Suzanne Chadwick 0:00
Hey, hey, welcome back to the podcast. awesome to have you here. I'm very excited to share today's episode with you. I mean, I'm excited every week to share every episode with you. But I am speaking to one of my favourite people in the female entrepreneurial space. Miss Sheree Rubenstein, who I have known for quite a while now I want to say about maybe five, seven years. So for those people who are in Melbourne and even around Australia, you may have heard of one roof. They are we are one roof on Instagram. And they started their journey which we're going to talk about, they started their journey of building Australia's number one co working space for women in business in a mansion using Airbnb five odd years ago. And I ran, I ran a workshop for them back then. And I still love the photo of sitting out in the backyard with around 30 women talking about pricing and money and packaging and all the rest of it. So I have watched Sheree on this journey for a long time. I've seen a lot of iterations as she actually takes us through her business growth journey. And then we just have a really raw honest conversation about what it looks like to redefine success, how to get comfortable, like where you are and the things that are happening. So how to love where you are and be ambitious, but also be happy in the moment, which I think is a real struggle for a lot of ambitious women in business. It's like, I want to really enjoy where I am. I really want to celebrate all of my successes. But I'm also like ready to continue to grow. And so how do we balance that out. And we talk about a lot of other things too. But Sheree and I had breakfast a little while ago. And it was just such a great conversation. I'm like, we have to talk about it on the podcast. So I'm super excited to have her on the podcast this week. Make sure that you go check out we are one roof they are a beautiful community, mainly in Australia, but now also have members overseas too and they're all about community. They're all about supporting women in business. And so you know that that's what I'm all about. So I know that we've got a very, very values aligned business and ethos as well. So yeah, so I'm excited. I'm excited to share it with you. So because we talk about so much I want to dive straight in. I don't want to keep you waiting any more. So let's get into this week's podcast.

Suzanne Chadwick 3:13
Sheree welcome to the Brand Builders Lab Podcast.

Sheree Rubinstein 3:17
I'm very excited to be here Suz

Suzanne Chadwick 3:20
Good. Now I can't remember, I don't think I've had you on the podcast before. I feel like we chat all the time and stuff. So yeah, so we went out for a coffee or a tea a little while ago. And we had such a good conversation. And then after this, it's like, God, I wish I recorded that for the podcast. It was it was yeah, it was good. It was good. So listen for my audience who don't know you. And if you don't know, Sheree, like you need to sort yourself out. But give us a little bit of a background on you and how you started one roof and all the rest of it. And then we'll kind of dive into what's happening now.

Sheree Rubinstein 4:01
Sure. So I started my career as a corporate lawyer. I that was not for me and didn't last very long.

Suzanne Chadwick 4:10
How long was it?

Sheree Rubinstein 4:11
It was two years, two years too long. And in that time, just really discovered the barriers that exist for women in business and leadership and was just blown away by the challenges for women in the corporate world in the business world. And just was this young, naive, like I'm going to change the world kind of person. And so yeah, became really passionate about removing the barriers that exist for women in business and entrepreneurship. I met a mutual friend of ours Gianna, and she was also on a similar kind of train of thought and mission and thinking about ways that she could better support women in business and we ended up joining forces and together started one roof.

Suzanne Chadwick 5:01
What year is this? Let's just let's do a time check when five years

Sheree Rubinstein 5:08
2015 beginning of 2015. Yeah. And that was kind of once we started that and built it up, that was the leap, or the it gave me the confidence to really step away from my corporate job and career and dive fully into the business. But at the time, yeah, Gianna was always like, you don't have to commit, it's fine. There's no commitment, like just give it a shot. And let's see what happens. And we had come up with this idea of creating a hub that provides everything women need to succeed in business all under one roof. And that was born out of just focus groups and networking events and just constantly gathering insight and doing research and understanding the challenges that women are facing. And yes, Suz was you were quite instrumental in those early days. And there's an amazing photo. Sitting outside we, we rented this beautiful Airbnb home and turned it into a co working space.

Suzanne Chadwick 6:07
It was our home, it was like a mansion. It was amazing.

Sheree Rubinstein 6:12
Special two story beautiful mansion. And we told the landlord that we might have like a few women in the house to run some women's circles and ended up being 500 people in her home in one week. And it was just hugely successful and you know, had lots of events and masterclasses and experts like Suz running sessions for the community for women in business. And yeah, people walked through and they were just like, This is amazing. What are you doing next? And so that was the beginnings of what became one roof. And so yeah, I am I run one roof. And I am deeply passionate about supporting women in business. It's like everything that I do and stand for I just when I see a woman kind of step out of their comfort zone and do something that she never thought possible or, you know, defy her perceived limits. I'm just like, yep, that's, that's it. This is what I'm here on this planet to do. And yeah, I'm also a mum to Goldie, now two, and I am about to have another baby in the next maybe six weeks or earlier. We'll see what happens.

Suzanne Chadwick 7:23
Yeah, it's such an amazing story as well. And also, like, it wasn't like that happened. And then all of a sudden success. It was like, definitely not different iterations as well. So you went from St Kilda and then you moved into was it your uncle's house in Armadale?

Sheree Rubinstein 7:41
It was inMalver, so my auntie and uncle. So we kept going with this concept of activating unique locations and buildings and turning them into co working spaces and kind of community spaces for women in business that was like the business model and the kind of plan and so Gianna had moved back to the US. So we thought, okay, cool. Well, you know, we're business partners, you dominate the US, I'll dominate Australia, and it'll all be easy and peachy and wonderful and success from day one. And so, yeah, we ended up I took over Yeah, I use my aunt and uncle's home in Malvern for six months before they started renovations. We also took over a women's co working space in Sydney. And the building was like soon to be demolished. So we were running it, running that space trying to find a new office space in Sydney to move those members and very unglamorously. I was flying to Sydney every week and sleeping at the co working space to help with the Sydney based business. And then we also had Gianna running spaces in LA and New York. So we were in a surf lodge. We were in a another Airbnb home, we were in a boutique shopping mall for a while. And so yeah, we would take on these spaces and then run events and workshops and set them up as like a co working environment for women to work and connect and build their businesses.

Suzanne Chadwick 9:15
Amazing. I must have missed the boutique shopping mall. That's the first time I've heard it's amazing. I love the different concepts. It's so good.

Sheree Rubinstein 9:26
And it's the you know, the story always sounds better than the reality of it. It's like wow, we were in Sydney, New York, with Sydney, Melbourne, LA and New York. And we were in these really cool weird places and building community global community and it was interesting and fun, but very hard. And we realised quite quickly that the model wasn't working. We weren't making money. We weren't. We had no consistency and certainty in the locations that we were taking on. So while it worked well because it meant low rent or sometimes we weren't even paying rent. We just it was like the community had to keep moving. We had to keep compromising our offering. And it just really wasn't working in the way that we hoped and wanted it to.

Suzanne Chadwick 10:13
Yeah. And so when you first started it, I wasn't planning on going all the way back like this. But I'm just really curious now, when you first started that, and you were looking at the financial model of like, what did you need to happen in order for it to be financially successful?

Sheree Rubinstein 10:29
We needed longer term stability in terms of, you know, we had this challenge where we didn't have funding, and we didn't have the capital to outlay. So, you know, we wanted to create co working spaces for women, but like, we couldn't sign a lease a 15 year lease and spend hundreds of 1000s or millions of dollars on fit out, we didn't have any of that. So we were balancing, trying to find opportunities with short, like with low rent, but then it often meant it was short term leases. So I guess what we over time realised that we needed in and as we kept working through the business model, we realised what we needed was a lot of space. And this is a big need in a co working business model, you need a lot of space, and you need to be able to fit a lot of people into that space, and you're basically charging per square metre per person per square metre. And you're just working out how many people you can fit into that space, and charge you know, ongoing regular memberships for so that was the model. And that was where Gianna and I kind of things started to break down in the partnership and and in the model itself, because I was kind of on that path of Yeah, co working let's do this, this is so interesting. And Gianna was like this is a shit model. And I just, I'm burnt out by it. And I want to do something with technology. And and so that was when we started to go in different directions. And I ended up striking an amazing deal with a property developer in Melbourne and took on a space in Southbank. And you know, there were plenty of issues with the space and the location. But on the whole, it gave me the opportunity to really build the business in like a, a, you know, a space that could fit like hundreds of people like I when it became a fully fledged co working business. And that was when Gianna said that's not what I want to do. And I am we yeah split up and kind of got rid of all the other spaces and all the other opportunities. And I bought Gianna out and focused on the Melbourne location which we had for four years.

Suzanne Chadwick 12:46
Yeah. And I mean, from an evaluation perspective was it was it much as far as the buyout went because it was not? Yeah, there was like a stable kind of,

Sheree Rubinstein 12:56
definitely, there was not a lot of revenue, there was definitely no profit. We were not paying ourselves a salary. We yeah, like I had a lease on the space in Melbourne, but it was an 18 month lease and then month to month after that zero stability basically. So yeah, it was a small buyout to honour her time and commitment and the brand. And she went on to set up what's now become quilt, which is similar to clubhouse kind of app. And so yeah, but we it was, that was very challenging. I'm sure that's a whole other podcast episode on partnership breakups, but we have maintained an incredibly strong connection. And I have her to thank for meeting amazing people like you

Suzanne Chadwick 13:46
you're so good, so good. And so you're in this space, which is amazing. In Southbank, there were loads of events happening, which I just always used to be like sure all the events, I have no idea how you do that. Like, I just need to be on the couch at like nine o'clock at night. Like doing nothing, playing Angry Birds. So I was really impressed by your stamina during that period. And so obviously COVID Then hit so we're now in sort of March 2020. When were you supposed to be out of that that place anyway, because it was kind of coming to an end, wasn't it? Well, had it come to an end.

Sheree Rubinstein 14:21
Yeah. So pre COVID ok, it did come to an end, basically even before that. So I ran I ended up having four years on a space that I thought I was going to have like 18 months so it ended up being an incredible opportunity. I built it up it became the leading co working space in Australia for women led businesses. It was well known globally. I then off the back of good having great success. You know, we had a small team. We had about 180 tenants. We were doing three or four events a day like it was just humming. I was able to raise capital. And so I raised a million dollars from a group of investors who were predominantly women and really passionate about what I was doing and really excited about the growth and saw the businesses more than just a co working space for women. And yeah, I told them, you know, the plan, I love plans, but never go to plan was I will, I will raise the money and then I will secure use that money to secure a flagship site. I will migrate all of our members over and then once we get noticed to have to vacate that building and Southbank, it will be fine, because I've already moved everyone over. That is not the way any of it panned out, I raised the capital. And then I literally a couple months later, I got the call that I have three months to vacate the building. And what I realised and I had that it turned into a bit of serious crisis mode. But yeah, I had three months. And in that time, my energy went into focusing on supporting our members and community and making sure that they found a new home. You know, we had tonnes of event clients, we had to like, help them find new locations for their events, you know, for their events.

Suzanne Chadwick 16:12
Like, how far ahead were you booked out for stuff like that?

Sheree Rubinstein 16:15
Oh, like a year ahead? Yeah, we had so many events go and look, it was always a risk I was taking on, I just, you're building a business and things are going well. And you're just hoping, yeah, hopeful, you know, and most of our members knew about this, you know, this, this situation that we were in, so none of them were were shocked, which was important to me that I was honest. And actually a lot of there are a lot of the event clients also knew as well. So it was okay, no one was upset or angry. It just, I wanted to make sure that I supported the community and there was a good transition, I also realised that I hadn't raised enough money and rents just kept going up. And so I found myself in this position where I'm pounding the pavement, trying to find a new location property is not my area of expertise. I'm talking to hundreds of agents. I know every single commercial property in Melbourne. And I'm trying to secure a lease and, and it's not happening because I don't want to compromise on my vision. But I also don't really have the funds to take on the level of risk that was needed. So I was in a very difficult position. Honestly, there were times where I was very ready to give up and there was moments and I was pregnant as well, where I was like, this is just I can't do this. And what am I you know, I really, it was incredibly challenging, stressful, hard time. And then I, I found a secured lease, I secured a site in Cremorne on a new building. And I was really excited. And it was going to be this amazing flagship space like similar to the wing in the US. And we were going, we had amazing architects and interior designers, and we're going to do like it would have been truly amazing.

Suzanne Chadwick 18:10
For the amount that you had secured in funding,

Sheree Rubinstein 18:13
I was taking on a lot of risk. But yes, yeah. So the way that we were structuring the deal was that I was going to get an amount from the landlords that they could pay for the fit out. And then there was an amount from investors to cover the cost of the first year of rent. But realistically, I probably would have had to raise again, and it would have all depended on how well we could sell and and you know, get the space kind of get enough people into the space all while I was about to have a baby. Of course.

Suzanne Chadwick 18:45
You're such an underachiever. Sheree. But also, I just wanted to step back into the vision because I remember ages ago, you and I having a conversation about what that vision was, and I was like, get out of town girl like that is amazing. So just quickly want you to give an overview, a snapshot of what that Cremorne building and what that vision like would have been.

Sheree Rubinstein 19:09
And I remember the conversation that we had, and then vision and what ended up being was not entirely as I have described it to you. But the idea was to create a space that literally provides everything women need to succeed in business in that space. And so it's like, the way I have described it to you is different levels. And each level as you go up the building would be you know, your early stage entrepreneurs down the bottom and then as you go up, you kind of get more established. And then what I wanted was to have childcare at the top so the kids on the roof it was very difficult to find a property that could suit that but the one that we found in Cremorne and definitely would have had those elements just on one floor. And so it was going to have beautiful meeting rooms, conferencing facilities event space and you know how All our events space was very much known as a go to if you're running events, for women, for women in leadership, like lots of corporates using it to do big leadership sessions for their female staff, lots of community organisations running, you know, pitch nights for women or sessions on raising capital for women. So I really like that was a big focus of, you know, you come and work in this space as a woman running a business. And then it's like, oh, cool, I can go and attend a great event right there that is relevant to my needs. We also I was going to have a business lounge, and I really saw this business lounge as like, you know, beautifully designed really speaks to, to women, like you kind of walk in there. And you, I'm looking at Suz's office right now. And that's like, a lot of inspiration, the colour the plan for that vibe, but also, you want to be Yeah, a place you want to be, and also a place you want to do deals. And I thought about that a lot. Like I wanted that business lounge to be a space where it was, like, come in, and you know, you talk to investors, and you talk to potential clients. So you, it's like a lot of deals are going on and opportunities are being created for women in that space. We also wanted to have a meditation yoga area, we were going to have a breastfeeding room, a kids area, and also like a bit of a retail space where we would have women led businesses, you know, showcasing products, and that that would rotate. So it was just, it would have been epic. But it wasn't to be.

Suzanne Chadwick 21:38
That's alright, I still love the vision. You never know when these visions began become reality in the future. If that's something that you still want to do. So, where now what so when are we where are we here? What date what time?

Sheree Rubinstein 21:51
So we're now as in like in this story. So yeah, we added. So it was Feb January, and we were 20. Sorry, yeah. 2020. And I had made the decision to continue with the business because that was a big call that I wasn't sure and obviously wasn't, didn't feel comfortable to share that with investors, but was having lots of meetings with advisors and friends and people to kind of say to them, like, Am I crazy? Should I keep doing this? Is this gonna work? Am I taking on too much financial risk. And the overall sentiment was, as long as you're there's certain things, your risk mitigation things you're doing, it seems okay. And so go for it. And so I was in the mindset of let's go hard. And let's make this work I'd hired. I'd hired someone from WeWork to come over and help us open the space and was kind of getting everything ready so that we could start fit out as I was going to have a baby and then my partner and he's been his team and business we're going to help with a lot of the fit out while I was kind of on a mat leave, which was never going to be a real mat leave. And then COVID Hit COVID hit and so we hadn't started fit out yet. And I Goldie my daughter was born one week into the first lockdown in Melbourne. So everything just went on hold. And I just felt this immense sense of like, calm and a time to just kind of go okay, well the world world's gone to shit. So I don't need to make any decisions, obviously called like, the agents and the landlords and said, Well, we're not and our architects and builders and we're like, well, everything's on pause, like I'm not doing anything until we know what's going on. I hadn't signed a lease which was just an HSI. Yeah, I'd signed two heads of agreement, but not a lease hadn't paid a deposit hadn't paid like nothing like I cannot believe my luck. And then as time went on, the investors started to put pressure on me. Just to say like, sure we're in the middle of a pandemic, but you have our money and you got to make a call, like you can't just sit on this for months. Are you doing this? Are you not? If you're not do need our money. If you don't, let's take our money back. Like you've got to start making some calls. And the one of the hardest, but I think probably best decision I made was to return the capital to investors walk away from that deal in Cremorne, which I could with no unscathed, and just say I'm not willing to take on the risk in this market and there's way too much uncertainty and I've lost confidence in the model. And I'm going to pivot the business create a digital offering and I still remember the advisor advisor calling me saying Sheree, just go on Zoom, get everyone on Zoom, rebuild your membership, like keep it simple, but just start getting some revenue in again and let's see what happens and that was the best advice I've ever been given. I cried a lot of tears when I made the call to return the capital to investors, it is so hard as a woman to raise money. That whole process was so challenging. So stressful. But also once I'd made the call, I knew it was right. And yeah, and that was the beginning of basically starting a new business.

Suzanne Chadwick 25:22
Yeah, and I mean, I just want to say there as well, like, I remember when we were chatting at the caf, that it's such a mixed emotions as well, because there's a difficulty of raising the capital. But then there's the relief of not taking on such a massive risk when you've literally just had a baby and also just where the world was. And I just want to talk about that, like when we make decisions, and then we realise that that's not the decision that we want to make. I feel like people feel like they've failed or something. But I just think it's like we, the world moves, things happen. And sometimes the decisions we make don't always carry through. So how did you sort of feel during that period around, like, so much effort, and then kind of, it's all got, like, all of that it's now gone?

Sheree Rubinstein 26:15
Yeah, so I don't regret any of it. I'm so glad I went through the process, I, you know, I've done it, I've learned about it, I can share my knowledge, which is always important for me to be able to share. So I there's zero regret in terms of the journey. And I feel proud that I was able to do it. There, there was an immense sense of failure that I felt, and that failure was predominantly towards my investors more than anybody else, it really felt like I'd failed them. Like I said, I was going to do something and I'm a person of my word, and I take it very seriously. And, you know, I didn't like and the vision died, and the whole kind of journey that we were on died. So I had to probably mourn that and really just sit with that feeling. But then I also had that coupled with the feeling of like you said before, that this incredible relief and this incredible underlying, knowing that it's no longer right. And that's okay. And actually, I feel deeply, like, grateful and almost blessed that COVID hit when it did, and not five months later, because I really would have been in the shit. If it did, because I would have invested an incredible amount of money in the like, I don't even know what would have happened to the business. So I yeah, I feel that as much as I can say, I failed my investors, at the end of the day, I gave them every dollar back. So they didn't lose any money. So, you know, it's, it's, it's interesting when we, when we take on these, you know, for me to take it on as a failure when really like, yet, in looking at it, I did the right thing. And it's all worked out. And it's all okay. But it's just something that I've had to kind of stomach and deal with and learn from. But I'm, I'm very grateful because it then meant that I packed up and left and went to bar. And for two years, I had an incredible amount of time with my daughter that I never thought I would. I have to, you know, now to businesses online. And it means that I can now like about to have another baby and not feeling the stress of having to be in an office every day not feeling the financial pressure. Like there's been so many positive flow on effects. Even like financially, I've ended up being able to take dividends out of the business that I never would have done. Because when you're in growth phase, and you've got investors, you can't take money off the table, like you've got to invest that into growth. So financially, I've done better. It's actually worked out better for me in every way.

Suzanne Chadwick 29:04
Yeah. Which is amazing. Yeah, and I just think sometimes we've just got to look at that journey as well. And just know that like, things that happen happened for a reason. And but the timing was like you said kind of perfect, even though it was made a bit of a hot mess at the time. And so now with the one roof membership, what's your what's your kind of vision for it now? What are you thinking?

Sheree Rubinstein 29:32
Yeah, so now we are an online membership for female leaders and entrepreneurs. We provide kind of a full suite of support, which was actually everything we used to do at the co working space, just without the physical space. So it's the networking, it's the business coaching, it's the weekly masterclasses the conferences, women's founder circles and accountability groups. And and it's really just building a great community and ensuring that women feel supported If we can help them boost their brand visibility, and get their name and their business out there and kind of meet the right people to get the support that they need. So, you know, we're close to 1000 members, and now we're Australia wide and even globally, and so you know, the scale and the reach and the potential becomes infinite compared to a physical space. Where we go with it is still fairly open, I and I'm just like, I'm just excited about what we can do, I think you know, that we're in an era now that's kind of like this Netflix subscription kind of era where we're all expecting kind of on demand, you know, pay a monthly subscription and get all these things on demand. And so whether we become some kind of like Netflix of professional development for entrepreneurial women, or, you know, some other kind of tech that allows us to grow, like even doing these women founder circles, I think has been working really well and is quite interesting. So matching women into their kind of core group of fives, they've got an advisory board that they meet with over a period of time. I think there's a lot of different products and options and paths, we can go down. But yeah, it's just I can see the scale, the scale and reach is just so much more. And now we partner with co working spaces. So rather than I no longer have to raise capital, you know, take on all the risk and fit out office space, we just partnered with all co working spaces across Australia, and run the in person catch ups at their spaces, and it's actually working really, really well.

Suzanne Chadwick 31:38
Yeah, so good. All of the benefits with none of the responsibility.

Sheree Rubinstein 31:43
Seriously,

Suzanne Chadwick 31:44
so good. And so the other thing that we were chatting about when we got together was you know, both of us were saying, we're in a place where I think before now we're just constantly like running a million miles an hour. It's like you're constantly reaching for the next thing, you're going bigger, you're thinking about what the next big moves gonna be. And I was saying to you, I just feel like right now I'm aware, almost in a place of just wanting to enjoy. Like, you know, the businesses, like you said, you know, the businesses making money, you don't have the responsibility, you know, and and I'm sort of in a really great place and just trying to not always be reaching, but just trying to enjoy, like what you've built and kind of not feeling like you always have to be on

Sheree Rubinstein 32:39
absolutely and I loved when you said it because it just was such a reminder to me of like yes, let's just stop and and appreciate what we're doing and actually enjoy it because what's the point of doing any of this if we're not enjoying it and I yeah, when I was in, as I said, I spent nearly two years in, in the Byron Shire, so was like me and Mel and Bindi in Brunswick head, so bit out of Byron Bay. And I just found that the conversations and their energy there and you know, you know, kind of what the energy is and brings but it's just a much calmer, slower, more, you know, holistic, more kind of in touch with your emotions and your energy and your, your physical body and everything kind of environment. And, you know, I did leadership programmes while I was there, particularly my cousin Anna Rubinstein runs amazing rites of passage, leadership programmes, and, and all these things that I did while I was there, and the conversations that I had just kept reminding me of the importance of slowing down, and I even had moments when I would take a day off work or time off work and sales would come through or like an opportunity, you know, I'd see an email in my inbox where this amazing opportunity came up. And I was just like, Sring look at that, like, you don't have to hustle at a million miles an hour for that opportunity to come in. And it really, really like COVID for me COVID becoming the combination of COVID becoming a mum, the complete change in my business and spending time in that that Byron region shifted my entire definition of success and my whole thinking around, you know, what's important to me, and it's hard for me because I am a naturally highly ambitious person. I am always thinking the next thing I am always wanting growth and scale and bigger and you know, talk to people and think I'm inadequate and you know that she comes up, but I definitely keep coming back to this realisation that I want to enjoy where I'm at and I don't believe in hustle for the sake of hustle and I love the idea of building a lifestyle and a way of living that's just as important as building a successful business and I don't really want a big team in an office and I don't, you know, like, those things are no longer important to me. Whereas they weren't, they used to be, and I probably wouldn't have been needed it. But it was things that I saw as a measure of success. So really reprogramming my brain and my thinking around my measures of success has been a huge, huge life change.

Suzanne Chadwick 35:24
That's so amazing. And I do think, you know, we do go through different stages of life as well, like, obviously, the pandemic was a, you know, a definite, you know, kind of massive, massive thing that we all went through. But I just think, at some point, you'll be going a million miles an hour, and that might still come back. But it's also just kind of those ebbs and flows where, when things are going well just stop and appreciate it, and acknowledge it, and celebrate, like, what you've built, and allow yourself to sit in that for a while. I think sometimes we're like, yeah, that was amazing. Okay, next, and I'm the same as you, it's like that balance between ambition, and enjoying it. It's like, trying not to constantly and I think and I think you can still move forward, but I think it's just a different energy. Yeah, of like, enjoying what you've got, and, and continuing to grow, but just in a way that totally works for you. Rather than trying to keep up with like others, or whatever is happening in the frickin market.

Sheree Rubinstein 36:34
Exactly. And, and I will also add, just, like really acknowledging and knowing when you're feeling that anxiety and that stress, and you can see, like, if you stop and tune in and take a moment to look at what's going on, you know, if you're like, about to reach burnout, or you're feeling highly anxious all the time, or things are out of whack in your body or like you're just on edge and you're not enjoying it or you know, and I yeah, I guess also because I am about to have another baby, I am in this mode of pregnancy. And like I did a hypno birthing class on the weekend. And I, I definitely think I'm in the mode of thinking a lot about how do women better nurture themselves and put themselves first and not just say it? And just like, Yeah, we all talk about it, like, yes, we need to meditate, and we need to sleep more. And we like it's wonderful to say these things. But if it's just another thing on your to do list to do, then it's not a value and really, really stopping and taking the time to go like how am I okay? And if I'm not, what do I need to change? And what support do I need to get to better nurture myself? And in that moment, it's not about like growing the business tenfold. That's not the most important thing right now. It's my health and my well being and my mental, you know, state and how do I focus on that so that I can actually be a good leader, business owner, role model mom, everything.

Suzanne Chadwick 38:07
Yeah, absolutely. And I just did an episode it was episode 207, on reset, reassess, and reset. And so many people have been feeling it. It's like we came out of the pandemic, and everybody just kept running. It was just like, all of a sudden, all hands on deck. Like, let's go back into it. And it was really that episode was really about sitting because I really felt like q1 of 2022. I was just kind of walking through fog. Like the business was doing really well. We were making great money, amazing clients. But there was just something that wasn't quite right. And just sitting down and going, what do I want? What is happening in my head? Like, what do what do I need to share if like, and it was also questions around being, you know, being the mum I want and having the relationship I want and what kind of friendships that was a big one for me, who do I want to spend my time with? That's fun for me. Where I feel supported, I can have a laugh, we have rich conversations. Like I just think, you know, especially during the lockdown and stuff, like the friendships women and friendships, women and networks, women and commute like communities. We that's I think that's where we thrive. I think that when we can be surrounded by other women who get us and who want to support us and where you can have these incredible, honest conversations like it feeds the soul. And I feel like we've been starving for two years because whilst online is great as well. It's kind of a long conversations that you kind of want to have. So I mean, I used to do zooms with girlfriends or we chat for like an hour, because you kind of want to have that kind of fee. to you. But yeah, I just I think that this re-assessing, like if you ever feel and one thing I hear all the time is I've just lost my mojo, like, I don't feel as passionate or excited about the business as I did. And I think one of the things that, you know, I've kind of spoken about or that I've spoken at heard spoken about in my mastermind a lot, is the whole thing that your business really is a revenue generator for you, you can be passionate about it, you can absolutely have a vision for it, you can love it. But I think it's about it is not your whole self. And it's about bringing that whole self to the table with friendships, relationships, motherhood, if that's part of your world, personal development and learning, like how you're nourishing your mind, like this, just so we're such complex, you know, multi dimensional beings, that business is just one of the things and I just don't think, in business, we talk about that enough.

Sheree Rubinstein 40:59
Absolutely. And it Yeah, it's funny, I'm just thinking of my dad who's at a point in his life where he has, you know, really, like very hard working work 24/7, and then now has been kind of moved out of his business, and doesn't know what to do like he this, that's what he's done. And so you really say when, when work is your be all and end all. It's very hard, and you have these different points in your life, where you do start to question everything, and it does kind of all feel like it's falling to shit. And it's like, I've lost my mojo, I don't know what I'm doing, what's the point of any of this? And it's really hard times to be in. But I also think it's really profound times because it's what ignites you to find new opportunities, or find hobbies, or rebuild those areas of yourself or even just sit back and ask those questions like, Is this what I still want to be doing? Like? How could those questions just to sit with? And I really, yeah, I'm always I like journaling. And so I will often just write the questions down in a journal and just it's like, Alright, today, I'm just gonna sit with that question like, is that is this serving me? Is this something I want? Why am I feeling anxious about this particular theme? I think it's very profound to sit with those questions. And and then, yeah, it's what drives you into creating important change. And also, I want to emphasise and reinforce what you said about networks and your support group. It's everything. And I will say, every single door that's ever opened for me, in my life, in my business, in my career in everything has been through people who have backed me through, you know, I'm, I'm Susan, I'm probably very similar like this. Extroverts do love to meet new people, I've actually really liked putting myself in very uncomfortable situations where I don't know anyone, and I'm doing some weird leadership program or some weird camping thing, and I'm just totally out of my comfort zone. But I actually just, I need it for growth, like I'm Yeah, crave that growth. And I and I'm a lover of meeting people. And I will say that that network is everything. And I'm always like, I just want to build a network to support other women so that I can offer my network to them. So they can also grow and doors open for them.

Suzanne Chadwick 43:21
Preach sister, so good. And I love. I saw, I saw a little diagram on LinkedIn the other day, and it was like it kind of had, you know, a line, and then it had kind of, you know, doing your best. And then there was a gap. And then another sort of line at the end that was doing what's required. And in between doing your best and doing what's required is your growth, and just really always taking a look at and it's not always business, but it is just how do I want to grow as a person? And like, what do I want to learn and do when and also like, what kind of life do I want to create? You know, and, you know, like, he was sort of saying, You've been just taking the day off when you were up in Byron, and, you know, not working all the time not being at like a million events, all the rest of it. I think you've just got to really take a look and ask yourself, Why am I building this business? Why do I want this business? And also, why did I maybe leave corporate to have a business because we wanted the flexibility, we wanted to be able to do the things that we want. And I think sometimes we lose sight of that a little bit because we're just like, so obsessed with like everything going on in the business. So I don't know if it's an age thing. I don't know if it's just a post COVID thing. I don't know what it is, but it's just so it's so much more prominent now where it's just like what kind of life do I want to have and how does my business support me building that life?

Sheree Rubinstein 44:52
Absolutely. And it's like you said surround yourself with people who are also asking those questions and in a similar interest similar frame of mind, and if you don't know, then then seeking out experts like yourself, who can support you. Because if you don't, if you can't do it yourself, which I know, I'm someone who can't, I can't sit in my head and kind of work these things out on my own, so I need to bounce it around with others. I think that is a really valuable way of spending money and time to make sure that you've got your support, like you always need and a personal advisory board in your life, you know, and that's like, for your health for your, for your, you know, physical health feel like, it's doctors, it's psychologists, it's business coaches, it's, you know, other business owners in similar records, you need that, that ecosystem of support always.

Suzanne Chadwick 45:44
Yeah, and I think that we're really lucky that we can do it. Like, you know, that's not always been the case. And so I just think it's about prioritising and seeking it out and making sure that you get what you need but so good sure a no no, you and I can just be like Nana nana nana, Nana natter all day long. But yeah, I always love our conversations. And I always feel like there's always gems in them as well, which is why I wanted to get you on the podcast to share. But for my audience, who are all incredible women in business all over the world. Where can they find you? We will have all of your links in the show notes as well. But where's the best place to connect with one roof?

Sheree Rubinstein 46:24
Yep, so our website is We are one roof.com. We're very active on socials. And our handle is we are one roof, you know, across everything, but mostly active on Instagram. And yeah, we'd love to chat reach out to us, depending on when this episode goes out. We have an unspoken conference coming up in a few weeks. And if it's not that, then we've got a Women in Tech Summit happening in September. So there's always like big public, big conferences and things that we're doing as well. But you know, if you're interested in becoming a member, just reach out to us and have a chat and we can explain more.

Suzanne Chadwick 47:00
Amazing. Thank you so much for hanging in and having a chat today.

Sheree Rubinstein 47:04
Thanks Suz love it.

Suzanne Chadwick 47:07
Just say Good. Did you love that chat? Did you love that conversation? I'd love to know, what was your main takeaway from that conversation? I do think that redefining success, which is obviously what I call this podcast is such an important thing. Like we go through so many different stages of our lives, and the market changes, we change, everything changes. And so I just think we've always got to be looking at what do I want now? And how does my idea of success align with what I want? You know, I talked about reassessing and resetting a couple of episodes ago, and asking yourself these questions. And so when Sheree and I had this conversation, it just really landed for so much that I've been, you know, around what I've been talking about this year to you as well, and how you can really define what success is for you. And not always be looking at what everybody else defines as success, not be looking at, you know, those numbers that you need to hit or you know, whether it's your social numbers or your revenue numbers, or whatever else it is, you know, if somebody else values something in particular, doesn't mean that that's has to be your definition of success. And so I think it's always good for us just to have that check in with ourselves again. And I love that whilst obviously Rhona was not was not a joy for anybody. I've just found it really interesting that for some people, it was actually such a pivotal turning point in a positive way that has now allowed them the freedom to be able to have the life that they want as well. So you know silver linings even when it's a really, really crappy dark cloud. But anyway, listen, I hope that you enjoyed that podcast episode, I absolutely love this conversation. Make sure you go say hi to Sheree and the team that we are one roof, we will have all of their links in the show notes as well, so that you can go and check them out. And I think that we're in time or maybe maybe just in time for the unspoken conference when this episode is released as well. So make sure you go and check that out too. Depending on when you go check that out. If you use the word or the code friends, then you get 50% off as well on that ticket. So there we go. That's it for another week. Amazing to have you here. Just remember you can always connect with me on Instagram at Suz Chadwick. If you've got any questions, I am here for it happy to answer them for you. Feel free to share this episode if you've got a lot of value out of it and I cannot wait to see you next week back here on the podcast.