So this week I had the pleasure of speaking with Sarah Piper who is the Founder of Invisible Partners.

Sarah is Mum of two children, Leah 6 and Nicholas 4 and married to David. As you will pick up by her accent she was born in Scotland and made Australia home 15 years okay. It was on a trip back to Scotland that she had two a-ha moments that saw her launch Invisible Partners 18 months ago.

Before this Sarah had over 18 years' experience in the recruitment industry, having led and managed diverse teams across Australia, the UK and South East Asia.

I absolutely love what Sarah has created in Invisible Partners and the way she champions and values flexible work. This is something we discuss in today's episode, along with how she leads a team when she is not in the office 40 hours a week and how her and the family have found the transition of her daughter starting school this year.

I really hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

You can find Sarah at invisiblepartners.com.au

How many of you are a fan of the TV show Shark Tank? Well today's guests were on Shark Tank last year and did extremely well.

In today's episode we hear all about that experience, how it was the most nerve wracking day of their lives but what it has done in exposure for their business.

Glen and Julie-Anne Mayer are the proud creators of Subo - The Food Bottle.

They have three beautiful children, who at one point were all under the age of four.

Feeding on the go had always been especially challenging for the Mayer's; how do you quickly feed three kids less than four years old, nutritious meals, that won't cause a wasteful mess?

The inventive pair tried every reusable container available and soon learned that the squeeze pouches were definitely not the way to go. Their kids were able to create a 'squeezey' mess - guaranteed havoc!

Enter the, 'in the shower' eureka moment that would change the lives of the Mayer family forever. They invented a suction-based, non-squeezable food bottle with a moveable platform that children could use easily, without squeezing their food all over themselves.

Back in 2012, the Mayer's created some prototypes of their own and gave them out to friends and family who were completely blown away by the concept. Now they've found a local manufacturer and are producing Subos at an amazing rate and the rest is history...

You can connect with the Mayer's at suboproducts.com.au or on social media @suboproducts.

I'm so excited to bring you today's episode as it focuses on a really fascinating topic - being unlikeable! Tell me have you ever been told that you are unlikeable or do you sit in the other camp like me and are a notorious people pleaser? Wherever you sit you need to listen to this conversation I know it's going to blow your mind.

I've admired Shevonne for a few years now. I was introduced to her through her podcast The Business Experiment and I just love what she is about and look up to her as a leader.

Shevonne is a Brand Strategist: helping high calibre leaders to become an iconic brand in their industry. She has built a trusted brand, with her innovative thought leadership

Shevonne is married to Paul and mother to Stevvi and Leni. She is just about to release her first book 'The Unlikeables'.

In this episode we discuss how Shevonne's husband is a stay at home Dad and how they share the mental load, the importance of building your own unique identity and uncovering who you really are and how embracing being unlikable is the key to your success in business and life.

You can connect with Shevonne at shevonnejoyce.com or @shevonnejoyce

I'm very excited to have our first Dad on the show today. Anthony led a legal masterclass I was recently in and I knew I just had to get him on the show. Legals is often something small business owners get stuck on when they are starting their business and I found Anthony wasn't full of legal jargon but was able to communicate start up legals in a really simple and digestible way.

Anthony is the co-founder of a growing commercial firm Merton Lawyers as well as principal and founder of Nitruc Investments.

At Merton Lawyers he leads the corporate team advising numerous start ups and established businesses both locally and internationally.

Most important to him is his growing family. He is the proud husband of Marney and dad to Annabelle (5 pre prep) and Patrick (3). When he's not working he's spending time with family playing doll house, chasing dinosaurs and 'assisting' Annabelle and Patrick in making Sunday morning scrambled eggs.

You can find Anthony at mertonlawyers.com.au and feel free to give them a call on (03) 9645 9500.

Please note any references mentioned in this episode are for general commentary purposes only. Please don't take this as advice.

You are listening to our school holiday bonus episode with Brigette Smith from Small Ideas.

So if you live in Australia you will currently be in the middle of winter school holidays. School holidays is something that comes up a lot in my conversations because it can be a blessing and a curse for many small business owners.

Many of us start our businesses so that we can be around for school holidays and I've loved hearing from many of my guests who deliberately take every holiday off or set strong boundaries during this time.

I have to admit I'm not very good at this. A problem I've always had with my job in PR is that time management can be difficult as a lot of what I do it dependant on the media and their timeline which often doesn't fit in with my own.

I think Winter holidays can be tricky too as the weather isn't the greatest and it is more important to be deliberate about scheduling specific activities in. This is why I've asked Brigette onto today's show.

Brigette Smith is passionate about families having fun and spending more quality time together.

She is a part of Small Ideas which gives families fun on the go and big discounts to hundreds of activities across Melbourne and Sydney so families can do more together for less.

Discounted activities include play centres, cinemas, attractions, animal farms, leisure centres, indoor activity centres and School Holiday camps plus heaps more.

Visit smallideas.com.au for more information.

In 2011 Erika McInerney left Melbourne and a 16 year career in advertising to move to Warragul in Gippsland so she and her husband could try to find a better lifestyle for their growing family. Erika is mum to 9 year old Meg and 7 year old Joe.

In early 2016 Erika launched Mac&Ernie, an agency dedicated to upskilling and empowering regional businesses, individuals and community organisations to take control of their marketing and promotion and do #bettersocial.

She has barely drawn breath since the launch and, while she admits it's a great problem to have, is very honest about the toll that 'busyness' has taken on her physical and emotional health.

I have to be honest that I found today's episode hard to name as Erika covered so many topics. I settled on 'Building a community centred business' as at the heart of it that is exactly what Erika has done.

Erika's talks about how making a tree change to the country was one of the best decisions her family ever made, what life was like in ad land pre business, how she takes the fear out of social media for her clients and how she used to be afraid of public speaking but know speaks regularly and rarely gets nervous which is an amazing hurdle to have overcome.

You can find Erika at macandernie.com.au or @mac_ernie on Instagram or facebook.com/macandernie.

At 24 Sarah Cross successfully built and then went onto sell her own nationally recognised million dollar gift hamper business which started from her kitchen table.

Today Sarah shares her knowledge and expertise with entrepreneurs and small business owners who want to launch or take their business to the next level.

This year Sarah added author to her list of accomplishments with her first book 'Fearless Fempreneur'.

Sarah lives in Melbourne with her husband Adam and two boys Riley and Lachlan.

In this episode Sarah talks about how she swears by automation in both business and life to limit overwhelm. She discusses how having systems in place can buy you more time and create a lot less stress. With her first son starting high school this year she discusses how school life changes over the years and how you just adapt.

Sarah shares some amazing tips and advice which I'll be implementing in my business and home life and I hope you get a lot out of it too.

In this episode we discuss blending your business with baby. Jade's daughter Cerise is now a six year old but Jade started the business when she was just a baby and shares her experiences around this and how Cerise has always been a big part of her business even going on world event tours with her. We also talk about the transition from childcare to school.

I really appreciate Jade's honesty and vulnerability in this chat where she shares her experience with business burnout, a challenging year where she became a single mother, and how after a whirlwind six years she is slowing things down (which knowing Jade is probably me in fast forward mode!) but in all seriousness the realities of business burnout and how she overcame it.

Jade McKenzie is the founder of event agency Event Head which she launched six years ago. Since then she has gone on to create SHE/CADEMY, the Reawakened Women Podcast, Beautiful Business Builders and is also an internationally award winning business coach and a trainer with the BYCA.

Jade has worked on both international and Australian event tours with clients including

Melissa Ambrosini, Denise Duffield-Thomas, Gala Darling, Rebecca Campbell and the UN Women National Committee Australia.

I loved the following insight from Jade:

Something I've noticed is that your daughter Cerise is such a big part of your business and the blend just seems almost effortless. I can remember seeing Cerise as a tiny bub on your hip at your business launch party, on world event tours and doing the Goddess Roadtrip with you last year up the east coast of Australia. Is that something that is easily done, how do you do it?

"You just make a choice and do it and it's hard but it's hard either way as a Mum. Cerise doesn't always travel with me and it is hard when she does and hard when she doesn't.

I think the business that I'm in allows for that. The business that I've created for myself allows that. It is a luxury that I'm able to have a job that I do get to share with my child in this way. It is very different to what I experienced growing up and I know that it is not the norm."

"With the Goddess Roadtrip tour I did with Cerise last year I did that with five women that I adore. We sold 11 events in 7 different cities and there was no question that Cerise wasn't going to be a part of that but that was only possible because I was working with women who love and know Cerise and have no issue with it so there is a time and a place for having your kids at things sometimes it is distracting especially with events. It is just around the choice of does this feel good for the both of us, it this going to work, could I make this work and is this something that would be valuable for her learning a beautiful shared experience for us. When it does work it has been amazing."

You can find more information on Jade at jademckenzie.me

When I started this podcast Leah Ladson was the exact person I had in mind to interview. As you will hear both her and her husband have designed a life to fit the lifestyle they want for their family. In this episode we really explore the importance of having a why in your business and the importance of always coming back to this and even using it for your decision making. I got so much out of this chat with Leah and I'm sure you will too.

I loved the following insight from Leah:

What are the main challenges that you experience now in building the business and maintaining it?

I would say my biggest challenge at the moment is that I could really grow and scale my business now at a rapid rate but it would mean spending less time with my kids.

So at the moment I work three days a week, I have two days that I spend with my daughter Audrey and I do a lot of school pick-ups and drop-offs.

Sometimes it is really tempting to just scale and go all out while the opportunity is there but then I always have to remember to check in with myself and my why of my business and my why is that I started my business to hang out with my kids and be present and so if the opportunity doesn't align with that I just won't do it.

For me it is just the temptation of really sky-rocketing the business but just having that restraint to hold on for a few more years and go slow and steady.

It is hard to say no especially when really cool opportunities arise. I've been getting much better probably in the last 12 months of just being really restrained with what I say yes to. It is kind of liberating as well to say no to things but it is super tempting some days I just want to do it all but then I remember it will mean I won't be able to do school drop offs and pick ups.

Leah is one of Australia's emerging go-to photographers for commercial and branding photography, as well as a recognised wedding and family photographer. Leah has just expanded her offerings running flat lay photography courses for business owners and is also a mentor for start up businesses.

In her spare time Leah founded 'Girls From The Go' a group that supports regional women who run their own businesses.

Leah lives in Bendigo with her husband Des and daughters Missy and Audrey.

You can find Leah at leahladson.com.au or on Instagram @leahladsonphotography.

Rhiannon Colarossi is the perfect first guest to be interviewed on this podcast as I really couldn't get a more fitting person to speak on this topic. You will hear her throughout the interview wear her business owner hat, parent hat, school teacher hat and coaching hat which gives us a wonderful perspective on all areas of business, parenting and school life.

Rhi has an amazing gift of simplying things and providing tips to slow down that are realistic and easy for busy people to incorporate into their hectic schedules. She also provides some thoughts on the consequence our busy lives are having on our children, which we only just touch the surface of and hopefully will be a larger discussion for another time.

I love the following insight from Rhi:

I want to ask you about rushing women's syndrome. You work with a lot of mothers do you think this is a big problem that mothers have today?

Yes I think we need to slow down. When I was teaching almost 20 years ago I noticed it then and I've been back in the classroom recently and I think that it is worse now, I think times have changed in those 18 years that society is going at such a faster pace that it even more important for us to slow down.

Even though I noticed it then I can see in so many ways that the impact and change in the children's behaviour now is huge and I do believe that part of that is us rushing and not taking a breath and slowing down.

Anxiety is on the rise for Mums and kids and we don't have to go with the status quo we can break the rush cycle we really can. We need to start with permission that it is okay to slow down and then take little actions each day to go slow which is key.

Rhiannon is an award winning Wellbeing Coach and Mum of 10 year old Jonathan and 7 year old Madeleine. Rhiannon is also a Primary School Teacher and Ronald McDonald House Tutor.

Five years ago Rhiannon created The Wellbeing Web. A platform that has the mission to empower, engage and inspire Mums to take care of their wellbeing in small practical ways every day, which benefits both them and their children.

You can find Rhiannon at wellbeingweb.com.au or on Instagram @rhiannon_colarossi