10 things I have learned in business as a result of Seedlab.

10 things I have learned in business as a result of Seedlab.

I’ve been self-employed for 20 years this year. I’m pretty darned proud of that. In that time I have been a single mum, started at least 5 different businesses (3 of them still going), re-married, moved my whole family (including the dog) across the world, and started from ground zero financially in 2010. We’ve won business awards, and built what are now successful and growing national and international businesses. And I have worked hand in hand with my life and business partner Darren West for a significant chunk of that time. Mostly, I am proud to have raised two absolutely fantastically amazing daughters to adulthood.

Seedlab Tasmania started as an idea on a white board when I was regrouping after taking 12 months out of my self-employed career for my epic Winston Churchill Trust (Australia) Fellowship planning, travels, and reporting. I thought then, that my Fellowship had been the “biggest thing I had ever done apart from having children”. How wrong I was.

Recently I was asked if I had written down “The 10 things I have learned” from doing Seedlab ( Dominic Anastasio ). I hadn’t. Until now. Here you go:

10 things I have learned in business as a result of Seedlab.

1.??????DREAMS. It became clear within the first 12 months, that Seedlab “makes dreams real” for people who have a dream to earn an income for their families by doing what they love. And somehow we made our dreams real, too! The need to identify and focus on that dream is real.

2.??????TRUST. We have an amazingly skilled and supportive, trusted team. But it wasn’t always so. We’ve experienced “no reply”, failed delivery, broken promises, an attempted business coup d’ état, self-interest, plagiarism and more. Now we ONLY work with people we trust, and if I don’t trust you, you too will receive “no reply”.

3.??????PIVOT. It became the word of 2020. But it’s so true. You need to be able to take stock and know when things aren’t going to work the way you planned, and find another way through to your dream. Seedlab Tasmania was meant to be a project, and to take up about 3 days a week of my time (“Ha ha ha – how we laughed!”). Then this thing called COVID hit, and suddenly we had to learn what Zoom was, and how to run the program virtually, with an Online Learning Management System (now called The Seedlab Australia Academy, and apparently “like Netflix for food manufacturers”). Thank heavens! Because the program went on to have greater impact than it ever could have, and we are now able to deliver a national, and even an international program, because Seedlab is nimble, agile and virtual.

4.??????PEOPLE. Taking time to understand your own personality profile (check out www.16personalities.com) and that of people around you, particularly your business partner was an epiphany for me. To deliver Seedlab once COVID hit, Darren had to come out of his PhD studies to work alongside me, and for what felt like 9 days a week, 27 hours a day, we over-delivered like mad to make the pilot program a success. We were wondering WHY we did this – but we learned that we are simply hard wired this way. It really helped to know that. Yes, I’m a Logistician!

5.??????TEAM. Our motto is “together we are more” (and “family first”). Collaborating with other skilled, trusted consultants with real world experience is a lovely place to be. None of them are employees, all are motivated by wanting to help, to make a difference, and genuinely care about the people we work with. We have a complementary skill and personality set. We are friends first. It makes a difference. Thankyou team! Sally Fairless Ray Butcher Amanda Hinds and of course Darren. Plus our many fabulous content providers like Dr Jane Milton and Food From Thought - Food Innovation Consultancy

6.??????ENERGY. Who knew how much energy, tenacity, focus, drive and time this would all take? Who knew we were capable of this much? I didn’t. But I do now.

7.??????REST. The corollary of energy, is talking time to rest and also to recuperate. At one stage it seemed like Seedlab was going to kill me. I was exhausted, not eating well, not finding time to exercise, and drinking far too much alcohol to switch my brain off. I was about to start needing clothes in a size beginning with a 2. I thought about Seedlab 24/7 (or 27/9, whichever). One small blood test led to a focus on health which led to 8 separate things I started doing in 2022 to get my health on track. These included massage, sauna, having a personal trainer, no alcohol, eating better, oestrogen therapy, acupuncture and Chinese herbs. Now there are whole chunks of each day when I don’t think about Seedlab (I call it mindlessness), I have lost 15% of my body weight, and I am the stongest I have ever been in my life. Rest alone is not enough, you need recuperation as well.

8.??????FOCUS. F.O.C.U.S. We teach it, we use it. You simply cannot be all things to all people, and so we just try and be everything to some people. Simples!

9.??????SUPPORT. Without the support of Darren and our family, our team, and from people who have believed in us, and our ability to deliver Seedlab, none of this would have been possible. I hope you know who you are. Thank you. It takes a village. ( Paul Harker Susie L. Ian Locke Ian Drew Kevin Turner Jim Grigoriou Hon Madeleine Ogilvie MP Robyn Eversole Deanna Hutchinson and everyone else)

10.??CELEBRATE. We held our first Harvest Festival in October 2020. It was huge. On that day we realised with a tingle what we had created, and the impact it had, as the first 17 Cultivators met, some of them for the first time, after Zooming almost daily for 6 months. Our community came together and has just got stronger and stronger with each event. It is important to take time and recognise achievement. To celebrate wins, and to support each other for the difficult challenges and some failures that are inevitably part of business. And to get back up, dust yourself off and pivot. Have a rest and recuperate. Spend time with family, and people you trust and love. And focus that energy on your dream.

Thank you Seedlab. You continue to make my dreams real.?