I suppose a business owner perspective and a leader then because that's a huge change in terms of managing people anyway, is challenging. It has its challenges, doesn't it can be really rewarding. But there's all sorts of things that go with that. So do you want to talk us through a little bit of that? Where are you up to now in terms of facts? It's great to have all those people but I suppose there's it comes as well with with challenges or, you know, how are you? How are you managing that? How are you what maybe, what have you learned or what have the learnings been, as you've grown? And you've taken this? Yeah, yeah, this change it in, because I think you have a shift in the type of people that you're working with. And, you know, there's been quite a big transition there. So if you were talking to other business owners about, you know, and sharing maybe some takeaways of how to recruit the best team or the right people are how to do that, what would they be?
21:33
For me, it was about, I was trying to do everything myself, originally, all the, you know, all the jobs, all of the jobs, and you can't do all of the jobs, you can try, when you aren't going to, you know, you can't spend all of the plates without some falling. So what I managed to do during lockdown, this was a huge, a huge takeaway from lockdown was tried to find some experts in the stuff that A I didn't like doing. And B I didn't have the time for. So within that I have found some really great people to help me run my business. They're not partners, they're not directors, they're just experts in their field. So that has helped me hugely. And that was a massive mindset change for me as well, because it was letting things go and letting other people in. But yeah, absolutely. I think if I had a takeaway, a valuable takeaway from lockdown, that would have been one of them, that I did spend lots of time trying to really understand what my what the benefits were of me in my business, and I was holding, I was in the way, I was totally in the way of my own business trying to do everything andnot do everything well.
Lucy Rennie 23:05
So interesting, because it can be really hard. I mean, it's one of the hardest things, isn't it to let go of that? Yeah. So I think sometimes, like you said, it's brilliant that you’re finding experts that, you know, can actually maybe do things better than you can. And I think a lot of business owners that’s scary because we want to be the one who knows everything and kind of in charge and doing and things so, but I think it's great to find the people who really know things you don't actually allow you to then step back and let them get on with it. Because you're right. I think we can all become bottlenecks in our own business and stop things from moving forward?
23:39
Oh, yeah, definitely. And, you know, things like employment contracts, and I was, you know, I was just not doing things effectively and efficiently. And I thought, all of those people came with a massive, massive, high cost. Whereas when I've actually delved into it, you can get bits of people. You know, I think that's really important that you don't get tied up in trying to do everything yourself, especially when your business is growing. The other thing that happened to me was, I decided to scale up massively. And my business wasn't ready for that. So if I'm being brutally honest, I had to learn to walk again before I ran. And I'm just coming out of that really now. And it's definitely slowing down. Definitely been the best thing coming out of lockdown as well. Just slow down, reassess what you want to do, what the focus is, and move forward. Yes,
Lucy Rennie 24:54
It's very important, isn't it? And I think there's so much kind of pressure outside for us to grow to scale to, you know, to things getting investment to do. And it's if you haven't got the solid foundations and it's not right for you, then it doesn't work, does it for you fall down and it can create, you know, a nightmare. I love what you're saying about how you can work with people and just get a bit of them. Because I think another misconception is we think when we're going to bring someone in that we've got to recruit them, and we're going to employ them and all that there is actually no these people are experts in their own field probably run their own business as well don't, then you can go and buy some of their time, because they're an expert, actually, they're gonna do it really quickly, because that's what they do every day, isn't it? So you don't need them necessarily, you know, five days a week, 24 hours or whatever it is exactly that
25:43
and I think, as a business owner, you kind of, you kind of think everybody wants a full time job. And you've got to find all that time and all that money to recruit, you know, big jobs and full time employment for people. Whereas, actually, people don't want that. Some people do, obviously, but a lot of people don't want that. And there's a lot of people that will fit into your business. But it's just asking the right questions, and also working out exactly what you want, and not what they want, or what you think they want. And that was a big step for me as well. Yeah, lots and lots of big steps. I'm sure. You know, I think now, it's very difficult for people say to me, so what, what do you do? I really don't think I'm doing it yet. And I'm scared to say, Well, I do this because I like, I like to make changes, I like to see what's going on, I like to see where society is and what the need is. Because, you know, when you're working with children and young people to say this is, I just don't think that's the way to go. And society is moving a lot and changing. And I think the problem we have, dare I say it in the schools, is that we're trying to do the same thing that we've done for years and years and years, and it doesn't work anymore. So I don't want to get into that place of saying we do this. And I do a lot of listening and do a lot of coaching. So it's all about them, and not me. Who am I to say what we do and that that future, the children and the young people are our future. So yes, they need guidance. But I think it would be very wrong of me to say we do this, when we're actually dealing with human beings and people going forward. And they're changing all the time as well. You know, and I think that's it, you've got to evolve with what's going on. And I think again, lockdown taught us all.
Lucy Rennie 28:14
So true. I think, you know, you're saying specifically about schools and young children, but, um, society, but actually it is society as a whole, isn't it? And actually, as soon as well, we shouldn't be sitting, you know, the moment we stop kind of moving forward and improving and tweaking and listening. That's when we become obsolete, don't we? Because we're not, we're not adapting to what's going on, especially at the moment with all you know, it's ever changing, isn't it? One minute, it's lockdown, one minute, it's the cost of living crisis. And there's always something that we have to be kind of thinking about and preparing for or, or adapting to.
28:49
Louise Coker
And I think that's it, you can if you are, if you aren't careful, and I've done this myself, you can get very much tied up in the day to day running of the business. And for me, it's about having that crystal ball, out seeing what is in the future. What is coming around the corner. I mean, we couldn't have predicted what happened with the pandemic and the lockdown. But it was all about, what are we going to do when we get back? Or what are we going to do when we're face-to-face or how's it going to look when this happens? And I think that again, taught me not to standstill, and to, you know, to definitely look into the future a little bit. And we did lots of work on transition. So the transition between nursery and primary school, the transition between primary school and secondary school and the transition between secondary school and college and the transition between college and university. And I've also worked with lots of young people and vulnerable young people from the transition on the transition from into independence and adulthood. So that transition curve is complicated and complex and very, very interesting. And I think if, if we don't use that transition curve in our day to day work, and particularly in running a business, then you know, there's lots of things, things that can go wrong with business. And if we just lose sight of, of moving forward. So, yeah, it kind of got to have one foot on the here and now and one foot, in the next six months. And yeah, you know, what, what those goals are. And I think goal setting is huge for anybody's personal development. And I think that is brand new news for a lot of young people, they kind of live in the here and now. And I'm trying to get people to move into the world, what will this feel like, in six weeks time? Six months time. When we're doing a show, you have to begin with the end in mind. You can't start rehearsals, you can't start the audition process without having a vision of that show. So for me, that's, that's always been the case, it's always been that more b what is it gonna look like? Feel like what the audience is gonna feel like, on that day? And you've got to start with that. So? Yeah, yes. Begin with the end in mind is a huge takeaway from me? Yeah.
Lucy Rennie 31:41
It's massive, though. It's so important. And yeah, just to kind of, yeah, just I think as well dream big, but not in a skirt scale. Not necessarily in like we're saying about the scaling up thing, but just kind of dream big can be in the sense of doing something that really works for you, and that feels good, and that you can actually achieve that. And you can, you know, you can make things happen. And you can, you can get there, can't you if you can just allow yourself to do that. And yeah, absolutely.
32:07
And I think the musicals can can people listening to this will be like,
Lucy Rennie 32:14
Oh, I’m surprised you’ve not broken into songs already.
Louise Coker
To be fair, well, it's,
32:18
my jazz hands are going, they always do when I feel passionate about something. But I have to say, there's a lot of hopes and aspirations and dreams, in a lot of musicals. So that has always been within me. And, you know, my parents run their own business as well. So, you know, it's always been about dreaming big. But I think that is the message now that we've got to really, really drum home for the young people, because they had two years where lots of people's dreams were shattered. And I think that's going to take a little bit of time, but we've got to get back as grownups, we've got to get back in the driving seat and really, really move that forward and drive those dreams and aspirations forward. Because I think that is what, what schools need. And you know, what can you achieve, if you really focus and put your mind to it, because we're just invincible, aren't we we can really, really achieve so much as human beings. But there has to be a process and that develops, development is is huge. It really is.
Lucy Rennie 33:30
Yeah, no, and, you know, you know, me, I'm always on about kind of tapping into those tummy flip moments, and really what makes us passionate, what drives us and what keeps us going. And I think that's the thing, isn't it, we've got to share with the next generation or with other people is kind of helping them to tap into that as well and do the things they enjoy, and they love and because that's when it all falls into place, isn't it?
33:52
Absolutely, definitely. And then, yeah, that's, that's where we are now, we've got to put the children and young people first and really, really try and help them on their journey as they navigate through the next bit. Definitely.
Lucy Rennie 34:10
So one of my questions for you is, I'm a big believer in the fact that we've really got to, you know, if we want to really future-proof our businesses, then actually it starts with you as the business owner. And you've got to be, you know, if you need to be in the right place, you've got to be in a good place. You've got to be I suppose putting that oxygen mask on first, which I think can be really hard to do because we kind of grow up, don't we thinking about putting other people first and so, but if we're not in a good place, we can't help anybody else. We can't do anything else. We can't look after anybody else and we can't move forward.
So what is it that you do? What are your strategies or what's the support you've got in place as Louise as the business owner, to make sure that you're nurtured, that you look after yourself and that you're in a good place? What's, what do you do? Well,
35:04
over the last few years, I've, I've really, really started thinking in a different way. And it's not about what people say, What do you want? What you know, my husband after? What do you want out of life? You know, what, what do you want it to look like? And I've stopped with that now, because I think that's quite difficult to really pinpoint. But I can tell you exactly what I don't want. So to pinpoint your non-negotiables, then those things that you absolutely don't want to do anymore, is so important. Because there's a lot of moaning and whinging and negativity about people's lives. And it's very difficult, there are certain external factors that can control your life. But I think you definitely need to decide what you don't want to do, and relationships you don't want in your life. And how to move forward with that. That's tricky. Yeah, things that you don't want in your life anymore. Ways of living that you don't want in your life anymore. And, and really make those tiny little habits, daily movements to change the design of your own life. And that, for me, is personal development. And it's not all about what you do want. Yes, we all want fancy cars, gonna say fancy cars, but I'm really not into cars that's, that's not me at all. Maybe, but you know, a nice holiday. And, you know, we can think about nice things that we want to but. I think, to design your own life by really tapping into this stuff that you don't want, is really important. So good. It's something
Lucy Rennie 36:55
I do a lot with my clients by getting them to list down. So because it's tricky sometimes to work out what it is you want for your life in the real sense of the world like you're describing. So I really kind of noted down a whole list of things that actually you really don't. And that might be to do with your business as well. So it might be you know, you don't want to work with people who don't pay you on time. Or people like you say that moan or that you don't want to work with certain people or you don't want to work Saturdays or whatever it might be, and then being able to reframe that it allows you to then go okay, well, I don't want that. What does that mean? Okay, so
37:27
Louise Coker
don't get me wrong. I love working with people that don't all the time, it gives me a real target and real focus about how to stop that. Because I really don't think people do have that inside knowledge. We don't get taught that at school. We should, we absolutely should. And, and all of those skills for life and those virtues, I really do think that we should get taught that at school. And if not, we need to be taught it somewhere else. So those are the things I bark on about a lot. Just to try and get that message forward. You know, let's design a life that we really do want to live and embrace and that our children can move forward with as well. Because we can get into some really bad habits. Can’t we. And so yeah, it's that, for me, eating well, sleeping well, drinking lots of water, I didn't realise how important that was for my energy. But water is hugely important in my life. And rest and relaxation, finding what does make you relax, because we have this misconception of what relaxation means. But it's not the same for everyone. And really trying to find your energy as a business owner, that can get drained really quickly. If we're not giving ourselves enough time to work out what, what we need our energy for. So for me, those are the things that are important. And non-negotiables. For me, this has changed a lot is, not to be out every evening. That's tricky when you're working with children and young people because they're at school all day. Their availability is the evenings and weekends. I really don't mind working weekends, but I don't want to work evenings anymore. So for me, that's been a huge change in my delivery, and possibly something that I didn't think was achievable. But I don't go out in the evenings to work anymore. And so that's been huge. And making sure that the school holidays when I've often been doing things for other families and working with other families and schools that I actually do focus on my own family and put them there. so Yeah, feels weird at first and feels extremely selfish. But for you to help other people, you have to help yourself first. And I did. I worked that bit out when I did the mental health Thursday training in lockdown. And I was like, wow, I didn't realise how close to a mental health breakdown I have been personally, by not looking after myself. So it's really important for me. Yeah. To be to be well, there's no point in preaching all of this stuff if you can't actually put it into practice for myself.
Lucy Rennie 40:47
Yeah, no, it's yeah, I couldn't agree with you more. And I think it's taken 40 odd years to really understand and accept that, because nobody really teaches you that either. Do they? And like you were saying? Yeah, I think, for me, that's the most it is. It all comes down to mindset and how you are and the state that you're in, you know, and the energy and all those good things that you've said. And I think for me, that's almost the most important key success factor of running a business and future-proofing, isn't it? So? Yeah, we need to share a bit more about that and support each other. And I think it's a lot about being compassionate to others when they're implementing that as well, isn't it and understanding when they're doing it? So yeah, massive?
41:30
Louise Coker
Yeah, I think I think we can, we can kind of say, I'm a business owner, and I do this, but I'm a human being, and I do this, we're kind of all running our own business, which is the business of life. And I think whether you're five years old, you know, or whether you, you know, you're a teacher, or you you know, whatever, whatever age you are, or whatever job you're doing, you are running a business, which is your life. And I think that bit just clicked into place recently, when I've been looking at my family and my little boy, and you know, what kind of skills I want him to learn. And for me, I know this is very controversial. It's not everybody's bag, but it's not all about the exam results. There are far, far, far, far more skills that you need to learn to operate well as a human being. And I think that's, regardless whether you're running your own business or not. That's my personal opinion.
Lucy Rennie 42:37
Yeah. And I think we'll end on that, because I think it's a perfect way to end and I completely agree with you. It's a lot more than that, isn't it? It's all about the mindset, and grit and resilience and all these things that we need. So thanks for teach this. We do, we need to share this and yeah, make it the norm, don't we almost do that, you know, it's the same with Yeah, I think so. Definitely a lot of work to be done there. But I know you're definitely other ways of helping lots of children with that, aren't you? And it's Yeah, and
43:07
people are beginning to listen, you know, had teachers sencos that we are getting somewhere now. And people are beginning to listen and understand that happy children learn and how do we get to happy? That's my, that's my next step.
Lucy Rennie 43:28
How do we get to happiness? Great. So thank you so much for coming on today. If people want to find out more or want to connect with you or ask any questions, how do they do that?
43:40
Louise Coker
You can go through my website, which is www.wearetakepart.com. Or you can email me at info@wearetakepart.com
Lucy Rennie 43:52
Thanks so much. And I'll pop those links in the show notes as well. But I really hope you've enjoyed listening today. And I'll see you next week for another episode of the Future-Proof your Business podcast. Thanks very much. Thanks, Louise. Thank you.
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