TRANSCRIPTION 🔗
WEBVTT
1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.320
Welcome to this weekend's Mentor Moment. Today, I'm joined by Charlene and
2
00:00:05.320 --> 00:00:11.960
Neve, the founders of Bella and Joe. Success is not about revenue, awards, and
3
00:00:11.960 --> 00:00:16.560
the next big milestone. For Charlene and Neve, it's about freedom. It's about
4
00:00:16.560 --> 00:00:20.080
building a business that lets you be present for your kids, it's true to who you
5
00:00:20.080 --> 00:00:23.280
are, and create something meaningful from the West of Ireland that now is a
6
00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:29.680
global reach. I love this story, and I love this podcast because it symbolizes
7
00:00:29.680 --> 00:00:32.920
everything that the entrepreneurial experiment is about. It's about reminding
8
00:00:32.920 --> 00:00:38.160
people that there's no one way to build a business, and the best way is your
9
00:00:38.160 --> 00:00:43.280
way. So for us, freedom is really, really important to both of us, and you get
10
00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:46.120
to do that. You get to do the school drop-offs and the school pickups you get
11
00:00:46.120 --> 00:00:50.920
to go to the Nativity plays, etc. So there are trade-offs that you have to
12
00:00:50.920 --> 00:00:54.360
make. That's success for us though, as well. But I think as well of
13
00:00:54.360 --> 00:00:58.960
key Charlene's point and just as it's come off naturally, like if you're
14
00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:04.160
talking to people about what success or legacy is for them, for me, we've
15
00:01:04.160 --> 00:01:07.320
already created a legacy because we've created something from nothing in the
16
00:01:07.320 --> 00:01:11.920
West of Ireland. That's now sold to over 50 countries worldwide. You know, we've
17
00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:18.120
won best new brand in the UK, like 69 million people. And for our kids, for our
18
00:01:18.120 --> 00:01:22.400
community, we're really passionate about faster and that spirit and that pop
19
00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:26.000
process of entrepreneurship. I mean, if you can think that you can actually do
20
00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:28.960
it, it might take you five years, it might take you ten years, it might take
21
00:01:28.960 --> 00:01:32.080
you ten months. But if you want to do it, the only thing that's holding you
22
00:01:32.080 --> 00:01:36.240
back is yourself. I love that. There's so much there, I want to unpack because
23
00:01:36.240 --> 00:01:40.480
you've kind of summed up what I think the modern entrepreneur is. I was actually
24
00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:43.520
writing about this yesterday, trying to bring all these lessons from the
25
00:01:43.520 --> 00:01:47.160
pod together, like and that's to me, the modern entrepreneur, someone who can
26
00:01:47.160 --> 00:01:51.200
define success for themselves. It's not just money. It's not just this
27
00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:54.560
monetary thing because I've had so many people on the pod and they've had
28
00:01:54.560 --> 00:01:58.520
like
Load full transcript
inverted brackets. If you're watching, you'll see me doing that. But if you're
29
00:01:58.520 --> 00:02:02.640
listening on Spotify, like, success, it would be the big exit. And I'll talk to
30
00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:06.160
them and they're absolutely miserable. They are a stone called miserable because
31
00:02:06.160 --> 00:02:11.040
they've never thought about what is a dumb chasing. They're either running away
32
00:02:11.040 --> 00:02:14.840
from something or running towards what they think will be the answer. Very few
33
00:02:14.840 --> 00:02:19.280
people have sat in those chairs and said, well, we knew success was this for us.
34
00:02:19.880 --> 00:02:23.880
And it wasn't the money for the products. It was this. And even the fact you
35
00:02:23.880 --> 00:02:27.840
said, like, it's about fostering that spirit of entrepreneurship. Like, that's so
36
00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:31.520
huge. Like, I say it on the pod all the time, you've to see it to be it. That's why
37
00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:34.400
I love doing it and having so many people on the pod from all different
38
00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:39.360
backgrounds and locations. Because especially in Ireland, like you, someone
39
00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:43.960
will be listening to this that knows both of you. You know what? I actually never
40
00:02:43.960 --> 00:02:49.200
knew that story. That's amazing. I live in wherever, by now, or Slago, or Nina,
41
00:02:49.200 --> 00:02:53.000
wherever it is and kind of go, yeah, you know what? I think the modern world is
42
00:02:53.280 --> 00:02:58.760
founders like you who go, we can be location independent. We can have a great
43
00:02:58.760 --> 00:03:04.440
family balance. We can have a life and be successful and do it all in varying
44
00:03:04.440 --> 00:03:09.000
levels. You know, things will go up and down, but defining success. Like, it's
45
00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:15.000
not how many intelligent people don't do it. They just let success be
46
00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:18.400
forced to depend them as the number of fund rates.
47
00:03:18.480 --> 00:03:23.600
What are the external? Yeah, the external because it's so beneficial sitting in
48
00:03:23.600 --> 00:03:26.840
the room. We've done different entrepreneurship programs, which have been
49
00:03:26.840 --> 00:03:31.400
incredible, personally and for the business. And when you're in a room with
50
00:03:31.400 --> 00:03:35.960
other people, you get swept away sometimes in the, oh my god, that's what we
51
00:03:35.960 --> 00:03:39.720
need to be chasing. And there's so many times we've gone, hold on a second, stop.
52
00:03:40.800 --> 00:03:46.520
That's not who we are. That's not why we started. And our definition of success
53
00:03:47.040 --> 00:03:50.840
can be a word, the ones who define it, we get to choose. And that's the
54
00:03:50.840 --> 00:03:56.000
benefit. And that's available to everybody. But so few people sit there and tell
55
00:03:56.000 --> 00:04:00.080
me that they kind
of are in a prison of their own making. They've really
56
00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:03.720
successful businesses and almost the business overtakes them. They're a victim
57
00:04:03.720 --> 00:04:06.920
of their own success because they make it so successful that they can get out.
58
00:04:07.320 --> 00:04:11.440
It's mad. And I think this like to be fair, that does happen at certain, like,
59
00:04:11.440 --> 00:04:14.280
it can happen at certain times. And there's definitely been times where we've
60
00:04:14.320 --> 00:04:18.440
been like, oh my god, this is just, there's so much going on. But you do, you
61
00:04:18.440 --> 00:04:21.960
have to, you have to pause and step back and go, why did I start in the first
62
00:04:21.960 --> 00:04:26.440
place? I think entrepreneurs are unique in that there's something in them that
63
00:04:26.440 --> 00:04:30.000
they have to birth. And it's like you're always, as you said, you're always
64
00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:35.560
running towards the finish line. So part of the journey and part of the growth
65
00:04:35.560 --> 00:04:39.680
and that emotion intelligence that we've come through our journey has been
66
00:04:39.720 --> 00:04:44.800
taken that pause, that mindful breadth and going and reassess them all the
67
00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:49.760
time. But like, is this where I want to be in my life? Is this what I envisioned?
68
00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:53.400
Because I mean, we didn't have a master plan. You know, we were creating one
69
00:04:53.400 --> 00:04:56.720
product and we created the next product and we're like, okay, this is kind of
70
00:04:56.720 --> 00:05:01.960
cool. And then suddenly became this big mass of business and this huge brand.
71
00:05:02.120 --> 00:05:06.520
And that's incredible. But with that comes varying degrees of pros and
72
00:05:06.560 --> 00:05:12.360
cons and yeah, like it's an incredible journey to get to be on. But we choose
73
00:05:12.360 --> 00:05:16.080
every day to be here. That's amazing. I talked to young entrepreneurs
74
00:05:16.080 --> 00:05:19.000
that are like, I just want to make a dent in the world. Gary, you know, it's
75
00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:23.080
what I'm like, oh, that sounds exhausting. That sounds exhausting. I let you
76
00:05:23.080 --> 00:05:28.360
be like, how about how about you just create something beautiful for yourself?
77
00:05:28.400 --> 00:05:31.240
Yeah. And then for a second person. And then maybe two people and three and
78
00:05:31.240 --> 00:05:35.760
four just build something up. There's this fake Silicon Valley mindset of
79
00:05:35.760 --> 00:05:41.120
entrepreneurship or global billions of blah, blah, blah. Cool. If you want to go
80
00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:44.200
for that. But that's the one percent of the one percent percent. It's the rest of
81
00:05:44.200 --> 00:05:46.320
the 90, the eight, nine percent of us. They're just how she's trying to
82
00:05:46.320 --> 00:05:49.840
graft and build a beautiful life for ourselves.
And just be honest about it.
83
00:05:49.840 --> 00:05:52.840
So it's class. It's so refreshing. So I talk about the business body, the brain.
84
00:05:53.360 --> 00:05:56.880
And why I bring that in is that I was sick of talking to people who just
85
00:05:56.880 --> 00:06:01.000
talked about, yeah, this was the end of the money. And then we started again on
86
00:06:01.040 --> 00:06:06.520
Monday. I was like, holy shit. See, did all that work? You made the big sale
87
00:06:06.880 --> 00:06:10.440
enough money for 10 lifetimes. And you just got back on the addiction.
88
00:06:10.680 --> 00:06:13.720
Oh, wow. It's not. It's, it's wild because they never have the
89
00:06:13.720 --> 00:06:18.560
conversation that you've had of like, what is it though? What's true success?
90
00:06:19.520 --> 00:06:22.000
But I think in the modern world, like there's not a negative to the minute
91
00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:26.360
the world is a bit crazy. But like the tools are there. The mindsets are
92
00:06:26.360 --> 00:06:31.480
there. They kind of, the world is shifting towards what you're building.
93
00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:35.200
I think anyway, that's one of my big beliefs is that it's shifting to a location
94
00:06:35.200 --> 00:06:41.000
independent future whereby you can build in Balna or Nina or Colve or wherever it
95
00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:42.720
is. You don't have to be in the cities.
96
00:06:43.240 --> 00:06:44.200
Somewhere warm. No.
97
00:06:45.200 --> 00:06:47.360
Well, Malaga would be my.
98
00:06:48.200 --> 00:06:51.200
It's only a matter of course, looks good. It is on the agenda.
99
00:06:51.200 --> 00:06:51.880
Don't worry.
100
00:06:51.880 --> 00:06:54.720
Yeah, I think you need a HQ in. Absolutely.
101
00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:57.200
Malaga. That would be my European audience.
102
00:06:57.200 --> 00:07:00.560
We've already talked about it. It's like, yeah, hadn't done anything about it.
103
00:07:00.560 --> 00:07:03.960
But what about it? I know Rissie swims because I actually bumped into it.
104
00:07:03.960 --> 00:07:06.200
I randomly come up. He's like, oh, I love the pod, man.
105
00:07:06.520 --> 00:07:09.480
Like, I've got a good thanks very much. He's like, oh, we work here two days
106
00:07:09.480 --> 00:07:12.760
a week and we work in Malaga three days a week. I was like, I was going to
107
00:07:12.760 --> 00:07:15.640
Malaga in a few weeks time. I was like, well, I'm Malaga and he goes, cause
108
00:07:15.640 --> 00:07:18.440
it's cool. Yeah. I was like, oh, man, you're my new hero.
109
00:07:18.440 --> 00:07:21.880
It's more. I knew hero. He goes, we're on hold is there.
110
00:07:22.280 --> 00:07:27.240
And we walk past an office with a tolet sign and they were like, that'd be cool.
111
00:07:27.240 --> 00:07:30.520
And that he's like, well, not much it is. I mean, just rang off.
112
00:07:30.520 --> 00:07:33.320
I love that. I like yourself. Same towel. He's going to say, I've done that
113
00:07:33.320 --> 00:07:36.520
more than once. Yeah. And he was like, oh, I wonder.
114
00:07:36.520 --> 00:07:39.200
And he rang up and he goes, that's pretty affordable, actually.
115
00:07:39.200 --> 00:07:42.400
And then he's did it. I'm the head of HQ there and HQ here.
116
00:07:42.400 --> 00:07:45.640
Amazing. But that's the future, I think. If you wanted to be.
117
00:07:45.640 --> 00:07:48.720
Yeah. If you want to be. We're going to have HQ Malaga by then,
118
00:07:48.720 --> 00:07:52.520
nine o'clock tonight. No problem. I will. I will do the official opening.
119
00:07:52.520 --> 00:07:54.600
Thank you for doing. Yes, Gary.
120
00:07:54.600 --> 00:07:56.120
I'll wait. I'll wait.
121
00:08:00.120 --> 00:08:03.320
If you enjoyed that, we're sharpening a knee, go back and listen to the full episode.
122
00:08:03.320 --> 00:08:08.040
It's episode four, one, seven. If you enjoyed these mentor moments, hit subscribe.
123
00:08:08.680 --> 00:08:13.640
No matter whether you're on Spotify, YouTube or Apple, it really does help the podcast to grow.
124
00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:15.400
I'll see you back here in a couple of days.