Episode 55- Marketing Expert and Co-founder of Basic Bananas Franziska Iseli

26 Jun

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In this episode of Courage in a Crisis, my special guest is Franziska Iseli. Franziska is a marketing expert and co-founder of Basic Bananas, founder of Business Hood, Ocean Lovers and Moments of Humanity. 2013 winner of Young Entrepreneur Year Award, a board member at the Entrepreneurs Organization and on the judging panel for Singularity University Australia.

Franziska shares her insights and expertise on how to build a brand in a way that is graceful, kind and generous. How to have clarity on what you stand for, what you believe in and standing by that no matter what.

Take the time to listen to Franziska today.

You can find Franziska on LinkedIn or at https://www.franziskaiseli.com

Key Takeaways from Today’s Episode:

In this segment, Jane Anderson introduces her podcast, the Jane Anderson Brand New Show, tailored for experts aiming to enhance their impact, influence, and income in their respective fields. She emphasizes the importance of personal branding and how people tend to engage with those they know, like, and trust. Jane discusses the current landscape amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, noting shifts in the consulting and speaking industries, with professionals exploring new avenues like mentoring and online courses. Additionally, she highlights the rising significance of YouTube as a platform for content creation and the growing emphasis on building communities or tribes around personal brands.
Jane introduces Franziska Iseli as a distinguished guest, recognizing her as a marketing expert and entrepreneur with a diverse portfolio of ventures. Franziska shares her journey from growing up in Switzerland to eventually settling in Australia. She reflects on her rebellious spirit against rules and authority, which led her to pursue her own path. Her experience in advertising fueled her desire to establish her own business, leading to the founding of Basic Bananas, a marketing mentoring organization. Franziska discusses how Basic Bananas evolved and expanded globally, spawning related ventures like Business Hood, Ocean Lovers, and Moments of Humanity, each reflecting her passions and strengths in brand building and entrepreneurship.
Franziska elaborates on her various business ventures, highlighting their alignment with her interests and strengths. Business Hood originated from the need to address design deficiencies observed in client projects at Basic Bananas, resulting in the establishment of a branding agency. Ocean Lovers emerged from Franziska's love for the ocean and her desire to promote ocean conservation in a positive and inclusive manner. This venture aims to connect individuals with sustainable products and initiatives, leveraging Franziska's expertise in brand building to foster a sense of pride and engagement among its audience.
Jane Anderson praises Franziska Zelle for her unapologetic expression in branding and personality, emphasizing the fear and vulnerability often associated with personal branding. Jane inquires about the influences behind Franziska's personal brand and what inspires her authenticity. Franziska credits her inspiration to Richard Branson's book "Losing My Virginity," which resonated with her entrepreneurial spirit and desire to operate authentically. She stresses the importance of clarity in personal values and beliefs, advocating for authenticity without bashing opposing views.
Franziska reflects on moments where she embraced her strengths in personal branding, acknowledging the challenges of balancing time between business endeavors and personal branding efforts. She discusses her approach to writing books, highlighting instances where she prioritized opportunities for personal branding despite personal preferences. Franziska emphasizes the significance of leveraging strengths while navigating personal branding endeavors, acknowledging the role of strategic decision-making in balancing business and personal brand development.
Jane discusses the current challenges and opportunities for personal brands amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, seeking Franziska's insights based on her experiences. Franziska emphasizes the importance of maintaining calm and leadership amidst crises, emphasizing the need for personal brands to lead with authority and direction. She highlights the opportunity to reassess business models and strategies, leveraging virtual platforms and global partnerships to amplify brand messages. Franziska encourages personal brands to embrace change and innovation, recognizing the dynamic nature of the business landscape in the post-pandemic era.
Jane commends Franziska for her achievements in personal branding and entrepreneurship, prompting her to reflect on her journey and any lessons learned. Franziska acknowledges the importance of outsourcing tasks outside of one's expertise, highlighting the initial challenge of delegating responsibilities as a startup entrepreneur. She encourages aspiring entrepreneurs to prioritize self-care and strategic decision-making, leveraging lessons learned from both successes and failures to enhance personal and professional growth.
Franziska discusses the importance of outsourcing tasks early on in entrepreneurship, highlighting the initial reluctance to delegate responsibilities due to financial constraints and personal attachment. She emphasizes the value of prioritizing time and mental bandwidth for tasks aligned with business growth, advocating for strategic outsourcing to optimize efficiency and focus. Additionally, Franziska reflects on the significance of taking calculated risks and investing revenue back into the business for accelerated growth. She encourages entrepreneurs to evaluate investment opportunities that align with business objectives and maximize returns, emphasizing the balance between prudent financial management and strategic expansion.
Jane praises Franziska for her achievements and generosity in sharing business insights, highlighting the magnetic appeal of Franziska's brand and its alignment with conscious marketing principles. Franziska attributes her success to aligning her work with her values and delivering authentic, high-quality content to her audience. She emphasizes the role of perseverance and commitment to excellence in building a strong brand presence that attracts like-minded individuals. Additionally, Franziska reflects on the transformative power of embracing change and aligning with the universe's flow, stressing the importance of genuine intention and heartfelt dedication in achieving success.
Jane expresses gratitude for Franziska's insights and generosity, highlighting the value of her contributions to the entrepreneurial community. She encourages listeners to connect with Franziska and explore the resources offered by Basic Bananas, including workshops and educational content aimed at empowering business owners. Franziska shares her personal website and invites listeners to engage with Basic Bananas' virtual summit and social media platforms for valuable insights and resources. Jane concludes by encouraging listeners to follow Franziska's journey and leverage her expertise to enhance their own business practices.

Full Show Transcript:

[Speaker 2] (0:09 - 6:13)
Hi there, my name is Jane Anderson and this is the Jane Anderson Brand New Show. It's the podcast for experts who want to have greater impact, influence and income for their businesses and careers. As experts, we know that people buy from people and work with people who they know, who they like and who they trust.

So I'm so glad you're here because it's that time again now to really amplify how you show up in the world. Hi there and welcome to today's podcast. I am absolutely excited to share with you today's very special guest.

She is an absolute gun in her field, one of my favorite marketing experts to follow and marketing gurus to seek out what she has to say. So I'm thrilled to bring her to you today. A couple of things that I'm noticing we're in COVID and a few people have asked me, what are you noticing about personal brands?

What do you notice me or what's happening? How are people pivoting? So some of the things I'm noticing, obviously you've got lots of people who have been experts, consultants and still are and starting to go, okay, well, corporate's not necessarily buying the way that they were.

I'm not rolling out training programs as much or there's sort of going on. I don't know if I just really want to do training. I think I want to do mentoring.

Speaking industry has flattened a little bit. So now what do I do? So lots of pivoting going on.

Things that are shifting the most, I would say, are YouTube channels. People are really starting to look at the content that's going on there. So it's sort of the new speaking platform and it always has been really, but now it's far more important.

It's something that we've always talked about in Expert to Influence series. If you're not on a physical platform, that's your digital platform. And the other thing I'm noticing obviously is people being more tribe conscious.

So the people that they're starting to build in their communities and the people around them that really matter. And that sort of comes off the back of online courses. So they're all things that we've sort of talked about a lot in, if you've been following the podcast in Expert to Influence.

But this weekend I am running a content creation bootcamp on US time. This recording won't be up in that time, but I will probably do another one on US time down the track. But we have lots of people coming into content club.

So we run content club, which is on the second Friday of every month where we create 10 pieces of content in two hours together. So if you struggle with your content, if you struggle to be able to just get some bum glue and sit down and create some content, then that's the place for you. If you want to know more about that, jump onto the website, go to, you'll go to the website you'll see.

So it's JaneAndersonSpeaks.com. If you go to programs, you'll see content club, click on there and you can take a free month's trial. I'd love for you to come in, see if it's the place where you'd like to be and get in and create some fantastic content and world-class content at that.

We also had the Catalyst content book, which has gone out. It's released. It's currently being loaded into Amazon.

I've been busy putting books in the post for lots of people this week. My team are all in lockdown. So we haven't got the conga line of the production line of all the books being packed.

It's all me doing it myself. So I'm very slow, but I'm signing them as I go. But it's one of my favorite times, you know, launching and creating a book and rolling out a book is a really exciting and not something that happens all the time.

So I love being able to sit down and sign them all, give them to the clients who have bought them because I'm always just so grateful for that support. So let's get on to today's guest. So today's guest is Franziska Zelle.

So Franziska is the co-founder of a marketing company, a marketing mentoring company, which is phenomenal called Basic Bananas. She also is the co-founder of a company called Businesshood, Ocean Lovers and another business called Moments of Humanity. In 2013, she was awarded the Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, recognizing her innovation, creativity and philanthropic involvement.

She is a board member of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. She sits on the judging panel for Singularity University and has run think tanks in the United Nations to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals through entrepreneurship. She is the author of two bestselling books, with a third one just released this year.

And in fact, Sir Richard Branson even wrote the foreword. And she's regularly featured in the media, including Inc., Forbes, Business Insider, Virgin, In-Flight Entertainment, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Smart Company, Dynamic Business Magazine, BRW, 2UE and Channel 9. She is a Swiss-born Aussie, which you might call a Swazi, and Franziska is known for her down-to-earth attitude, infectious energy, integrity and her courage to take the lead.
All right. Hi there. Welcome.

Thank you so much for joining us today, Franziska. Thank you so much for your time. It's so great to have you.

Franziska, I've been so looking forward to today because you are just somebody who I just seem to see everywhere, whether it's a conference or an event or whether it's through social media and Instagram feeds and Facebook, like you just have this incredible omnipresence that happens. You stand out so much and you've achieved a hell of a lot in terms of, from the bio we've just read out, you know, you're such an adventurer, you're involved in everything from between writing books, travelling, surfing, you moved here from another country. Like, I think there's some words that I've read about you that people would say you're a maverick and adventurer.

And I think all that certainly seems to be so true. But I'd love for you to share, in your words, your journey from growing up where you grew up and what made you move here and how you've ended up with this incredible series of brands and businesses that you've got.

[Speaker 1] (6:14 - 11:12)
Yeah, thanks. Thank you so much. I think when I'm listening to this question, the first thing that comes to mind, if you ask me, you know, how did I get here?

And I will quickly give you a quick background. How I got here, I believe, is playing by my strengths. By playing by my strengths and working out what my strengths are and then playing by them.

And seeing the things that I'm not good at, there are many things I'm not good at. And that also allows me to then go on adventures and do crazy stuff. I love crazy stuff.

Right now, you know, in time, when we are going through this pandemic, I have been a lot more chill and hanging up my paintings in my house that I've had for 14 years that I haven't really bothered because I'm always on the blog. And so where the heart is, I grew up in Switzerland and Switzerland is quite a conservative country and we've got a lot of rules. I feel like a lot of people follow a lot of rules and I was never into that.

I just never enjoyed having rules that didn't make sense. Same here in Australia, sometimes there are rules and I'm like, why is this rule in existence? So I was always rebelling against these rules and also authority.

I didn't really super enjoy having authority in school or in a workplace. So I knew that for me to thrive, I knew I had to do my own thing. I won't do really well under someone else.

And so I went to university in Switzerland. I studied marketing and political science in Geneva, which is the French part. I prefer French over German.

So I chose to go to Geneva, have family there. And then I got a scholarship to come to Sydney. So it's actually really funny.

When I was 16, I did an exchange here in Costa Rica for a year. So I got to Costa Rica living with a local family and I met other students that were also there on an exchange. And there were a lot of Aussies there.

They were two years older. So I was 16, they were 18 and they were crazy in my eyes. I was Swiss, very conservative, not super conservative, but I was, you know, a good girl.

And then I met all these Aussies, I'm like, yes. And I loved it. I'm like, wow, these guys are completely nuts.

They are my people. And I don't know how they brought me to Aussies. I did a lot of bad things and it was amazing.

And then I came back home to Switzerland and one of my best friends back then in Costa Rica, she was an Aussie and we're still in contact now. This is 22 years ago. And she told me that back then I told her when I was 16 that one day I will be in Australia.

I don't remember this quite, but I definitely said yes. So when I was 20, I think I applied to get a scholarship to go to Australia to go to university. I got accepted.

So I came to Australia, to Sydney University for a year to do an exchange year and loved it. Just loved the ocean and didn't study super a lot, was more busy working because I had to finance my year and my party life and studying a little bit to keep my scholarship. And just fell in love with the country and also fell in love with an Australian.

We were dating and then I went back home after a bit over a year and came back and we got married. We've been married for 10 years now. We're going through a separation.

Sorry to hear that. No, it's perfect. It's working out perfectly.

We are still best friends. You know, sometimes you drift apart. Yeah.

And we're very grown up about the whole thing. It's actually really good. It's the best outcome, I think.

And so anyway, and then so I came back here, worked in advertising and then 11 years ago, I decided that I just can't do this thing under someone else. I didn't really agree with people's processes and wasting their time on stuff that didn't need to be wasted on and charging the client for it. And just felt a little bit unethical, the whole thing.

And I'm thinking I can't do this. I need to do my own thing and do this in a better way. So started together with my ex-husband started Basic Bananas, the first business, which is now 11 years old.

And Basic Bananas is a marketing mentoring organization. So our focus is on educating people in terms of marketing. And it's grown from just the two of us in Sydney, working in a tiny apartment to 30 plus people all around the world with country partners now in Switzerland, in Sweden, which is very confusing for people.

In the US and we also work from here in New Zealand and yeah, and the other businesses that you may have mentioned earlier, they are sort of a flow on from Basic Bananas. It started with Basic Bananas. We got Basic Bananas to be a very good, solid business that people love and then that enabled us to venture out into a few other things.

[Speaker 2] (11:12 - 11:33)
So because the other businesses you've got, they sort of also seem to be around your passions because you've got Ocean Lovers, Moments of Humanity and the Business Hood. So like you said, they sort of all come off that brand, but they also sort of all complement each other as well. And they really reflect from looking through, they sort of really reflect all the parts of your personality, if you like, too.

[Speaker 1] (11:34 - 12:01)
It's very great observation and it's very true. Yes. So the Business Hood is our brand consultancy and that came out because a lot of people came to Basic Bananas and we work with small businesses, they have small budgets.

And so they often came to us with really horrible design work and it just wasn't good. So I said, Hey, why don't we just build a design agency, a branding agency? And I hired one of my best friends, another Swazi, that's why it's Aussie.

Yeah. That's so good, isn't it?

[Speaker 2] (12:01 - 12:01)
Swazi.

[Speaker 1] (12:03 - 13:19)
Yeah, she's a Swazi too. And so she also used to work in advertising for 11 years. So she's an amazing brand builder.

So I hired her to run the agency and she's amazing. So she's running that. I'm not super involved in that anymore.

I'm sort of strategic in that business, but not much else, not operational. And then Ocean Labs came about because I love the ocean. I live by the ocean.

I'm in the ocean pretty much every morning. I go for a swim or a surf, depending on the conditions. And I was floating in the ocean one day on my surfboard and I was thinking, I need to do something to help us wake up a little bit more to ocean conservation causes, but not in a way that is pointing the finger or blaming people.

And so I thought, you know what, again, I play by my strengths. What am I good at? I'm brand building.

That's my strengths. I'm making people a part of a brand that they feel proud to represent. And so the name Ocean Lovers came to me when I was sitting there and we built a brand around that.

And it's now morphing into a marketplace that is connecting people. So Ocean Lovers with products that are sustainable and made from recycled plastics or recycled materials and that fulfil a certain mandate like clean supply chain and doing good things in the world.

[Speaker 2] (13:20 - 14:16)
Francesca, I reckon you are the walking version of full self-expression in a brand. I mean, you're obviously a branding expert. And I think one of the things that people become so afraid of, and I'm sure you see this all the time, is showing those parts to their brand and to their personality.

And you're unapologetic in your full self-expression, like even in your communications and your personality. And you go to your website, yourdomain.yourown.com. I'm curious to know a few things because you know how to build a brand and particularly when it comes to building a personal brand, you do that so beautifully because, you know, there's a lot of fear and vulnerability that comes with putting yourself out there in your personal brand.

Who and what has had the greatest influence on you building brand you? So in terms of what inspires you and what is it that you've done or who has had that influence on you with building your personal brand?

[Speaker 1] (14:16 - 16:21)
Yeah, that's such a great question because I haven't been asked it and it's not something that I have thought about. The first thing that comes to mind is when I first started Basic Bananas, the first book that I read that really inspired me to do things exactly my way. As you say, unapologetically.

And I think once I did a personality test in the very beginning and my team was still pretty small and I got a word that I didn't understand. The word was irreverent. I was like, what is irreverent?

So I Googled it and I'm like, oh, that's not a very good thing. So I was a little bit, slightly disappointed to ask my team. I'm like, am I irreverent?

And is that a bad thing? They said, you're totally irreverent and it's a good thing. It just means you do things your way and it's bloody perfect.

And the first book that inspired me big time was Richard Branson's, I think maybe his first book was Losing My Virginity. Now he's one that years ago is Finding My Virginity. So that one was Losing My Virginity and I read it and I was thinking the whole entire time I was a newbie entrepreneur, this is 11 years ago.

I had no idea how to run a business and I'm thinking the whole time, this is exactly how I would love to operate and this is exactly how I will operate. He's so irreverent. He's doing his thing.

I think it starts, to be honest, it starts with having super duper clarity on what you stand for, what you believe in and really knowing that. And then just standing by that no matter what and doing it in a way that is graceful and kind and generous, not doing it in a way that is like bashing others for believing other things, but just like, hey, this is what I believe in and it's cool if you believe in other things and maybe we just don't play in the same playground and that's great. You see a lot of people building their personal brands, doing this bashing, but it's very forceful and it just feels like a little bit maybe fake by being so forceful and the way I go about it for me is to just live and breathe what I believe without bashing what other people think, which is in contradiction to what I think or stand for.

Yes.

[Speaker 2] (16:21 - 16:58)
And Francesca, you spoke a lot of, a few times there, particularly around strengths, like you said, you did a personality test and this is what came up. I know I'm putting you on the spot, so I don't know if you'll think of anything off the spot, but I'm thinking about, I think of a time when you have been building your brand and you've perhaps, there may be that you hit a time where you went, you know what, I just have to do this because it is a strength, not because I'm trying to fix a weakness here or fix something, where you really had to step into your strength and you really made a conscious choice about that and you wouldn't have done that if you weren't perhaps really aware, if that really was a strength for you.

Yeah.

[Speaker 1] (16:59 - 19:03)
I think in terms of building my personal brand, the two things that have lacked in building my personal brand, one is the time because I choose my time very wisely and most of my time has gone to building businesses. So my process has been to build businesses and then sort of my personal brand is just a by-product of building these businesses. So my focus for the last 11 years has been on the businesses, especially also right now, again with COVID, it's been this business, I've been able to step back a lot and then I just started going nuts on the traveling and, you know, spending four months of the year doing all the random stuff, which we might get, but now again, because I'm a little bit in lockdown, the borders are closed here, I can't go anywhere. Okay.

My focus right now needs to be on this business because we need to trust the business model. And then my personal brand, Francisco Kessler, has been a by-product. So that's one thing.

But then to answer your question, there have been times like, for example, writing books are obviously really good for both, they're good for business depending on what business you run and they're really good for personal branding. And I've written three books and a fourth one now coming in. This is a great example.

The one that I'm writing right now, I got a deal with Wiley and I really didn't want to write this book. This is not a book I want to write. They approached me because they couldn't get the last book.

I gave it to a different publisher. And so they came back a few months later and said, Hey, would you be willing to write another book on social media strategies? I said, I don't really want to write that book, but I can.

I did, but it's not my passion. And so I just said, I can't do it. It just depends a little bit on the deal that you've got and the timeline, etc.

So they gave me a really good deal. And I said, yes. So that's an example of me doing something right now that I don't really want to do.

But it's really good for my personal brand. The setup is perfect with having a deal. And also it's good for my business, Basic Nana.

Yeah.

[Speaker 2] (19:03 - 19:57)
You can obviously pull a few words together pretty quickly. Like you're good at being able to pull something together and you know how to do that, you're good at being able to publish that, you know how to pull that out. So that's great.

Well, that's one tool that we'll all be looking out for. So we'll be keeping an eye out for that on the shelves. And so my other question to you is based on what's happening at the moment, particularly coming out of, well, you know, we're right in the thick of COVID at the moment, and we've got a big road ahead of us for the next few years, at least, based on your experience and what you've seen, not only with the brands you've built, but also the personal brands, what do you think is the biggest challenge for personal brands in the next two to three years, or the biggest opportunity that perhaps you see for those who are building their brand and building their tribes and creating their content?

[Speaker 1] (19:57 - 23:23)
Yeah, that's a great question. And I'll ask your second question, the biggest opportunity, because I feel like there was a quote, I'm sure it was Winston Churchill who said, never waste a good crisis. And I really believe in that.

When this crisis hit and everybody started to put their head in the sand and going frantic and buying toilet paper and doing all this stuff, I was sitting here and I was thinking I'm either delusional or I'm just really good at harnessing a crisis because I'm here busy, focusing, making money and working in a way that is changing the future of our businesses while everybody else is worried about toilet paper.

And I did have moments where some of my best friends who are very, especially one of my best friends, she's very smart and she would call and she would say, Francisca, do you have supplies for the next few months or so? I'm like, no, I buy fresh food. Do you have frozen mangoes?

Do you have canned food? No, I don't like canned food. And there were moments where I thought I'm completely delusional here.

I'm sitting here working. So this is an opportunity and it's an opportunity for people that can stay calm in a crisis and can lead because that's what, especially personal brands, what the world needs right now is people who can lead with calm and with authority, with direction. And again, not with force and not with being too pushy, but just by being.

And the opportunity for personal brands is to do that, is to lead. And the second thing I would say is this is something that I workshopped yesterday with some of our members is looking at your business model again. So right now is such a good time to look at your business model.

So most of us, personal brands or businesses, we have a strategy, whether we know it or not, we sort of have a strategy of how we want to compete in the market. So some people have it written down. It's good to have it written a little bit, but if not, you do have a bit of a strategy of, you know, this is how I want to compete in the market.

This is my audience, this is what I offer. And then we have a business model, which is part of the strategy. And the business model is how we operate.

So how do we deliver? Do we run courses? Do we do this just online or do we do this through licensing, for example?

Or do we do this by finding the opportunity also now? Can we go global now from maybe being more local by partnering with people in different countries, for example, that we're doing? So it's an opportunity to look at your strategy and especially the business model of how you operate and see how you can amplify and magnify your message by leveraging what we have now, which is a more virtual world, more people that need employment, so other people that maybe can partner with you that need employment to amplify your message.

There is so much that you can explore right now that you should be exploring. And you always hear people say, oh, the new normal, and I'm so tired of hearing it, the new normal. So I think we just need to stop thinking that there is a new normal and just forget that we will ever go back to what it was before and just pretend that everything is going to change again, because it might change again.

[Speaker 2] (23:23 - 24:54)
Yeah, it's so funny you say that. I was actually reading a newsletter from Lorna Patton this morning. So she's based there where you are around the Northern Beaches.

And she said, I'm sorry, I haven't written a newsletter for some time. But she said, every time I go to write the newsletter every week, something changes. So she said, I flat out even being able to write my newsletter at the moment.

And it's so true. It's something that you're planning to happen was different two days ago. And today it's, you know, you're actually that's not relevant anymore.

So keen to also ask you with all the incredible success that you've had from your journey with moving countries, I just am always in awe of people who can move countries. I did an exchange a bit like you when I was 16 years old. I went to France, actually.

But, you know, back then at 16, that was so bold back there. And today to think to do that, I'd go, I don't know if I could do that today. What was I thinking back then?

But, you know, I'm always in awe of people, especially who can move countries, because I think that's incredible. And now not only that, but to have created the successful businesses that you've had, that you've built your ability to be fully self-expressed, not only just in your work and your branding, but in brands that you actually build as well. If you reflected back over all your success and even all the things that perhaps haven't gone to plan, if you had your time again with building your personal brand and the brands you've got, is there anything that you would have done differently?

Perhaps people can learn from that you go, don't do this.

[Speaker 1] (24:54 - 27:28)
Yeah, I would do two things, I believe, differently. And this is something I do encourage people to think about. I have to say, the first thing I have always been pretty good at, the first thing that I would do even more earlier is outsource everything that I'm not very good at.

Everything. I remember when I first started Basic Bananas and I was so focused and I was working so hard because that's what you do when you start a new business, hopefully to make it a success. And I was working like all the time.

And so I decided and there wasn't that much money coming in and I didn't have a lot of savings. I just had a little bit from my advertising career that went into the business, but there wasn't that much there. There was maybe 10 months or so in there to survive without making a lot of money.

And we obviously made it past that 10 months, but I decided to hire a cleaner in that beginning. It was like a big decision. It was like, oh, my God.

Yeah. When you have no money, basically, and you're starting a business, I can clean. It will take me two hours to clean my place once a week.

So why the heck do I need to pay someone? And the reason why I needed to pay someone is so that I never have to think about it ever again. And those two hours.

And plus all the thinking about cleaning that I really don't like, it's going to take me away from building a good business. And so that's the first thing. And then I started to understand everything in the beginning.

You know, you do everything yourself. And I have to say, I've never built a website or I've never done any of that stuff. Luckily, it would drive me nuts and I never will.

But even things like video editing, I would never video edit. I've never done it. Podcast editing.

I would never put all these things that I know it would take me too long to learn. It would be annoying. I outsource everything.

And I would say the thing I would change is outsource even earlier. Right. Because the time to be safe outsourcing that stuff, you just focus on a better business.

And the second thing, which is sort of related to that, is I would take more risks earlier to invest more money back into the business. I don't completely say that's the thing to do. But for me, looking back, I would probably have invested more of the revenue back into the business to grow faster.

We've done it quite organically, which was a good thing. But if I would change it, I would probably go, OK, we have revenue coming in now. Let's take more of that and put it back into the business to grow faster, either by spending it on really good marketing campaigns or even by hiring someone a little bit earlier, maybe a full time person.

So those are the two things. I love that.

[Speaker 2] (27:28 - 28:02)
So for two reasons. One is that how often do you find that you're doing so many things in your own practice, particularly on the brand new that are just, like you said before, not your strength? And cleaning could even be your strength, but it's not necessarily the best use of your time.

And you've got to let go, don't you? Because particularly if you like your cleaning and you like it done a certain way, but at some point you have to let some things go a little bit because the return is just not necessarily there, is it? So I think you're spot on.

Yeah, even particularly for women.

[Speaker 1] (28:02 - 28:41)
Absolutely. Yes, I agree. And so many entrepreneurs are very, they can't let go, as you say, and they're very micromanaging.

But if you want to grow, there's another one of my favorite proverbs that I'm sure you know, is if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. Yeah.

So you have a cleaner. And I felt really guilty the first time I hired a cleaner because I'm like my family, my mom never had a cleaner. Here I am, a 20 something year old that has a cleaner, I never told her she would have totally busted.

So I felt guilty, you know, even from like back home, like you don't do that.

[Speaker 2] (28:41 - 29:44)
Oh, you're right. Yeah, because guilt drives, I think for women, guilt drives us on a lot of decisions. And I think cleaning is certainly one of those.

But man, the freedom that comes with and the joy that comes with a clean house and you didn't have to do it. I also really like what you said about it's even the mental bandwidth. It's not just the two hours of actually doing it.

It's that I've got to get to that. Oh, I've got to do that. Oh, I must do that.

I've got to do this. And if it's just done, it's actually just out of the bandwidth and you can just stay focused. So I love that.

And then I love the other one, which is the irony of somebody who's such an adventurer that you, well, it's probably not ironic in that you said take risks and do them earlier. So being bold, be brave. It sounds like based on what you were saying, though, is you're looking at the return.

So if you'll take those risks, but you're still looking at, OK, well, even though we got the cash flow to do that, but the return will be this. So you're better off to do it sooner and just get going is what I'm hearing.

[Speaker 1] (29:44 - 30:11)
Yeah, it's a really great point that you're making here because you also see startups sometimes and this is usually in the case where there's funding, where they get funding and they're like, OK, now we need to get a fancy office. We need to get a pool table. We need to get all this fancy stuff, we need to get beer on tap.

No, you don't need any of that until you have the revenue to fund that stuff. You don't need that stuff. So, yes, invest early, but invest it in stuff exactly as you say.

That brings you the return.

[Speaker 2] (30:12 - 30:22)
The return. So, Francesca, tell us, what are you up to next? You've obviously got your book underway with Wiley and what else is happening?

So what are we watching out for?

[Speaker 1] (30:23 - 32:17)
Well, in an ideal world, I would be heading back to South America at the end of 2020, which is not going to happen. I started riding my motorbike from the south end of South America. I'd love to go all the way north to take a boat up there.

But go to Central America and just I'd love to ride all around the world. I've done from Europe into Asia. And so that would be ideal.

That's not going to happen. So that will maybe happen next year. So what's going to happen is that I'm going to finish this book, which I have four weeks till my deadline.

I'll be OK with that. And then my focus will be on is and will be on basic manners and expanding basic manners more globally into more countries through partnerships. So the way that we have now revisited our model is that we are almost like licensing our business, basic manners, into different countries.

So we have, for example, the newest one is Sweden. And Anna, who is a consultant, she is now a basic manners consultant and running the programs in Sweden. And we facilitate everything.

We do all the marketing. We train her, of course, and everything. So that's focused.

The beautiful thing about this expansion is that we don't go out there and find people. People find us. It's always been like that with every country that we've added.

It's always been people finding us. And then if they're the right fit, that's where we go and we try. It's very low cost to try at least, you know, take a little and spend some money and maybe lose some money.

But, you know, if it's going to work or not. And so that will be a focus. And Ocean Lovers also will be a focus for the last quarter of this year once I finish the book in terms of getting more people on board that have great support, supporting small businesses that have great products and putting them on our marketplace so that we can help them be seen by more Ocean Lovers.
[Speaker 2] (32:19 - 33:06)
That's fantastic. So exciting. And I think what you were saying before about particularly with licensing, you know, we see that a lot, particularly with a lot of our listeners who have built personal brands and they've built a product, a suite of products.

And I guess there'll be one that will come through that will be a light. That'll be, OK, am I going to license this? Am I going to?

How do I expand this? And I really like what you said about they found you. And that's the power of a magnetic brand, really, isn't it?

That's the work that's been done and that you have built the credibility in the brand and the business model and all those things is that you've done that really well. That's creating positioning and all those things that create the magnetization that you just start to attract the right people to you. It's a lot less push and a little bit more pull and attraction, isn't it?

[Speaker 1] (33:07 - 33:56)
So, yeah, and if we want to go a little bit more fluffy, I do believe in the universe almost. When you do the work and you do great work and you put in your heart and soul and as you had some great ways of expressing this, your fullest expression into what you do into your personal brand, the universe will conspire with you. And it really does.

I mean, we got connected somehow to a connection. And this is what happens, I think, when you put your greatest work out there and you mean it. You don't just do it.

You would see this a lot. You see a lot of personal brands and like, oh, great. Yeah, I've seen someone else make money online.

I'm going to put together some crappy course. It's not going to work. You have to put in your soul and your heart and your best stuff for people who want it.

And then the universe will conspire.

[Speaker 2] (33:56 - 35:10)
Yeah. Look, I think there's so much for us to learn from you. And I think not just personal brands, but just in all of you and your success and your generosity, your vibrance and your vitality, I think not just in your brand, but in you as a human being and your spirit of generosity, I think really aligns with certainly the community that listens to our podcast.

I'd say conscious marketers, they're very much about generosity, that spirit of kindness and being able to really help people to achieve their potential. So I know your name comes up in our community every now and again. So it's been really great to be able to connect with you today.

And we'll all be watching from afar and cheering you on and and look forward to hearing about your book when that comes out. So we'll keep an eye out for that. Hopefully we might be on planes and it will be in airports.

Otherwise, that's a whole other distribution channel that needs to be worked out. But again, we wish you absolutely every success and we can't wait to hear more about it when it comes out. And also, thank you so much for your advice and generous sharing of all your business lessons learned.

That's been so fantastic today. Thank you so much for your time.

[Speaker 1] (35:10 - 35:24)
It's my super pleasure. I really enjoy these conversations and I love when I get to talk to someone who is doing a great job and wanting to make an impact because it's one of my values. So this is perfect.

I really appreciate you also and for the work that you're doing.

[Speaker 2] (35:24 - 35:32)
Thank you. And Francisco, if you want people to follow you or to learn more about some of your businesses, where would you like them to go?

[Speaker 1] (35:32 - 36:29)
I do have a personal website, which is under my name, franciscaizalee.com and that place is more of a hub to see what else I'm doing. I don't publish a lot on there. The main place where I'm sharing lessons and we're doing video and podcasts and things on basic bananas, especially useful for business owners and personal brands.

And we also have, at the moment we're doing, since the pandemic, we started doing a workshop for free, which is a two hour live session we run once a month live from our headquarter here in Sydney. And it's a session to help people put together a one page marketing plan. It's super useful.

It's a fun session because we get joined by our country partners. So it's very engaging. And the link is basicbananas.com forward slash virtual summit. Okay. And that's a free session. People can join if they would love to.

Great. And then also on social media, I'm just on my personal name and then basic bananas and all the other businesses can be found on my website.

[Speaker 2] (36:29 - 36:54)
All right. Terrific. Well, for those who are listening, if you're on the podcast, please jump on to basic bananas backslash virtual summit.

If you've jumped on the website, I will make sure that the links are there so that you can go on and find out more about that. Sounds like a fantastic session to jump on. It's on each month for a couple of hours.

I get to actually build your marketing plan. Yeah, that's great.

[Speaker 1] (36:54 - 37:12)
An amazing session. We have people from all around the world. Last time we had people from one person, at least from Pakistan and then lots of Sweden and Switzerland and UK.

And we do it in different time zones. So once we swap it up so different people can join you from the US or from the European Oh, that's terrific.

[Speaker 2] (37:13 - 37:36)
Oh, that's great. Well, we'll certainly put that in the links and you can keep an eye out and make sure you follow Francisca and the Basic Bananas team across social media. They have some great stuff, really useful content and super valuable and really helpful for you and your practice and your business as it's growing.

So thank you again for today. And I look forward to reconnecting again in future. Absolutely.

My pleasure.