128. Quantum Leap to Financial Freedom with 7 Figure Florist, Kathleen Drennan
In this episode I speak to Kathleen Drennan, a self made millionaire, floral designer, business mentor and marketing guru, who helps florists build million dollar businesses. If you’ve ever felt like you’re throwing spaghetti at the wall hoping something sticks, this conversation is for you.
We chat all things:
The difference between intentional pivots vs. sabotaging success
Why consuming too much can lead to confusion and overwhelm
Leading with intentionality and trust rather than fear or scarcity
How financial stability empowers your business decisions
Knowing your numbers and making informed money moves
Overcoming shame around staying in a job while building your business
The reality behind overnight success stories on social media
The compounding effect that leads to major wins
What it feels like to be debt free by 40
Being a self made millionaire in the creative world
Connect with Kathleen @littlebirdbloom
Listen to her podcast - Thrive Podcast for Florists
Visit her website: https://littlebirdbloom.com/
Watch the full episode below:
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Hello and welcome back to the money mindset hub podcast.
I'm your host Carla Townsend and I'm a money mindset and success coach who helps purpose driven women in business, shatter their income ceilings and dissolve their money blocks. And today I have the beautiful Kathleen Drennan joining me, who. I have got the pleasure of getting to know for most of last year, and I'm so excited for her to come on.
So Kathleen is a floral designer, a creative entrepreneur, a business mentor, and a marketing guru who helps florists build million dollar businesses at the age of 17. Her dad sat her down and said, honey, creativity doesn't pay the bills. That one conversation then led her to a 15 year career in corporate.
Which burnt her out and left her craving for more creativity and desire to cash in on all her expertise and her know how. So fast forward to the age of 34 and she found herself moving to a small town in the Southern Highlands in Australia and pulling out all her retirement savings to buy the local florist shop.
Although the beginning stages were really rocky, by the time she turned 40, she had earned enough money to pay off all her debt, including her home loan. She's on a mission to now empower passionate, ambitious women to back themselves, probably ignore their dads advice and say yes to bootstrapping their way to financial freedom, especially if it involves following their creativity and artistic heart.
Welcome Kathleen,
Thank you so much for having me here. I feel so honored that you asked me to be a guest on your podcast and I love being in the same room with you. So thank you.
likewise to you, you know what, every time we were on zoom. So for everyone listening, we were in a mastermind together last year, and honestly, every time you joined the call Kathleen, and you would speak.
There was just this overwhelming sense of love and support, and I don't know how many times you met us, all cried in the best, in the best way, but your energy was just so beautiful and Yeah, I just knew I had to have you on. I have to have the beautiful women that I have had the pleasure of connecting with on here.
That just moved me. And of course, you are one of 'em.
So I'm so grateful to have you here.
Well, and I'm going to probably speak for a vast majority of your listeners, because I know I've told you how much I love your firecracker energy, but I need a kick in the pants, anytime I need a spark of inspiration, anytime, I'm just like, little Carla comes into my head. It is like, Just go for it.
Yeah,
I know I really got to continue to get that out, but I feel like being around women like you has made me remember that that is a superpower yet, because I feel like sometimes, well, most of my life growing up, I was told I was pretty loud, which is funny because I'm actually more introverted. I'm just very confident, especially when I'm around people who make me feel comfortable.
But. At a point there for many years of my life, I just kept myself small or I didn't want to be seen. I didn't want to be heard. I was too loud. I made it mean something wrong about me. Like it was a bad thing, but being around you and all the other beautiful women that were in that group. And over the years to just meeting beautiful women that are driven and motivated, it's really heartwarming.
Encouraging to just be like, no, just be you. And on that topic, is there anything about you when you were younger, that you made wrong about yourself, like it was a bad thing that you've just had to really embrace.
totally. And I mean, so the older I get, the more I see, I mean, my, my money story and so much of my own work has been about how many, how many different things could Kathleen attach herself worth to?
Hmm.
I was to write a book, it would be
something like that, and nobody would buy that book, because it's not very uplifting. But one of the very strong Kind of belief patterns that I carried with me for a very long time, which is astounding when I say it out loud to people because they look at my track record and they look at my accomplishments, I have walked around for years, not believing that I was been smart enough
Hmm.
having to
overcompensate for that because I am dyslexic and at the time in the 80s, it wasn't a thing that was like diagnosed. were just put on a very specific path and For me, I had to overcompensate for that, which has made me exceptional some things, but I literally have a hard time writing and putting letters in the correct order. I just constantly made it mean that I'm not smart enough. And that always meant for me as a woman, I need to look outside myself for the answer. Which then makes sense in hindsight, when you are 17 and, considering the career path that I wanted to take. And my dad literally did sit me down and say. Honey, creativity doesn't pay the bills. cannot choose that path for, uni. So I went down the very disciplined business school path and constantly spent so long looking outside of myself for the answers. And it's not until you make the decision to start your own business that you realize how much of your own. you have to unpack.
Yeah. It's like the ultimate personal development journey, isn't it? And it's uncomfortable as hell.
It is so uncomfortable.
But I think that's so inspiring that you just went, nah, you know what? Love you dad. But that advice was rubbish.
Well, it helps people. I think people will be shocked because I lived in Australia for 15 years and yes, I do have Canadian accent. So don't be alarmed by the discrepancy in that situation. I think to get space and create my own Like really pave my own way.
Like I needed to create some distance. And I think we all get to that point where like, you know, I vividly remember the Friday night and I was working on a spreadsheet at my corporate job and I just was like, I cannot do this anymore because there were so many men walking around the business that I was working in and I was like, why are they making so much money off of my skills?
This doesn't seem fair.
Yeah.
know, late on a Friday night I'm done. I'm out of here.
That was going to be one of my first questions was what was the moment that you just went stuff? This is not my path. I'm actually going to do what I know that I'm supposed to do and just listen to my soul. So it was that very moment for you.
Yeah. And I think cause I, at the time agency and exposed to a huge amount of creativity in that environment. The role that I had was very project management, analytical, and as you continue to move up the corporate ladder, and I think depending on where you're working and the corporate jobs that you have, you start to get more and more exposure to the dollar figures and the money that these businesses are throwing around.
And then you look at your own
paycheck.
Yes. Tell me about it.
And I was like, I also knew at the time I was very good at what I did and I could literally see them making money off of
my skillset
Mm.
And it's like, it just is this thing
that starts in the back of your head. And then all of a sudden, like something just. I
know,
Yeah.
This is not okay.
like you just, this is not okay.
with me. And because it was me doing spreadsheets and it was like, know, not my forte, that particular exercise that it just was like this extreme wake up call that I needed. I was like, okay, these people are making millions of dollars off of me and my team and the experience that we're providing. There must be a way that I could figure out how to transfer my own expertise and intelligence into my own income.
so becoming a florist? Like what was that pull? Where did you find that connection and purpose?
So I have made two of my biggest career choices from watching, well, one of them
was from watching a Jennifer Aniston
movie. There's a lot about me.
I want to
say
picture perfect. So I knew I watched that movie. That must've been in the
nineties that it came out. And
I knew that I wanted to go work in
advertising. So I wanted to go
work in the creative side of advertising. And my dad was like no way in hell. So then I went on the corporate business side of advertising, got to work in advertising. But then in 2014, this was at the very end of my corporate job. I was reading a book by Mary Kay Andrews. And if you don't know who Mary Kay Andrews is, she is like, the Emily Henry from 2000.
Okay. Okay.
Right. So it's very
light. It's very like beach romance for me. It was complete escapism
from a corporate job that was
sucking my soul away that's insane. And I picked this book up and the main character
in it owned a florist shop. And so I was 34 and I had never even heard of that being a job. Or a career that actually endeavor upon. So I reading that book within a week. I'd signed up for my first floral design workshop. I walked out of that very first workshop on a Tuesday morning. literally had like, my eyes were so wide open. I was like, this is it. Like, I did not know that you could have a career out of this. I did not know that people could build businesses out of this.
I did not know that you could have this as a like actual viable career. So this is also very typical Kathleen because that was, I want to say June of By August of 2014, I had already gone through the process of setting up my own business, got my first website up and running, started posting to Instagram.
And I was just like, balls to the wall, let's go. And I did that while I was still finishing up my corporate job. And then in 2015, the local florist business, we found out she wanted to sell it. So we just went and made her an offer. And then in May of 2015, I was the owner of the local florist business.
insane. And I mean, can we just take a moment to. Also say that then you were 34 at the time, but then by 40, you had paid off all your debt, your home, your everything. So it was extremely successful.
Extremely. And the first two years were not extremely successful and we turned that ship around so fast and so effectively that within the next 24 month window, it was outrageous to me how
successful that business.
so we need to talk about that.
Yeah,
So I actually had a question written down here that I do recall you saying at one point that you were so full of adrenal fatigue that it was so intense that you considered actually closing down the business. Was that at that point two years in?
that was
at that point. Yeah.
Yeah.
I did the flowers for one of my best
friends weddings down in Canberra and she got married on Sunday, November 5th, 2017. And on Monday, November 6th,
I was like, I don't know if I can do
this anymore.
Yeah. Right.
Like we were barely
able, I literally would sit down to pay the invoices and I'd have to decide, we'll rent a non negotiable. Paying our staff is a non negotiable. So I guess we'll pay the wholesalers this week and we'll pay for all of our supplies
and we'll compromise on our
own income
Yeah.
month month, after month,
And do you think that that was like, why did you make those decisions or you kind of just fell into it? Or I remember you saying you were focusing more on, , being competitive with your pricing,
but. You said that you at that point, you felt like that was the downfall was trying to be too competitive to get business instead of elevating your marketing and actually attracting the people that you wanted to work with who valued you.
So what made you have that shift to go,
what am I doing?
Why am I trying to be the cheapest? Why aren't I just making sure that people know that I'm the best and I'll attract the right people? What was the switch?
Yeah. And it's such a good question because I think every single one of us as business owners and particularly if you're a service provider, you're an artist, if you make anything, if you deliver anything to the world, it is so easy for us to attach our self worth to the price of the thing that we're putting out into the world. And when you're new at something, we're very good at telling ourselves, Oh, but I'm just getting started. It's a hugely competitive town. My customers don't want to pay that much. What will they think of me? I don't want to be seen as price gouging. no way that I as the human could charge that much.
I was very much making it a me thing, even though this is the part that makes me laugh. I am the one, I have my MBA. I went to business school. I have a 15 year corporate marketing career and also did my formal floristry qualifications where they test you on the pricing formula. So it's like I have all the tools. And then I walk into my business and I was like, I can't, I can't charge that much. There's no way I could charge that much. So I didn't charge that much. And I went down that path for. Almost three full years truly telling myself that I just hoped like I hoped that something would just change and that there's this, you know, I don't know, magic fairy. Godmother is going to come along. Otherwise known as I'll be popular enough on Instagram to be able to raise my prices.
I think there's many people listening to this that will be like, yes, I thought that's what it was. But the fact of the matter is
you can have a very successful business with a seemingly boutique. Small audience. Yeah. It doesn't matter the number is actually so irrelevant. I mean, I remember actually, I created a real, when I quit my job, I had less than 2000 followers and I'd got to the point where I could easily quit corporate go all in and I'd make far more money working for myself.
I had way more time freedom. I could spend that last year with my second son at home and my little one,
and never miss a thing. And I thought, wow, I knew that that was the goal. But at that point you always think, oh, but I don't know. You just keep putting it off for some reason. But when I have a bigger audience, when I made more money, but the fact of the matter is you can quit and go all in with a very boutique audience and have a very successful job, like a, you know, career.
For yourself, make far more money than what you ever thought possible. And people will pay you for you.
old Pinterest post that says whether you think you can, or you think you can't. You're right.
Yeah.
A hundred percent. So a question for you then, what is a money belief that you used to have that you've now debunked?
The biggest one for me was believing that I had no control over how much money I made.
Hmm. Corporate conditioning for sure.
Childhood conditioning.
Like, it's a thing that happens
to
us. It's a paycheck that's given to us.
It's your customers pay you. It's things just happen to fall together.
she's
so lucky, you know, if the stars align, it's very much like outside of our control and it's. You know, me, it's, it's like, well, if I'm good enough at my
job, then maybe I'll make
enough
money. It felt very
external.
And what do you think was the point where you realized that that was just a myth?
That was all myths.
actually, in my transition like this kind of like season of empowerment or like where my true self awareness came was because they're the, I was in the Southern Highlands and barrel and the drive to the Sydney flower market is 101 kilometers each way. So I had a lot of time to think driving up and back to the market. I remember driving up to the market one day in that season of this is not working like. You've had enough of banging your head against the wall. You're like, okay, well something has to change. I'm at my lowest. We're not making enough money. There's nowhere to go but up. So what could I possibly do that could help me create a better outcome?
How else have, what else haven't I tried? How else might I be able to think about this? Could I shift my perspective on this? And so there are some incredibly well established florists based in Sydney. And I remember walking around and one of them, he's, you know, at the time he was in his fifties and he had like a bucket of flowers in his arm and he was just talking to people and walking around.
And I remember just looking at him and going, well, he's been in business for a long time. Decades, like they've been around for forever. And I was like, there's no way that he's constantly discounting under pricing, giving away his work, not charging enough. Like there's no way that his business would still be existing in Sydney, Australia, if that was his mentality. So that was the day that I got in the car and on my drive home, I just work for him.
Interesting.
So my business is just like a
outlet of his
big head office
Yeah. Right.
and I will get fired if I don't get my pricing together.
And that helped.
Literally, just the switch went off like that day. Enough is enough. Literally sat down, reviewed everything. Prices went up that week. Every new wedding quote that came in, every new client that came our way. It it Was such a helpful mental shift for me to get me
out of the
me. be
Yeah.
I can like, because we have a corporate background, I can be a really great employee.
I know that experience. I know how to be really good at my job. So I'm just going to use that in my own business.
That's so clever. And that's a shift that I've actually never thought of nor heard of before. I'm just going to pretend that I work for them.
Yeah,
It's so helpful.
it is so helpful. And I'll tell you, you can use that shift in roles any capacity in your
business.
What's another time that you've shifted? Like what's another example in your business?
Well, the, all the dreaded, I
don't want to show up on social
media.
yeah, yeah.
yeah.
I don't want to, I don't
want to send the email that somebody's invoices late. I don't want to tell somebody, no, anytime there's anything on your to do list that you don't want to do, I will literally get up from my desk. I will grab a cup of tea and I'm like, great.
I'm just here to do the job as the employee in my business. And I don't want to get fired. So I'm just going to cross the thing off my list. It takes way less time to get the thing done when you just tell
yourself, it's
Just your job.
Yeah.
do it. Yeah. I love that. That's super helpful. And you're right, I know a lot of the women listening are currently working and they wanted to go all in or they are all in, and they came from corporate like us too. So that's such a helpful shift to just be like, no, because I think the thing, and maybe you relate, but I feel like the thing is when you start your own business, that's when all the excuses start to come up too.
Of, but I can't do this. I can't do that. But the truth is, if you were hired by a small business that just happened to be like yours, you wouldn't be telling your boss. I can't do that. I can't follow up that client. You would not be leaving money on the table. You would not be discounting because again, you'd have to get permission.
You would have to charge a certain way and you would just basically have to do what you're told and tick the boxes. But then we can tie so much of our self worth, because again, you may have. Something to lose if it doesn't go well, whether it be financial, whether it just be your pride, like whatever it is, that is when we make it such an emotional thing where really it doesn't have to be.
Because at the end of the day, you're not your business. Your business is this separate entity to you. It's not you. It's a business that needs to run and you're there to help it run and grow and build this legacy. Like what we're talking about before we even started recording was we're here to build a legacy and you've got to remember what you're actually doing it for.
And why you started in the first place and just look at it for what it really is. It's your legacy. It's your movement. It's your mission. It's your life's work. It's going to live on beyond you. So show up and get it done.
And I think everybody who doesn't run their own business kind of always asks me like, what's it like? Oh, it's awesome. Like it's 59 percent incredible. Like except the other, 41 percent is so frustrating and so disappointing because
it's all on
you.
Yeah.
And that is the
one thing. And I think. It's so fascinating to me and particularly in Australia because the process of actually starting a business like registering for an ABN in
Australia is so simple
and it's free,
Yeah. Yeah, it is. It is definitely one of the easiest things.
right? So I can start a sole proprietorship today in Australia. The thing that nobody tells you is that this whole world is your responsibility. So you don't need permission from anybody. You don't need more qualifications. You don't need certifications. You don't need an endorsement from anybody. Like we have, So much that we get to sift through from previous careers, from our own lives, from our own stories, from our own childhood, I was just like, if somebody could just sit us down on the day that we start our business and put that giant red banner in front of us, it says, do you
understand what you're signing
up for?
Yeah.
Because like the responsibility, this is like what they refer to as radical responsibility is the only way to make your business work and do it in any
sort of fulfilling
way. Mm-hmm
And. Let's talk about that fulfilling part too, right? Because you did the hustle and grind until the point where you just nearly gave it all up, but then switching gears and finding more fulfillment. When we're talking just recently before, but we both kind of went through a season at the end of last year where we shut a lot of things down and we're switching gears and it was just trying to actually come back home to our true soul's purpose and our legacy and the vision and the mission and just get really grounded again, because.
You know, there is sometimes the ebbs and the flows, especially in those early stages, those first few years when you're really trying to get things off the ground. But I feel like business, and I know you probably agree, but I feel like business is also ever evolving because you are also evolving. And so you're not just going to stick to what you always did.
Sometimes you're going to want to try out other things. And again, it's like, it's always daunting and a bit scary at the beginning until you just do it. And the only way you're going to know is. If you do it, you can't build confidence just sitting still.
It's just such an interesting
thing.
and I think but I think that's I think you totally nailed it where it's like as humans We are like it's in our DNA and we are programmed to grow and evolve. I have handcuffed myself in so many ways as a business owner, because I've either, it's not that I've forgotten that, but my should do, supposed to do, be a good girl, people pleaser persona will always lead the way if I'm not conscious of it. And when I think because you and I come from such a strong desire to want to impact and be of service, that as women, we're conditioned to believe that that needs to trump everything else. And, you know, how dare you make any sort of like selfish decision about what you're going to do in your business, what you're going to offer, what services you're going to offer, what you might launch, what you might shut down. You know, if you're going to. Open a shop, move a shop. Like there's so much in that, it's so easy for us to get wrapped up in this space of, no, seriously, I've
created a business that I
really
don't like
Yeah,
I liked it once, but now, you know, we're done. We're going to break up.
I was like,
100 percent and you know what, it's so daunting to, to shut down things that are actually working and to move away from the plan at the beginning of the year. I think for everyone listening, just give yourself permission to shift and change and evolve because honestly, deep down, you will know. When it's time, I think the one thing, and I'd love to know your perspective on this.
I think the one thing is just be mindful of how often you are pivoting completely, because there's a big difference between, you know, really sticking something out and giving it your all. If you can say a hand on heart, I gave that my all to the best of my ability, sweet. And if you get to the end of that, whatever that time is for you and say, this isn't it like, I know this isn't it again, not looking at what everyone else is doing.
And then the other side of that is pivoting, pivoting, pivoting, pivoting, because you can't quite find the things that works. But when an actual fact you haven't given it long enough, like you haven't really given it your all yet. And maybe you're consuming too much more than, more than you're creating.
I actually love that saying create before you consume. I feel like it came from Marie Forleo, who's like my idol, I heard her say that, but I always thought that's it. Anyway, what's your take on that?
I 100 percent agree because I spent the last two years, certainly most of 2024 in a very Like, hyper reactive, incredibly scarcity focused, urgent, graspy, I'm just gonna keep throwing a whole bunch of stuff at the wall and hope that the next thing sticks. And I think that's one of the biggest things that I saw you, like, you embodied this with so much integrity last year, you made some really big decisions. you kept trusting in yourself that this is going all work out in my favor. I'm here to play the long game. I'm not here to, chuck together an offer, hope that enough people sign up, and I get that really big, you know, cash injection. And when you're in the online space, whole narrative of, you know, like, Launching and then you need to launch bigger and you need to launch even more.
And then now I'm offering this and then I'm doing this and then I'm doing this and then I'm doing this. It's like, if you are hyper productive, incredibly intelligent, totally capable and really in not a good place in your body about making money in your business,
it is a recipe for disaster. And I say that as the spokesperson
Yeah.
Uh huh.
speaking for both of us because I know, like, I've definitely thrown spaghetti at the wall and just seen what sticks, but I think that's okay too, because again, that's the beauty of it, right? In entrepreneurship, when you own your business, you can try things out and see if it works, but.
I think deep down your intuition is the one that tells you exactly what is true to you and when you stick true to you. Which can be challenging. Okay. When you, especially when you consume too much, but that will always work out, but it's not about quick fixes, right? Like we always talk about, you can't be in this just for the money, because if you're in business just to make money now, not that there's anything wrong with that.
Like if you started a business because you know, it can bring in extra money to put food on the table or whatever, that's amazing. But you'd want to love what it is you're doing, because I feel like that energy, probably different for product based businesses, maybe, but for service based businesses where it does lie on you, if you're not passionate and in love with what you're doing, people can feel that in your energy and that.
is so powerful. Like you can say all the right things, but they will feel it. And I know everyone listening has had this because majority of us are women. And we just have that knowing of,
Oh, nah, that doesn't land.
Yeah.
It's important.
And
I think too, and this is a
skill that I am really practicing this year for me and borrowing it from you is this idea of, I think when we consume so much, all that we see depending on who we're following is I just had my biggest launch ever, or we're fully booked out and sold out for this season.
Or, you know, we sold out before we even got the product on the shelf, right? Like because it's social media, all we see is everybody's success story. And then. are so well conditioned to believe that it should happen that quickly for us, and that I should be able to come up with an idea today and then by 30 days from now, I should be a raging success.
Yeah, the instant gratification where it is that fast paced kind of a world these days, I think, but you're right because we're just seeing the highlights and don't get me wrong. I love the highlights. I'm here for it. My Instagram feed is very inspiring, very motivating. Like I actually like looking at it.
Don't look at it much, but I like looking at it, but you're right. I think everyone has to remember, you've got to have that perception of understanding and it's not to diss them. It's not to say all those amazing things. However, you know, you had X amount of support or you've been in this game for like, it's not to put any sort of don't diss anyone's success.
But see it, let it inspire you, but just remember that there are so many unseen hours, months, years, tears, everything to get to that point to really nail it. And so I know a lot of us can feel quite shit when things aren't working, you know, and, but I also have heard. Many, very successful multi millionaire entrepreneurs, the ones, you aspire to be like that have said, Oh no, there's been plenty of times where I am like in the fetal position.
Don't know if it's going to work out. Don't know if I'm cut out for this. We're all human. We all go through it. And.
one thing that you don't hear enough of or that like I certainly don't hear enough of in the, business building entrepreneur space is I think as women, we walk around with this sense of shame of if I choose to stay at my corporate job for another year or two years, while I'm also getting this really cool, innovative idea and trying to figure out how to get all the bumps and bruises out of it,
and, oh my gosh, we just ran into another obstacle. It's very easy for us to shower ourselves in shame if we have to go out there and get a job. Versus this idea of like, well, actually, like it's one of the most empowering things you can do for you and your business, because if you can earn enough money to keep a roof over your head and get good food on the table and take care of yourself and your family and feel the experience and peace of mind of having that. Covered off, you will be so much more effective in your business because you won't do what I did, where you're like coming from urgency and scarcity and graspiness and desperation and working yourself into the ground just out of like, well, I need the money, so I might as well say yes,
Listening to you speak then too, I know you and I both share something in common. We're both accumulators. So for any accumulator is the inner banker. And if anyone listening doesn't know, I've ranted on about it enough, but if anyone listening doesn't know, it is the money archetype. So there's a money quiz that you can go do the links in the show notes.
I'll just go to my website, but I noticed that you're the accumulator too. So it doesn't surprise me. That you had that response of let's just be a little bit more logical and practical in that side of things and make sure you actually have the financial backing and security. And I, again, as a fellow accumulator and as someone who's, you know, I've got kids and stuff of responsibilities, mortgage, and so many people listening.
You've, all got responsibilities. We probably don't live at home with mom and dad who are paying for everything anymore.
Bliss. If you are at home,
stay home for as long as possible. Okay. But I think that it's, it's so important to do that and really think about that and know your numbers because there's nothing worse than feeling financial stress and if you're trying to get a business off the ground, exactly what you said, if you feel scarcity and lack and you're just kind of grasping for everything to make money, to make it work.
Again, it comes off with this desperate energy, which is extremely repelling, that's going to repel clients. That's going to repel money. It's not what we want. You want the opposite. You want abundance. You want overflow. You want people to feel that energy. And if your energy is tainted with desperation and urgency, it's not going to feel genuine and people aren't going to just hand over the cash.
So I think it's such a good point. Know your numbers, have that financial backing to then actually be able to go all in. With peace, with calm so that you can, you can actually execute the way you want to.
And I think when, when I hear you say no, your numbers, I go, I truly believe like information is power I am so grateful that we live in a day and age of Google and chat GPT. And so that we can literally in the secrecy of our own home, Google any term. Any like phrase, if somebody uses something, we can literally Google it and be like, I don't understand what this is.
Could you please explain it to me? Like I'm seven years old and I go like the fact that we go to school for as many years that we go to
school for, and
nobody
talks
about these things.
Hmm. Yes. They don't teach you about money. They don't teach you about entrepreneurship and really thinking outside the box. That's probably my like big bone to pick with the schooling system, but you're a hundred percent right. You don't learn about taxes
right, so it's like then we
walk out into the
big bad world as little humans, up against like the big banks and mortgage rates and get this credit card and you're like on the uni campuses and everything and it's just like we all think we're doing the right thing and then we walk around going,
what?
I
thought
Yeah.
I had money, I don't understand.
that actually leads me to another question though. What's a piece of money advice then that you would give your younger self knowing what you know now?
I would probably say to myself, don't judge yourself for not knowing. Like nobody was born knowing, you know, what a good mortgage rate is, or nobody was born knowing what deferred interest is. Nobody is born understanding tax ratios and how to charge for GST. And you know, what is, an asset write off and what the heck is a dividend?
Like I'm blessed to work with one of the most incredible accountants on the planet who will have
any appetite for
any
of my stupid questions.
Yeah.
But I just gave
myself permission to not
know.
I like that.
because he knows, Google knows, ChatGPT knows information is power and whether you're managing your own personal finances, you want to put together a budget, whether you want to save for your next house, whether you want to pay for private school education, whether you want to go on a four star, four week trip to France, like whatever it is you want to truly don't believe that there's anything sexier than a woman who understands
finances.
Yeah. That's the inner banker in you speaking right there, but it's so true because knowledge is power. When it's integrated, when you do something about it.
Yes.
And
Yeah. I love that.
I mean, cause for me, life and business are so intertwined as just part of the human experience, you know, I remember looking cause we had, you know, quite a hefty, home loan. And I remember looking at the number in our bank balance and sitting there and just doing that exercise of going,
this is mine to
solve,
Yeah.
I'm going
to take full responsibility for it. I'm going to figure out what I need to do to be able to make that number start to get smaller.
Mmm. God, you're like me. Mate, I have full spreadsheets. Like I know exactly what's coming in. What's going out when it's due. It's all automated, mind you. So there's no, I'm not counting every dollar and cents. I don't go that deep, but. It's sorted and there is extra money going off that mortgage every single week.
So I know
it's coming down and it's coming down fast.
no. And you will like that day that we literally transferred all the money over and then got to call the bank
and say,
okay, the money's in there. still gives
me goosebumps because I did not grow up in an environment where
people had
an
abundance of money.
And it
was, I had lots of judgment and fear of what it's like to be a woman that shows up on the internet as a self made millionaire. that's still an identity that I'm trying to step into and understand. But this idea of really, like I could envision for myself, cause I had set the goal to say, I want to pay off our home loan before I turn 40. And I could see it happening. And it was, it was just every week, every month, we just started making slight different changes.
And we, you know, at one point realized like, Oh, we could actually go and we could change the kind of home loan that we have and have an offset account and do all of the stuff that we do is. And it's just like, Oh no, like 10 a week up and your 39 year old self will be so glad that you made the
decision to do that.
That's the thing. It doesn't have to be massive amounts. It's the small compounding efforts that get you to your financial goals every time. Quick question then, because of your success, have you had any awkward situations? With, you know, say family or friends that just couldn't really kind of handle that and hold that.
no, because I ever give money away to anybody else? It's all for me.
But have you had weird situations where people have asked because you have done so well, I mean, obviously it takes effort and time, but I know it's a big fear for a lot of people listening is it's not really that fear of failure. It's actually that fear of being too successful and people coming after it.
this is a really interesting thing, because whatever judgments
other people have about me,
I
don't actually
know.
Yeah.
And, my family and friends group absolutely knows the situation and not a single one of them has ever asked for a favor, asked for a loan, asked for any kind of support. And that is probably because if I can hammer into everybody's head to take responsibility for their own financial situation, I will sit you down and teach you how to do this for yourself. I do believe that every human on the planet should go through the experience of at least attempting to run
their own business.
Yeah.
So I
will do
all of that work for you.
Yeah.
you.
know what, Kathleen? It's funny because that's how I even got to this point of knowing that I wanted to talk about money mindset in particular, it was from literally being asked again and again and again from friends and family. How'd you do it? After seeing our lives completely change, how do you do it?
And you're like the ups and downs and still coming out better off at the end. And that's how we got here. And it's just, sometimes you want to bang your head against a brick wall because you're like, it's really not that hard. We're overcomplicating it, but now understanding money mindset and how deep it is now, I understand it's.
It's so much more than that. Anyone can follow a budget. Anyone can do that. Yeah. They know what's coming in. They know what's going out. It's not that complicated, but it's so tied up into the way that you view money and what it means about you as a person and what you're worthy of, what you're not worthy of, and what are people going to think of what people are going to say?
Whatever it was conditioned into you from a childhood all the way through to your adult life, it will be the difference between whether you integrate that knowledge and do something about it, or you don't.
Mm hmm. 100%.
really interesting.
All right, one final question.
In your life and in your business, what's your definition of success?
For me, I have had my own health challenges. So my biggest measure of success is how I physically feel. And if I can feel strong going to F45 and going to the gym and I get a good night's sleep and I The way that I know my body loves me to eat. That's literally an
amazing
day.
Yeah.
And
I think I will always say I still love the dopamine hit of new customer order
has come in.
And I talk to
my clients about this all
the time. I'm like,
no guys, like I don't care if you've been a florist since you were 17 and you're now 57 like 40 years later, getting a new wedding inquiry, getting a new online order.
There's. Still nothing better than like the money has
come just magically through
your
website. Like you've put in
the work to make it happen,
Hmm.
right?
Yeah.
so real. And I still get that like bubble of glee, like when an online order comes in. then I think for me, because 2024 was such a, challenging soul digging year, I realized like, for me, it's, I am here to truly have a ripple effect on as many women's lives as I
possibly can.
I love that.
So every
time I get a DM from somebody it astounds me. Inside my own little child brain that like, there are people on the other side of the world and around the world who are taking the things that I'm saying and applying it into their business, seeing results, then they send me a DM and they say, you have no idea what kind of impact you've had on my life. And I can have a physically healthy day and somebody can say, you
mattered to me.
Words of affirmation. Is that your love language? Who is it?
It's definitely up there. And then I, yeah,
like it's, I mean, it's interesting. I
think
it's kind of shifted over time,
my
Yeah.
but Yeah.
this like knowing, because it is like you and I spend a lot of time staring at ourselves on a camera and talking into a microphone and going like, we're going to do our best to pretend because we do know who's going to be listening on the other side.
But
like,
this helping?
Yeah.
Do you know what I find too? I mean, just for everyone listening, Kathleen also has her own podcast. It's called thrive, which is a podcast for florists, which is all linked in the show notes, and you can also find her at. Little bird bloom on Instagram. I'll link everything in the show notes, but I find sometimes with the podcast episodes are the ones that I literally will have a couple of dot points.
That I want to talk about. And then I just go for it because I know I have a lot to say, and I know you have a lot to say. Sometimes we overcomplicate how we're going to say it. And do we hit the right points? Or was it something that I missed? But at the end of the day, I feel like when you just allow yourself to speak, that is your highest self speaking through you.
And it is those episodes that don't overcomplicate that I get the DMs. Saying I needed that, that was the best. I felt like you were speaking to me and there is nothing better than, I mean, obviously that, and then also people coming into your world and joining your world, I love it. Seeing the signups and people purchase.
And these are off things that are you did months ago, but you know, they're good. And people are still signing up for them. And there is honestly nothing better. You're right. Having that constant gratitude for not just the first sale, but every single sale, every single thank you. Every single one. And that shows that you're building an impact and creating a legacy and it's changing people's lives.
So I just want to acknowledge you to Kathleen for doing that, because I know that you have helped so many florists, women, business owners. On their journey and have completely shifted the trajectory of where they would have been going, had they have not found your magic.
So thank you for everything you're doing.
And also just being your beautiful self, like your energy is honestly
through the roof.
you.
I could talk to you forever.
Yeah, I agree. And I, I'll just say the same to you. Like, you are such an embodiment of really leaning into who you are and unapologetically taking up space.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. I really hope that you enjoyed it and be sure to subscribe so that you don't miss any of the incredible future episodes and guests that we have coming up for you. And if you haven't already subscribed to our email list, be sure to do so because we have some pretty epic things coming this year, as well as a mini magazine that will be sent to our subscribers every single month to help you with all things, money and mindset, personal development, and entrepreneurship to help support you on your journey.
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