In short
Podcast Episode Summary: Female Startup Club - Why I Disappeared Last Year, And How I Still Get Everything Done with Doone Roisin
Episode Overview In this episode, host Doone Roisin is interviewed by her husband, focusing on her experiences over the past year, particularly why she was less active in her podcasting and social media efforts. The conversation delves into themes of ambition, energy management, and the realities of success that often go unseen.
Key Themes
- Personal Struggles: Doone shares her experiences dealing with burnout and the pressures of managing her business alongside her health issues.
- Reality of Success: The episode emphasizes the messy, unpolished aspects of entrepreneurship that are often overlooked in the public eye.
- Systems and Structure: Doone discusses the importance of maintaining systems and structures to keep business operations running smoothly.
Key Points Discussed
Personal Journey and Challenges
- Burnout and Stress: Doone felt overwhelmed during her participation in Techstars, which compounded existing challenges related to her health and energy.
- Loss of Systems: She attributes her decreased podcast activity to losing her structured approach and systems after her team member transitioned, making it difficult to manage her responsibilities.
Insights on Ambition and Energy
- Ambition: Doone reflects on the "wouldn't it be cool if" mindset that often drives her goals and aspirations.
- Energy Management: She highlights the importance of recognizing personal limits and the need to prioritize tasks effectively.
Interviewing Insights
- Nervousness in Interviews: Doone shares her own nervousness when interviewed, contrasting this with her experience as an interviewer.
- Building Comfort: She discusses how she aims to create a comfortable atmosphere for her guests during interviews.
Common Traits Among Women Entrepreneurs
- Desire for More: A recurring theme among the successful women Doone has interviewed is a shared desire to break away from the norm and pursue greater ambitions.
- Courage to Choose the Hard Path: Many of these women prefer taking risks and facing challenges rather than settling for conventional paths.
Neurodivergence and ADHD
- ADHD Diagnosis: Doone discusses her ADHD diagnosis and how it has helped her understand her unique thought processes and challenges.
- Body Doubling: She learns about techniques like body doubling to enhance focus and productivity.
Manifesting Goals
- Practical Manifestation: Doone shares her practical approach to manifesting goals, emphasizing that it involves actionable steps and not just wishful thinking.
- Public Declaration of Goals: She believes that vocalizing desires can lead to opportunities and support from others.
Health and Life Balance
- Prioritizing Health: Doone emphasizes that, amidst her busy life, she recognizes the need to balance her health with her ambitions.
- Year of Travel and Personal Growth: Last year was filled with significant travel and personal milestones, which were prioritized over her podcasting efforts.
Final Thoughts
- Looking Forward: Doone expresses excitement about her future endeavors and the new systems being put in place to enhance her productivity.
- Community Engagement: She encourages listeners to engage with the Female Startup Club community for shared learning and support.
Call to Action
- Subscribe and Engage: Doone invites listeners to subscribe to the podcast, engage with the Female Startup Club community, and participate in discussions that inspire and support aspiring women entrepreneurs.
---
This summary encapsulates the main points and discussions from the latest episode of the Female Startup Club, reflecting on Doone Roisin's personal experiences, insights into entrepreneurship, and the importance of community and structure in achieving success.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VONew Year, New Format
0:45 to 4:12
Discussion about the new format for the podcast and setting the tone.
“Alright so should we get started or do you want to say anything before we get cracking?”
Defining Your Dreams
4:12 to 9:28
Exploration of personal dreams and achieving them realistically.
“So I think more inside and don't, I mean, you know this about me.”
Nervousness in Interviews
9:28 to 12:58
Insights on feeling nervous when being interviewed and managing anxiety.
“Whereas I know for sure that I'm someone that really needs quiet alone time, kind of rest and recharging time after I've socialized in like most capacities.”
Public Speaking and Confidence
12:58 to 14:02
Discussing the challenges of public speaking and building confidence.
“You just got to get up there and be like, what's the worst that can happen?”
Investor Roulette and Pressure
14:02 to 15:10
Doone shares a personal experience of stress during investor pitches.
“I feel like it just takes a little bit of that pressure off and like, then other people also can relate more to me because that's just truly how I feel.”
Common Traits of Successful Women
15:10 to 17:49
Exploration of common traits found among successful women entrepreneurs.
“Like you're getting like props to you to do all this stuff that's so random and so new and different and like incredible.”
Understanding ADHD and Its Impact
17:49 to 21:00
Discussion on Doone's ADHD diagnosis and its implications on her life.
“People who are just like, I'd rather take the harder path to get to where I'm trying to go than the safe and easy path that is the norm.”
Practical Solutions for ADHD
21:00 to 23:06
Doone shares practical strategies to cope with ADHD challenges.
“Yeah, I mean, just everything my whole life.”
Current Obsessions and Favorites
23:06 to 24:14
A light-hearted discussion about Doone's current obsessions.
“I mean, I've always been pretty obsessed with Justin Bieber.”
The Power of Manifestation
24:14 to 28:01
Doone explains her approach to manifesting goals and dreams.
“Like, you've just said that not long ago, literally about three weeks ago or something.”
Show all 19 chapters
Navigating Conceptual Challenges
28:01 to 29:52
Learn how practical steps can help in achieving goals and overcoming overwhelm.
“So I can't, it's like when I struggle to understand like concepts and things like this, when I need to know the practical steps of how to do something.”
The Struggles of a Content Creator
29:53 to 33:59
Discover the challenges faced while managing a podcast amidst personal and professional chaos.
“And, and whether it's like self-imposed pressure or not, it's just, I had the pressure.”
Embracing New Beginnings
34:00 to 36:02
Explore the excitement of transitioning to a new podcast setup and the importance of systems.
Fun and Games: Smash or Pass
36:03 to 39:24
Engage in a light-hearted segment discussing celebrity crushes and preferences.
“okay okay so pass timothy chalamet like his looks or his dance moves or smash or pass you choose smash.”
Reflections on Phone Addiction
39:25 to 41:49
Examine the impact of phone addiction and the desire for a digital detox.
“And so then what is your word for this year?”
Setting Intentions for the New Year
41:50 to 42:05
Learn about the importance of choosing a guiding word for personal growth in the new year.
Reflecting on Last Year's Word: Variety
42:05 to 43:35
Discover how embracing variety influenced Doone's life choices last year.
“much and doing all these things all over the world and then moving back to Australia where we really needed to just like reset and like settle and kind of be more in one place I then got really like antsy about that.”
Choosing a New Word for the Year
43:35 to 45:30
Learn about the conversations around selecting meaningful words for personal growth this year.
“all these things kind of also fell apart and whatever, but maybe it all needed to fall apart to come back to now.”
Brainstorming New Themes: Maximize
45:30 to 45:52
Join in on a light-hearted discussion about the theme of maximizing experiences for the year.
“Oh, I think I know what my word might be because it's a word that I just like in general.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Let's take this show on the road. Imagine a world where gender equality is the norm and women have equal access to the same financial opportunities regardless of our personal circumstances. Hi, I'm Dune, founder of Female Startup Club and your personal hype girl. This is the pod for you if you're starting a side hustle, scaling your biz or looking for inspo. We cover venture capital, personal finance, selling your biz and keeping your mental health in check from entrepreneurs like Refinery29's co-founder Piera Gelati and Ju Ru, who sold Hero Cosmetics for$650 million. Slide into my DMs if there's a question you want answered and let's get into today's episode.
1:00all right welcome everyone ladies and the few gentlemen in the audience new year new format new year new you so what we decided to do is have more fun so we love fun we're gonna try new formats way more chaotic uh kind of mixes some serious questions some stupid questions some silly questions, some spicy questions and see where it takes us. I've got the sweats. Really? Yeah I'm a bit nervous. This is new. Alright so should we get started or do you want to say anything before we get cracking? No let's do it. Drum roll. Alright so let's jump straight into it with a very serious question. What is your dream?
1:49Like in life or this year? you choose oh gosh what is my dream I mean one of them was to meet Oprah I want to have a show on Netflix buy more clothes want to change the world I don't know that's a tough one I need like a little starting point like a seedling I agree it's really hard like when I was writing those questions I was asking myself and I'm like I don't know you know the classic you know help children in africa become a tennis player or you know all of these but i'm not too sure i think you yeah i'm like i'm becoming a k-pop star i'm a singer in another life you get to choose i think i need to phone a friend yeah i think you know like now you can kind of reduce it to a more micro level and be like what is that you're trying to achieve now what does your dream life kind of look like and I think that's that's quite interesting because that's a realistic way of achieving the dream life if that makes sense which yeah we've discussed a lot about that well I posted this TikTok earlier and it's of Beck and I Beck's my best friend and we're like laughing recording something silly and I was like thinking about how we like manifested or like we we We had this dream to live two minutes away from each other and like be close and see each other like every other day.
3:21And now that's happened. We engineered our life to be like that. And so I think like this year is more of those things where, you know, usually I'll start something and be like in my head, be like, I wish I could or wouldn't it be cool if or like that, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot. And then those thoughts, I then think to myself, okay, well, maybe it is possible or maybe we could do that or whatever. So to get to the answer, long story short for my dream life this year, I think it's definitely about leaning into those kinds of things. And I'm not giving like an exact answer right now because I'm having a brain blank, but doing those kinds of things that I think to myself wouldn't it be cool if that's good we can always revisit that further into the episode circle back okay so you've interviewed over 700 founders and leaders what does it feel like to not be the one in control of the questions i've got the sweats i don't know what to tell you i get nervous when it's flipped around i'm i'm a nervous person my thoughts like my internal thoughts are different to my external voice, I think.
4:40Can you unpack that a bit? Well, I'm a loop thinker. So I think more inside and don't, I mean, you know this about me. This is an ongoing dune issue, but I think it's hard to communicate sometimes the internal to the external. So yeah, I get nervous because I'm overthinking and I'm having a conversation inside that's going really really fast before I'm saying the things out loud so I've especially if it's something live or it's something like an interview I'm trying to manage the two tracks or whatever multiple tracks and so it's difficult to be like trying to communicate the right thing and say the right words because it's going faster in my brain that's so interesting and so then I get really nervous do you kind of like ever think about that might be happening to the person you're interviewing and therefore maybe alter the way you ask questions or take it slower or give more time no I don't think so because I got given this piece of advice that first time I went live on tv with Startup Daily, I got given this piece of advice that whatever kind of like starts coming out, even if you forget the question or like you don't really like answer it the way that you think you want to, instead of trying to backtrack and get to the right point, just keep going and like speak with confidence and like let it flow.
6:12And so like you're letting it flow. So maybe other people don't realize that you're struggling on the inside. And I kind of like tucked that in my back pocket and was like, I'm going to use that forever because that's just like the best advice that I needed in that moment. And so I think it's just like kind of talking and kind of going with the flow. And even if you forget the question and ramble and blah, blah, blah, blah, and take like many pathways to get to the answer, the person listening, like the viewer or the audience, they don't remember the question anyway. So I just think like, that's what it's like for me.
6:48and I don't even notice like if someone else is nervous on the other side because I'm chattering away and it's I'm not the focus so you know I love being the focus one of the comments or feedback I hear all the time is that you made people feel so comfortable and it was such a nice talk and all of this stuff so I guess maybe maybe just before we go to the next question if you have any piece of advice for anyone interviewing someone in the future what other thing to pay attention to or you know I guess I don't really think about it like an interview I think about it like I've met some chick at a party and I'm just really interested in what she's doing and I want to understand the same way I would be at a party like it's just like my natural self I'm not trying to be like some fancy interviewer that's like got the toolkit I think it's just about like being yourself and like following your own curiosity with questions and like what you actually just personally want to know and what you're interested in I guess the thing is, as someone doing this for the first time, the difficulty, and this is where you've absolutely nailed it.
7:52I mean, of course, you've interviewed over 700 people. That's over 42 ,000 minutes of recording that you've done, which is so crazy when you think about it. Me with my girl mouth, I was like, wow, that doesn't seem to add up. Yeah, because it's about an hour for sure. But isn't that crazy? Yeah, I guess so. as someone doing it for the first time the difficulty is i feel like i've got the list and i'm gonna you know pay attention to what the questions what the next questions are which is the wrong way to do that i can already tell i've really got to ask the question and focus 100 percent on what you say and then wait until that finishes to then think about the next one because otherwise i could already be pre-thinking how i want to say it anyway oh i mean real boring don't worry i've been there i think it's like difficult or it's just a skill that you have to learn that you have to actively listen.
8:45And then also at the same time, internally actively prepare for the next thing. So it's like, just kind of keeping ahead of what's happening and being like very switched on. So to go back with the theme that obviously you've been interviewing tons of people, but you haven't been interviewed as much. What do you think people get wrong about you? I mean, one that I know for sure, people think I'm more of an extrovert, whereas I'm definitely more of an introvert with extrovert qualities and I present as an extrovert as a deflection or as a like coping mechanism. So it serves me really well in life.
9:22But I think that people usually think that because I do show up loud and vibrant, that means that I'm more extroverted than I am. Whereas I know for sure that I'm someone that really needs quiet alone time, kind of rest and recharging time after I've socialized in like most capacities. And so I think most people get that wrong. They think that I'm naturally like really confident, really extrovert, whereas actually I'm not confident. I am just more like, well, I want to be more confident. So therefore with brute force, I will get there by just like doing the thing on repeat and building my confidence that way.
10:06Like being scared to interview someone, I remember the first few times, and then you go on to do it for over 750 times. I mean, allergically, like allergic to it. Like so nervous I could vomit. Speaking on stage a few minutes before you go on stage. Oh God. If people could see that, because you know what's funny, I guess, It must be the exact same thing for most artists and stuff like that, even when they're like, you know, on show 2000. But we don't see that. And we just think that they're so confident and all that. But yet before, it's kind of interesting because you really have that little freak out moment just before you're about to go.
10:45Yeah. And then you absolutely smash it. But what goes through your mind every time? I think it's actually for me not the few minutes before. I think I'm more nervous in the lead up because then I'm like thinking about it, thinking about it, thinking about it. Whereas when I'm like dressed and I'm in like an outfit where I'm like feeling myself and I'm like, fuck yeah, I look hot. I'm like, and I've got the shoes on and I've got like everything like organized because I'm a perfectionist. I feel much more confident in those quick moments before because I also tell myself, okay, well, even if I was to fall over and like flash my dress or something or like worst case scenario, that's the worst case I could think of I mean that's the best case scenario for us I I'm just like that's not so bad that's just like well you'd pick yourself up and be like sorry um so I don't think I'm that nervous like in the lead up it's like in the minutes before it's in the lead up that I feel a bit more like wanting like everything to be perfect and like the vision that I have and the things that I want to say but I'm such a prepared speaker I don't like riffing like this.
11:56I like having my talking points and like knowing what we're going to be discussing and like being quite prepared with my, you know, the messages that I want to get across. How does it feel before you go on stage in the stress moment for it? Yeah, I find like I'm more nervous, like, you know, I'm speaking next week. And I'm more nervous now than I will be when I'm there and when I'm dressed and like ready. And I've done my prep and I've done my breathing exercises and I'm like the adrenaline kicks in and then you're less nervous I think but certainly in the beginning I was way more nervous with public speaking like in the moment because if you don't have practice yet you don't have practice and I've never been a public speaker I've always been like oh if two people in front of me I have to talk to them I could vomit any piece of advice for anyone that is stressed and needs to go and speak in front of A light audience?
12:54Just like death by a thousand cuts. You just got to do it. You just got to get up there and be like, what's the worst that can happen? I say something dumb. I say something stupid. I fall over. But like nerves are just like a sign that you're human. So I'm like, whatever. I think something that you've done in the past, which has gotten incredible responses from the kind of audience is to even start with opening and saying how nervous you are be like hey I'm so happy to be here but just so you guys know I'm I'm incredibly nervous and you've done that a few times and every time like it's just nailed it yeah I think like for me just most people will say like I think the advice out there is like don't do that like always just like say you're confident but that's so not me like I'm more just who I am on stage.
13:49And so by saying that, I almost like relax a bit more because I'm like, I am nervous. Like this isn't like the norm feeling for me yet. Like I haven't been doing this all my life and I am a nervous person. So I don't know. I feel like it just takes a little bit of that pressure off and like, then other people also can relate more to me because that's just truly how I feel. I mean, I remember, oh, that's right. This is what I was going to say before. I remember one day last year when we were in Techstars, I'd bought this like cute little pink jumpsuit, bodysuit thing. And it was one of the days where we did like investor roulette.
14:32So you meet and you pitch like 12 investors back to back. And we were doing that for a series of days. And I think it was like the first day of meeting investors. And like, we hadn't nailed my pitch. We had all these things that like hadn't been sorted. So like I knew I was going to look dumb and I wasn't raising. So I knew I wasn't the profile either of what investors are expecting to sit down and see. And when I got home, I'd been so nervous that the dye from the bodysuit had stained under my arms like hot pink. And I took it off and I was like, oh my God, like I've literally poisoned myself because I was so stressed.
15:13I mean, I guess that's normal. Like you're getting like props to you to do all this stuff that's so random and so new and different and like incredible. And I guess you can count yourself as part of those incredible women that you've interviewed. You probably are one of the person in the world that's spoken to the most amount of successful women around. Like you'd be in the top, you know, five people that have done that because 700 people all women that have created businesses that do incredible you know some upwards of you know hundreds of million in revenue a year all of this also other people doing incredible thing in their own rights what do you think is kind of common trait that you've seen across all of those women or it can it can also be across you know whatever else you see but can you see something clear or yeah it's funny because i get asked that question all the time I feel like it's the first question that people ask me and there's like, there's traits and patterns that feel more like obvious.
16:11And then I would say there are like less traits and patterns between everyone because everyone has such different backgrounds and such different stories. But the traits and patterns that seem to like stick with me are women who don't want the norm, women who want a bigger life for themselves, who see something for themselves or for the world. They want to change the world. They want to invent something or create something or do something that fulfills them and gives them purpose and allows them to like build their dream life. whereas if you wanted the kind of like easy safe route you would just stick with the norm you would do the nine to five because that is the easy easy route and there's nothing wrong with that at all not saying there's anything wrong with that but I think that a lot of women or maybe instead when I think about that question I think about myself and I think about how I just didn't suit the nine to five.
17:11And for me, that was like painful. Like I could not deal with like school, the rules, that's just like soul sucking for me. There's just no other option. And so I see a lot of that kind of energy in a lot of the women that I interview where they're like, it's just not even an option. I just, that's not what I want for myself. I want more. I want a different life. I want to design my lifestyle. I want to work towards whatever it might be a financial goal, wealth, something for their family, you know, something to change the world, whatever it might be. And I think that it's that kind of thing that is most common.
17:49People who are just like, I'd rather take the harder path to get to where I'm trying to go than the safe and easy path that is the norm. And it's easier. And I think that that's probably the common thing which also might be like a neurodivergent thing i heard some stat that a lot of founders are on the spectrum well one of the topics we're going to cover a bit later is your adhd diagnosis was it last year the year before it was the year before because that surely that's maybe we're going to talk about it now game changer what happened there what did you discover? How do you feel? I mean, I learned more about why I am the way that I am and that I'm not stupid.
18:38I just don't fit in normal scenarios like school and like the nine to five. I know that like last year going into Techstars was one of those things that I found so challenging because it didn't even cross my mind that this would be like hard in any way. To me, I was just like, cool, like groovy, let's go. And to get into this environment where I was so out of my comfort zone and kind of really reminded that I struggle in those types of environments and that it was such a professionally hard in terms of having to manage the business that you're running, but also the programming, you know, doing 12 pitches with investors back to back for two weeks in a row, then doing it with mentors, then doing it with investors again, but managing like your entire schedule at the same time, your team, your like life, I guess, was just like a lot.
19:41And I found it really personally difficult. And it was weird because I guess I haven't been in that like environment for such a long time, that corporate kind of environment, but like bright lights, so much noise, so many people, so much like distraction, so much, um, like interruption. It was just like, so more like personally and professionally hard than I just couldn't have even imagined because it didn't even cross my mind that it would be hard. Like, Like I was just like, it literally never crossed my mind. And so I think like having been diagnosed before that and then going into that experience and being like, oh, okay, like that makes more sense now that that's because my brain works differently versus like being like, what the fuck, why, like why do I struggle with this thing that is so normal and like I don't understand why it's more hard for me.
20:44Are there any more like practical and tangible thing? Because, you know, like you've obviously done 10 ,000 hours of chat GPTing around that topic and subject and trying to understand this and like what are the causes? What are the, you know, like approach it like this? It means this and all of this stuff. Are there like practical specific things that comes to mind right now about how the things that you thought were normal or abnormal and now there's been kind of like explained by the fact that you've got some sort of, you know, neurodivergence? Yeah, I mean, just everything my whole life. like oh my oh okay um I would have to like really think deeper about it but I know that now having like known the way that my brain pathways work or whatever I can understand like how I should be working or how to like get the best out of something versus like being hard on myself and being like what the hell like you're so stupid like why can't you do this like why is this really easy thing, not easy for you.
21:52And like, I guess an example of just one tiny thing that I learned actually during Techstars was the concept or the principle of like body doubling. Like if I'm sitting there trying to do a task myself, especially if it's any kind of really simple, nothing task, like building a deck presentation or whatever, a spreadsheet, I will do 50 tasks at once all at the same time and be like trying to do a multi-million things and kind of get nothing done. And it'll take me so long and I won't know how to do it. And I'll go back and forth and I'll research till the end of time. And then I'll have everyone give me examples.
22:30And then all the things when actually I just need someone to sit next to and like help step me through it and keep me on track. And like body doubling is like one of those tiny things that like I'd never even heard of that as a, as a concept or something that really works for ADHD people but it like actually does because it kind of keeps you like single focus and like lets you kind of finish whatever it is that you're trying to finish and cannot finish i mean for us the example is endless like sound sensitivity and like noises and textures and oh yeah i'm very sensory but i'm also a contradiction because like i'm so sensitive to sound but then like you turn on a beat and I'm like let's go clubbing
23:19oh that's good oh that's cool oh that's cool you're gonna change your pace right now what are you obsessed with I feel like I'm obsessed with watching friends I just love watching friends that never changes it's a hard one like what category like I don't even know where to start Food, travel, makeup, music, businesses. I mean, I've always been pretty obsessed with Justin Bieber. I think that, you know, our first date was the Justin Bieber concert and I'm still really obsessed with the idea of going to Coachella in April because it'll be our 10-year anniversary and he's cancelled his last tour.
24:04Which we've tried to go twice. He did. back to the us and then we arrived there and the show we canceled so yeah so i reckon we should go to coachella i agree i love justin bieber obsessed what's actually an interesting question like just like you have the ability to dream of things say it out loud and somehow they come to fruition you know like a lot of people um would call that manifesting or you know planning whatever it is but it's just really incredible to see that so you have an idea which sometimes you really think like me being on the sideline be like man that's completely crazy or whatever that's never gonna happen what's an example i mean there's so many like uh now this thing in In Davos, you're talking to Bill and Melody Gates Foundation, you know, roundtable with female coaching.
25:02Like, you've just said that not long ago, literally about three weeks ago or something. I said, you know what? That'd be really sick for me to try and do this. I want to talk. And then you receive an email inviting you to do that. Oprah thing, you want to meet Oprah, then you did that. Just so many things, like getting into tech stars, people you wanted to interview on a podcast, amount of money you wanted to make. just so many of these and you feel like you just speak them into existence and then something happens so i guess what a lot of people that you wonder or want to know is what is the process and what what happens from how do you even think about what you want to do to then saying it out loud because you actually go above and beyond to say it you go on your social and you say it publicly you tell it to a friend to tell it to like it's not just you have a little journal that you know remains a private thought it very much becomes like a a public mission and then and then it comes to fruition okay so i would say two things i'm like torn about the word manifesting even though i say it because i don't think of manifesting like in some woo-woo like i just you know dreamt about it thus it should happen for me it's like kind of I have a thought which is like wouldn't it be cool if and an example is like last year at Techstars when we were wrapping up the program I was like to Jenny one of my girlfriends from Techstars I was like wouldn't it be cool actually I think I said it to the whole class I was like wouldn't it be cool if we had a confetti cannon and we like, when we were on stage and we finished, we like shot gold confetti, like sparkly confetti out of the cannon.
26:56And then we ended up doing it because we were like, why not? So I have these thoughts that'll be like, wouldn't it be cool if, or imagine if we did that or whatever it is. And that's a trigger for me to be like, I wonder if we could actually do that. Like it's not that far fetched because it's not that far fetched. and so the other side of it is that it's crazy if I've made sure I can't incorporate events to bring I mean the government and investors the video of it was crazy also it was a small room and this thing just exploded like crazy but I was my desk buddy was Jenny and Jenny's just like equally like you say an idea and she's just like let's fucking go and so it's like she immediately picked up the phone and was like, I know who to call, you know, like, I was like, great, get that sorted.
27:46So it's like having that thought about like the, wouldn't it be cool? And like, why not? Because life is short. And then the other thing is that I'm not someone that's very like conceptual. I'm not conceptual because I'm extremely practical. So I'm like, what are the steps? So I can't, it's like when I struggle to understand like concepts and things like this, when I need to know the practical steps of how to do something. And because I'm practical and I'm extremely action focused and I can get laser hyper-focused on whatever it is that I'm like, that I've decided is about to happen. It's like, I put it out there and then it's as if it signals like a pathway in my brain.
28:26That's basically like, right. Well, if you were going to do that to reverse engineer it, this is what we need to do. These are the pieces of the puzzle that you need to start clicking together. And then it's almost like it starts kind of like, I'm more like aware of something that could be a piece of the puzzle or thinking about what could be the next thing that gets me to the next thing that gets me to the outcome that I want. And so I think like, it's manifesting, yes, but it's also just being like, what are the actual steps that I can connect or what are the dots that I can connect to get to this thing that is achievable because everything is achievable.
29:05And so it's, yeah, I'm not good with like concepts. I need like step one, do exactly this. Step two, do exactly this. And I guess then you've got a little bit of accountability as well. Does that play into it or you don't really care? Because often you just say it out loud, you say to people. No, I don't care about accountability. I care about you put it out there and then someone might also have a piece of the puzzle that can push you further someone might have an idea or it might spark you to have a conversation with someone that gives you an idea or whatever it might be but it's not really about accountability I don't really care about that interesting no that's fair that's fair so last year you barely posted on your podcast what happened behind the scene the podcast well I love the podcast but I feel like I just lost my systems I feel like I lost too much structure too much systems it probably started in the lead up to Techstars I was already really overwhelmed and then Techstars was just like a lot um and then coming out of Techstars I was having this new thing that I needed to focus on and trying to build tech and trying to figure it out.
30:23And, and whether it's like self-imposed pressure or not, it's just, I had the pressure. And then I guess like, I've always been struggling with this, like health related, like energy issues where I'm like in a constant burnout cycle. And so it's like the intersection of all these things at the same time were like, I lost a lot of the systems that like I was, well, I was burning out, which was then causing me to like lose the systems that we had because I just couldn't manage everything in every direction and being kind of like something that I've built mostly as a one woman show with, um, Josephine who was working with us full time at the time.
31:10Like that gave me the ability to do a lot. Whereas when Josephine was kind of transitioning into, you know, her big picture dream of what she wants to do, I couldn't replace her because I just wouldn't be able to replace her, basically. She's irreplaceable. Please come back to us, Josephine. And that took away a lot of my systems. And then I feel like it was a domino effect of just being like too much chaos, too much chaos in my brain, not knowing which way to like focus, like kind of half doing things, but then just not being able to like close the loop. and so that combined with like the fucking best year ever of traveling all the time and like just really I don't know just making our dreams come true in 2025 like there was so many big projects we did so much travel we did we started in Europe then we went to the US then we went to Mexico then we went back to Europe then we went to Asia probably then we went to Dubai then we went to wherever we went.
32:20Then we bought a house. Then I like hurt my neck and have spine issues. Then, you know, collapsed jaw, nervous systems, fucked, whatever. So many things. It was just such a big year that was like awesome. But then if you don't have the right systems and structures in place, it's just not possible to kind of do everything as one person. So I think for me, it was just like, I don't know. I guess I'm also someone who I have like a priority list and I've gotten really good at just being like, well, I've got to let it go. I can't do it all. I've got to let it go. And I just can't beat myself up about it anymore because yes, I want to do all these things, but I physically can't.
33:00So therefore I just do what I can and have to do the thing that's the priority for that day or the next day. And especially if we're working towards, you know, um, speaking at a speaking event, flying to LA, like speaking in front of, you know, 2000 women with Cody Sanchez, what a dream opportunity that was. And so that's the priority. So like, what are the things that need to get me there? So I'm always working on that, like time kind of sprint of like, okay, well, everything else has to go on the back burner. So I think that the podcast, I had like this vision of what I wanted it to be. and where I wanted to get the content to and I just couldn't get it there, lost the systems, struggled with my health, but still wanted to like.
33:50That makes it sound like it was a bad year when it was actually the best year of my life. Like we just had so much cool stuff going on that I was like, well, I'm going to prioritize the cool stuff. But now. Just a break in between seasons. Yeah, a break in between seasons. Whereas now I'm like, oh, my God, look, we're sitting in the like 1.0 version of well I guess it's the 2.0 version of the studio 1.0 because we had this set up in the previous house but you've basically never recorded even one full solo episode in there maybe yeah yeah I think one one anyway now I'm interning for you I'm in charge of the scheduling yeah yeah yeah yeah and and that is the systems guy you know what's happening now so you know we're what 13th of jan second day back at work and we're already with within the house that you bought for us um which was the craziest deal we've ever done in our life by far so regardless this eclipse every business transaction we could have ever done uh last year both from a monetary standpoint to a potential ri in the future to the quality of our life all of it and so now we're going to take full advantage of this new setup and you know high five to the new podcast and the new recording studio yeah i mean a bit of gratefulness here for a second how absolutely ridiculous is each other room that's just it's the pink room fully covered in bright pink i mean my maximalist brain is just like this is the coolest room and i think we made the best decision because we've always had like desks and like prioritized like an office that's like an office with desks whereas like I think it must have been like a week ago we were like why do we even have desks we should get rid of desks we shouldn't even be sitting at desks for more time we should be sitting at desks never better systems better systems better like team well not better team just getting a team and just like how cool would it be to have a pink room so here we are and it is really cool it is really cool i like it all right another quick change in here pace smash or pass okay okay so pass timothy chalamet like his looks or his dance moves or smash or pass you choose smash.
36:22There we go. He's a vibe. Brad Pitt. Pass. Absolutely not. Steve Carell. Wait, I'm still on Brad Pitt. Are we kidding? I mean, he's hot. Steve Carell. You can't put Steve Carell on the list. I mean, actually. We have a friend who really loves him.
36:46I really think he looks, um, He looks great as an older man. I mean, I love him as an actor. I quite liked him in that morning show show. That's not the question. Smash or pass? Oh, sorry, sorry. I have to phone a friend. Come back later. Michael B. Jordan? Never heard of him. Harry Styles?
37:12I feel like I haven't seen anything for a while from him, so pass. Justin Bieber? Smash. Pedro Pascal. I feel like I haven't seen a photo of him in a while. Can't remember. And Jacob Elordi. Definitely smash. Hot. When did you stop pretending you didn't care about money? And what changed once you owned that? I've never not cared about money. I always care about money. That's why I'm building my business. That's why I'm cheerleading other women building their businesses. a lot of people kind of think that you shouldn't care about money you should care about you know changing the world you should change you care about all of this stuff what nonsense i think that people are very i think that's like that's like some weird like stereotype that's put onto women women care about money i care about money for sure so we can what do you want to do with our money what's on the wish list currently so with a bit of context here we've got a group chat were called wish lists and she sends all the things that is on her wish list none of which uh i can actually purchase but well it's my wish list so like i'm working towards it we're gonna get it we're gonna get it this year i mean love that roly that shelby sap has pink glitter love her g-wagon i don't know what else is in there what else is in there so many random stuff like some facebook market uh place like all vintage something every two seconds i can't even look at it there's too many things i know that something that was on there was a karaoke mic that was hot pink but i ended up buying it for myself and i can't find it like it's here somewhere and I'm like It's just behind there.
Read the full transcript
39:13What? I have looked for that so many times. What? Oh my god. Oh it's dusty. Oh yeah we had a lot of renovation for those who don't know.
39:30I mean let's turn it on.
39:41okay maybe for those who don't know she gets frazzled or scared like in one second like anything like the dog could walk past and she gets scared like i can call her name from the other side of the house and just calm down all right i get startled easy look at this look at this it's like your kids that when they walk with the shoes because every time you love those every time you speak it goes the crazy the color goes on speak this was on my wish list it speaks whenever you yeah i see it and i'm like how cool is this this should be our microphone make sure you record the actual oh yeah reporting to you live this is amazing i feel like we should buy this as gifts for other people this should be secret center no one copied up okay we'll just do two more questions what is grinding your gear right now what's grinding my gears i'm pretty over my phone my phone grinds my gears i feel like my phone addiction has reached well actually it's it reached its peak and so now i'm just like i need to disconnect from my phone we need to like my phone and I we need to break up so my phone really grinds my gears I just really don't like it because I'm obsessed with it and so I need to have it in another room I need to have it out of sight out of mind and then I can forget about it and I don't even have any like it doesn't even come to my mind but if it's in my line of sight I want to pick it up I mean it really grinds my gears I don't like it yeah I feel like that that that it's got to be number one for sure And we just experienced like two full days without a phone at all, where we left in the car and went to slept in a hotel.
41:31And that was magical. Yeah. So. Yeah. My phone really grinds my gears. Yeah. All right. And so then what is your word for this year? 2026. You know what? I knew you were going to ask this and I forgot to think about it until now. so my word for last year which we absolutely nailed was variety okay because I was so like sick of just like the the regular routine and I guess because we'd come from like traveling so much and doing all these things all over the world and then moving back to Australia where we really needed to just like reset and like settle and kind of be more in one place I then got really like antsy about that.
42:18And so my word for last year was variety. It was like, I want to travel more. I want to say yes to more things. I started doing K-pop lessons. I started doing singing lessons. I wanted to go to the beach every day. Like I put more variety into my life in many different kind of small ways. Um, whether it was like hobbies or what I was reading or where I was traveling or the office, whatever. And this year, like I was talking to Josephine the other day about, please come back to us, Josephine, about her word for the year. And I literally put a reminder to myself to be like, you need to think about your word.
42:57And I forgot to think about it, but her word is expansion and like expanding now that she's kind of like settled in Amsterdam. am. And so I liked that word, like expanding kind of like, I want to kind of like find a word that I can piggyback off hers because I like the idea of expanding what we've built. You know, it's been six-ish years probably of building Female Startup Club. And I feel like last year was just in so many ways, the best year of my life and the best year of the business, even though all these things kind of also fell apart and whatever, but maybe it all needed to fall apart to come back to now.
43:41And now I can expand on the foundations that we've built over the last six years. And, but I, but I don't want the word expand. I want like a different word. I don't know why. I just don't like the look of the word expand. We'll do some chatty pitting. Like variety reminds me of like Vanity Fair. Sounds really cool. Whereas expand is like chatty will know elon musk you know yeah yeah that's a great one we'll we'll tinker fine refine the details but but that as a concept is incredible and i like the idea of like expanding your thoughts and expanding your brain flourishing is that your word no what's your word i'm not sure I think my word, and I've tried to come up with it, but I haven't nailed it yet.
44:34It combines kind of like feeling lighter. I can't remember, like lightness by precision or something like that because I used to have so many different things that added just so much stress and all of this. Then I just want to be more precise or maybe more content. So I think maybe content by precision, contentment by precision, which is crazy. Oh my God, you're so Swiss. but something of that nature i can't be just free content or relaxed content i have to be content with precision yeah because if i'm precise on what i do and therefore then just freaking works and then then maybe the best yeah um yeah but but also contentment is is not the right word because i really want more laughter and fun so it's content is part of it you know like we want this just a a funner year, which is exactly what we're doing now.
45:25Like, again, we're just trying to do things that's like different, like things away. We're more involved. Oh, I think I know what my word might be because it's a word that I just like in general. I think it's going to be maximum. Maximum. Let's do that. Let's finish on that. Let's max, maximize. Maxi taxi. Yeah. Maxi taxi. Max it. To the max. To the max. Right. Maxed. Max HBO. Hello everyone. Thank you very much. Dear Miss Dune. What? Dear Miss Dune. Oh dear Miss Dune. Oh okay thanks. I love you. I love you. Oh that's cool. Oh that's cool.
46:24Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources. And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
47:11As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.
From the publisher
This one’s different.
In this episode, Doone is in the hot seat. Interviewed by her husband, this is a fast, slightly chaotic, very honest conversation about why she barely posted last year, what was actually going on behind the scenes, and how she still manages to build, lead, and follow through on what she sets her mind to.
We talk ambition, energy, focus, pressure, and the parts of success that don’t show up online. No hype. No polished narrative. Just the real mechanics of how she thinks, decides, and moves.
Subscribe to get new episodes and join our community of 160,000+ women below.
This is Female Startup Club.
⸻
Links & Resources
Join thousands of business owners reading our newsletter every Monday right here
Join the FSC CLUB & Ask Your Questions: www.facebook.com/groups/femalestartupclub
Female Startup Club - Ecommerce Fundamentals
Female Startup Club's Instagram
Doone's Instagram
Doone's TikTok
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.




