Ep. 42 Louisa Williams, Founder of Kooshy Kids– The Honest CEO Show

The Honest CEO Show, Episode 42: Louisa Williams, Founder of Kooshy Kids

Caroline Kennedy (00:02.223)
Welcome to the Honest CEO Show where we uncover the real stories behind extraordinary business leaders. I'm your host Caroline Kennedy and today's guest is someone who proves that resourcefulness, resilience and deep commitment to solving a problem that is a real world problem as well leads to extraordinary success. So today I'm joined by Louisa Williams. She's founder of Kooshy Kids, a brand that's changed the way families travel.

What started at a kitchen bench has become a multi-million dollar product and business and a global conversation about comfort, kids and courage. Most importantly as well. And I certainly wish that I had known about your products when I was traveling with my kids many years ago. So welcome to the show, Louisa. It's really great to have you here and I can't wait to share your story.

Louisa Williams (00:59.224)
Thank you, thanks for having me and for thinking of me.

Caroline Kennedy (01:03.061)
So let's go back to where it all began. Tell me about, what was your world before you had this idea?

Louisa Williams (01:14.862)
So I had two children under three and I was working for Victoria Police as in the HR department and just traveling a lot. So I'd often take a lot of sort of leave without pay just so that I could travel. So it's always been something that I've loved doing. So yeah, was just full time at Victoria Police and then also being a mum and yeah, that was pretty much it.

Caroline Kennedy (01:49.023)
Yeah. And so what was the moment before the idea hit where you just knew something in your life had to shift, but you didn't know how?

Louisa Williams (01:59.534)
It's probably just that I knew that I wanted to travel more than work and that I wanted to obviously spend a lot more time with my kids. So I'd seen one of my girlfriends, she had a clothing business and I saw that she was packing orders in her lounge room, she's maybe doing 10 or 20 a day and I thought, how cool would that be just to be able to do that, spend the time with your kids and yeah, have that sort of lifestyle. So that was in my head before I even had the idea to start with your kids.

Caroline Kennedy (02:39.839)
Yeah, okay. And how did the idea spark to share that story? Because I loved reading about it.

Louisa Williams (02:46.926)
So I have always traveled to Bali before kids and then when the kids were born, from when they were very young, I started a blog because there wasn't really any blogs about taking your kids to Bali at the time. There's hundreds now. It was called Kids in Bali and I built a really, really good audience that way. So I would share all of my Bali adventures with them, including the flight.

Anyway, this one time I was on a flight from Melbourne to Bali and we were meeting a whole group of friends there and we were five hours into the journey, which I planned very well for, and the volcano erupted in Bali. And so we had to do a full turnaround and go five hours back to Melbourne.

And at that stage they had run out of food, they'd run out of water, there was so many children on the plane. All you could hear was just crying, overtired kids. By the time we got back to Melbourne it was 3am. I'm with a one and three year old, that's not fun. But I still needed to get to Bali. I was looking up, I managed to book a flight two days later. So I knew that I had two days to try and find something to make sure that that would never happen again.

So went online, started Googling and doing my research and seeing what was out there. I saw a couple of things which I thought, yeah, that's not too bad. But I noticed that there was definitely a gap in the market and I already had some ideas of my own of what I could take on the plane with me that would make it better. And so yeah, that's when the ideas started ticking and that, yeah, how close your kids came about pretty much.

Caroline Kennedy (04:29.609)
Yeah. And when you launch, were you thinking this could be a business or were you just trying to get it out into the world or to solve a problem for yourself predominantly?

Louisa Williams (04:40.418)
I definitely didn't think that it would be anything like it is now. Like I said, it was just going to be a little side hustle and I had been selling things via my blog before and I thought that this would just maybe be another thing. So yeah, I definitely didn't think that it was going to be what it is now.

Caroline Kennedy (05:01.855)
Yeah, yeah. And when the product took off, what behind the scenes reality surprised you the most about running a product based company?

Louisa Williams (05:16.126)
probably just, I definitely didn't realise that the demand was going to be as much as what it was. And obviously you face challenges selling out of stock was my, probably the biggest problem that I had and waiting for the stock to arrive. So the whole process of, you know, ordering production and then it being shipped by sea at the time I couldn't afford air freight.

it would be a 12 week process. So every time I'd run out of stock, would have a weeks of, yeah, I had it available on pre-order, but it would mean that people would just got, they'd find me, but they would just find something on Amazon, like a cheaper version, or they'd look for something else. I'm lots of missed opportunities in the early days for sure.

Caroline Kennedy (06:07.017)
Yeah. And I'm interested in, even though you didn't think it would blow up to the degree that it has, what, why do you think that happened? Like what was the leverage point that made that happen?

Louisa Williams (06:25.302)
I it was probably my friends and family giving me the confidence to know that I could do it and I could make something of it. Yeah, I think it was just other people's belief in me. And then I sort of became more confident and I'm like, I can, think I can do this. I think I can make this a thing, a real thing. I've always sort of had an entrepreneurial brain. My dad was an entrepreneur and, yeah, I just knew that I was onto something good and yeah, I just had everyone believing in me and supporting me, which definitely helped.

Caroline Kennedy (07:04.201)
Yeah. And if we go back to where you said, didn't think the demand would be there. What created the demand?

Louisa Williams (07:12.398)
Word of mouth. So I was, um, I hadn't ran a single ad on Meta until 2023. So two years ago, not even it's even short of that. Um, but yeah, about two years ago. So it was completely organic on Instagram and it would just be someone buying it, telling their friends about it or someone seeing a post that I put on Instagram and then tagging their friends. So it was purely word of mouth that made it grow and created the demand.

Caroline Kennedy (07:45.833)
Yeah. And I think that's a really good example of how solving a problem that is really painful is the opportunity for any business, right? And if you have a painful problem and you're able to solve it, then it's, and I wouldn't say easier because I don't want to use that word because I know it requires a lot of effort and a lot of this, there are many things behind the scenes in a business, but the word of mouth element and the demand. When you meet a market demand, you can tell that that's a sweet spot for a successful business. For anybody listening, I recommend that you go onto the website and I'll put a link in the podcast because if you go and have a look at the products, absolutely solve a problem. And when I was doing my research about interviewing and who I wanted to interview, I was really blown away by the product knowing as a mother, how useful that would have been for me when my son was younger as well. And I think that's a really important lesson for any entrepreneur looking to get into business is if you can solve a critical problem, it makes, and again, I don't want to understate by using the word easy, but it the rest takes care of itself for you. Then I wouldn't say it is easy because particularly as you grow, there are a lot of different growing pains that come up through that process. And for you, what would you say was the most painful experience or a lesson that you learned early on?

Louisa Williams (09:39.054)
The most painful lesson, okay, I think this is something that I think about all of the time and it's that you can have it all, but it just can't be all at once. So yeah, it was just the whole work life balance being a mom, being a founder of a business, managing staff, were just so many things. And then it's obviously my health, my fitness, wanting to have a tidy house, there's so many things that come into it. And yes, you can do all of those things, but if you want to do them all perfectly, it's not realistic to think that you can do them all at once.

Caroline Kennedy (10:16.764)
Yeah. And how do you prioritise that then?

Louisa Williams (10:21.684)
That's a good question. Still trying, still learning. Yeah, I think when the business goes through different stages, growth stages, I sort of after like right now, we've got a lot of balls in the air and things happening. I am not doing what I probably should be doing because I know that the business needs my attention. So I'm not doing the fitness, the amount of fitness that I should be doing. I am not seeing my kids in the evening. Sometimes I'm in the office until after midnight. I make sure that I get up and walk them to the bus stop every day. Yeah, just knowing that it's coming and I'll be able to do it soon because I've seen it in the past and knowing that it's just a little, it's going to be a little bit until I can do that. Planning, planning out your day is great. I've only sort of just started doing a whole plan the week and then every morning plan the day. And that's helping. But yeah, with what I've got going on at the moment. It's just not possible for me to do all of the things that I'd love to be doing.

Caroline Kennedy (11:28.115)
Yeah, and I also think that comes back to, you know, how people talk about work-life balance. I just don't think that that phrase in itself sets us up for success because there are times where we have the opportunity where something needs us more than others and whether that be family or our kids or at the business and then it's been able to make that decision. And I've always been resistant as I said to that word work-life balance because if you love what you do and you're really passionate about it and it's not really work anyway and and I have people say to me all the time why do you work so much and I think because I love it but and it is genuinely because I love it or if I'm reading a book it's generally a business book or it's a book that stimulates my thinking or helps me learn or grow or and people say, don't you read books for just enjoyment? I'm like, no, because I actually enjoy reading them. Yeah. And, so I think, yeah, that fallacy of work life balance, just doesn't exist.

And in terms of, cashflow and manage manufacturing risk, et cetera, as you grow with the demand, how do you handle that? Because, particularly when you're bootstrapped, right?

Louisa Williams (12:48.066)
Yeah. So there are times when I've had to take out loans to get stock, but I think I've gone and visited my manufacturer many times and I think having a relationship with them, a really good relationship with them and sharing your predictions and your numbers and all of that, showing them where you want to be. yeah, I think that really helps because then you can have the conversations with them about different payment terms, because normally with China, it's, you you pay your deposit when the production to start production, and then you pay the balance before it gets released to shipped. So if you can have a good relationship with your supplier and just be transparent with them, I think they're more likely to work with you. Now, not all of them will, but there are ones out there that will definitely work with you and you know, you feel like you're a partner in the business together. And if you can do that, definitely helps with cashflow if you've got terms. And also pre-orders. Pre-orders are like, if people, if you're just having sold out, I think it's such a missed opportunity. Even the notify me, you know, when I'm at, when something's out of stock, that's great. But I think pre-orders are really, really good. And just making sure that you're communicating with the customers throughout the pre-order process, because sometimes it is a long time.

Caroline Kennedy (14:16.233)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's that transparency and setting the right expectation to the customer, right? As opposed to them sitting there thinking, when is this coming? Particularly in the day and age where instant gratification, we want to buy something and literally want it delivered within an hour. You know, and not everyone's aware of that.

Louisa Williams (14:31.118)
Yeah, I think. And I think it's especially important because for me, people have trips booked. So they've got a date and travel stressful and with kids, without kids, it's different story. But yeah, I think they've already got all of these, you know, all this anxiety around it. And then they just know that they're waiting for it. So definitely communication for me is vital because I don't, the whole idea of the business is to take the stress out of travel.

And I definitely don't want to add to the stress by, you know, not feeling them in, not being honest when there's a delay and things like that.

Caroline Kennedy (15:10.323)
Yeah, yeah. And that's putting the customer at the heart of everything that you do as well. And that's so important. I want to circle back to the question before where we talking about the cash flow and manufacturing, cetera. And I really liked what you said about the numbers and being really clear on your numbers and even forecasting and understanding the business growth and then breaking that down into bite-sized pieces. And I think that's the critical element when you're a leading a business is knowing where it's going and forecasting and the growth and the bite-sized pieces.

Also when you're talking to any lenders or as you say, manufacturers know your numbers, your numbers give you clarity. Particularly if and I see this in a lot of business at times where they forecast something and then, is the lead indicator, but then the lag indicator can be that we're actually not meeting those numbers and then we can make decisions about, what do we need to do differently here if we're not? Or alternatively, if we're actually exceeding the numbers that we forecast, well, then we can make critical decisions about what needs to be done. As opposed to getting to the outcome being, I wanted to make five million dollars this year and we only made three, well, we could have done a lot of things differently and made different decisions had we broken that down into bite-sized pieces. And I think what you mentioned before about the numbers and knowing the numbers is really important for business owners and cannot be understated too.

Louisa Williams (16:54.542)
Absolutely. I've only sort of been doing that for the last two years. So every day I fill out all of the information that happened from the day prior. how much I'd spent on ads, know, staff, everything. But I'd make sure that I do that every single morning before anything else. And then it's like a spreadsheet and then I can look at the forecast and make any sort of adjustments there. But definitely knowing your numbers is critical.

Caroline Kennedy (17:25.023)
Yeah, yeah. And particularly for sustainability as well and in challenging economic times even more so too. What's been the most important commercial or pricing decision you've made that helped the business stay sustainable?

Louisa Williams (17:45.134)
So when I entered the market, I made sure that I was below other people, other businesses that were in the same field. I thought that that would be the way to attract people to the business. But then the business started growing and I know my products are better. know they've got so many more features. I'm going to back myself and I'm going to put the price above everyone else and like stamp myself as being the leader and the product that they want.

And yeah, that's pretty much what I did then. Now I think if people, think it's psychology, if you look at the same product and there's a $10 difference, for me, I'll go with the more expensive one just because, I mean, obviously there's a lot more decisions, reviews and everything else that comes into that. But I just feel like just having that makes it feel like it's better. don't know. Just that's the way my mind works. And since I put up the prices and backed myself, yeah, it's definitely it's helped so much.

Caroline Kennedy (19:01.885)
Yeah, it clearly gives you more margin as well to be able to, you know, build that sustainable business because there are a lot of factors than just product costs when running a business too. But what I love about that is you're right, and it is psychology and human behavior is that people's perception, if it's a little bit more expensive, then it's better quality. And therefore, when it is better quality, it warrants that decision to be you know, that little bit more expensive. And I, for anyone listening, I think it's really important that that analysis is done too, rather than just assuming, well, if I put the price lower than people will purchase, that's not necessarily the key driver.

And it's good to just think about that and to do that research and that analysis like you did, and then realise that actually, well, we have a far superior product and therefore it warrants that price point. And I mean, it's, it's even a really good example of when people go in and buy Louis Vuitton handbags, right? I mean, yes, the quality is there, but you could also buy another handbag that didn't necessarily have the brand name, with the same level of quality, but because it's so expensive, we perceive it to be of, of higher quality and then therefore it creates the demand for it too.

Yeah. Success brings scale, but also scrutiny. What part of you had to grow the fastest as the business scale?

Louisa Williams (20:48.117)
Probably not taking things so personally. you said about scrutiny, with social media these days, there's so many people that try to take you down when you're succeeding, whether that be competitors or just trolls on the internet. And so I've had to stop taking it so seriously because initially my instinct was quite back, not true.

You know, you're a troll and I posted on my stories and go, you know, I needed some sort of validation for them being wrong and me being right or whatever it is. And so I've just taken that step back. I've actually removed myself from customer service because I take it so personally. But yeah, I think it's learning to just. Separate that and be be professional and get not to take it. It's not a reflection on you or anything else.

Yeah, that's the biggest challenge for me.

Caroline Kennedy (21:51.369)
Yeah. And that's a really good lesson for any business owner too. And particularly when you really care about your product and you clearly care about the product that you're developing and the problem that you're solving. And you're right. These days, social media and people's opinions or perspectives. I always say no one person owns the truth. We all own a piece of it, but clearly also to, you've been able to operate consciously by saying, actually, I don't need to validate myself. I don't need to look for validation. I know that I'm not going to please everybody. And particularly in Australia, which I find really sad is that we have, you know, tall poppy syndrome and it is, it exists out there compared to if you look at the U S where they celebrate success and people who are successful.

Whereas in Australia, we want to criticise individuals or we want to say, who do they think they are? And it's a shame because imagine if we had a society where we just want to lift each other up and celebrate success, we'd probably find that there would be a lot more individuals that would be successful too, because it holds people back, particularly the scrutiny side of things; the fear of other people's judgment or opinion can hold people back from moving forward. And I find that that's quite sad.

Louisa Williams (23:30.766)
And sometimes, I mean, especially in the early days, I would think about, would just do it for days, you know, an hour long shower and literally that whole hour in my head trying to convince myself that I was right and they were wrong. But then, yeah, I just don't do that anymore. I don't give it any oxygen.

Caroline Kennedy (23:54.591)
Yeah, yeah. And I always talk about leaving people's perspectives with them. We can seek to understand and try and get a sense of it, which is empathy. But at the end of the day, if we look at the situation and reflect upon it and then think, well, actually, that's just their perspective, and that's okay, they can have that perspective. And the more you do that, particularly in terms of leaving other people's perspectives with them. It's much more peaceful for you as an individual and then you operate differently and I think that's really critical and it's a journey we all have to go on. Some people get there quicker than others and there's no right or wrong it just is what it is but that's a really good point.

Louisa Williams (24:38.828)
Yeah, that's I tell, I tell everyone to read Mel Robbins' Letting because that is, it's just what you just said is all about that. And that, that helped me a lot as well. Yeah.

Caroline Kennedy (24:52.627)
Yeah. It sounds like you were there before that, but that probably reinforced it, I would say by the sounds of it, because it's relatively new.

Louisa Williams (25:00.066)
Yeah, I sort of, I brought it into my personal life as well, whereas it was just a professional thing. And I think that has helped a lot as well.

Caroline Kennedy (25:08.649)
Yeah yeah so i want to talk about Qantus because i was doing research about that how did you emotionally and commercially navigate the tension with the airline that didn't formally back your product like the others had.

Louisa Williams (25:26.594)
So pretty much it was only a few months in to having Kooshy Kids. They came out with their policy, which was to ban other products, not all of them, but most of them. And yeah, I get criticised about it all the time. And it's on my mind every single day how much of a difference it would make if they would consider it, assess it, and then approve it.

But yeah, that's definitely my biggest challenge. Most people that are in Australia are flying from Qantas, Jetstar or Virgin. And I would say it's probably 70 % of them would be Qantas and Jetstar. I automatically, my audience size is sort of so much smaller than what it could potentially be. And people are like, you're an Australian brand. How can you not have the major Australian carrier approve your products? And I'm like them. But they are assessing it now which is great so I'm working with their cabin safety team and I am optimistic.

Caroline Kennedy (26:37.427)
Yeah. Well, I think that they should pursue it and definitely approve it for you. And I also, for our listeners, there are many airlines that have. And from memory, Singapore Airlines, who else was there, Louisa?

Louisa Williams (26:53.41)
Yeah, last week I got British Airways on board, is a really, really good one. So Virgin, there's over 100, but the bigger ones would be Virgin, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, American Airlines. Yeah, and so many more.

Caroline Kennedy (27:17.311)
Yeah, so it's a no-brainer for Qantas really.

Louisa Williams (27:21.294)
Yeah, well, initially it was a safety issue and I have been to the AIATA, which is a governing body for airlines, conferences overseas a couple of times and spoken with the airlines to try and work with them on safety and making sure the products were safe. And so I have changed and added safety features along the way to make sure that they were compliant and that they fell in within the risk assessment that AIATA give to airlines  which they now are, they all contain this little thing, which is an air safety release valve, which means that if there is a major decompression event, it'll automatically relieve the air in there. So having that is definitely critical and has helped me to get more airlines on board for sure.

Caroline Kennedy (28:12.981)
Yeah, and what I really love about that story is that you're proactively looking to continue to evolve the product and develop the product and particularly around the safety elements, which is critical. And that's always front of mind to you, that ongoing improvement, and that's really critical. And taking on that feedback too, and being able to say, okay, well, how do we now solve this problem? And then you move forward. So fingers crossed that Qantas give you the big tick, but it seems like it should be a no brainer for them anyway.

What did building the business cost you that people wouldn't see on social media?

Louisa Williams (29:06.734)
Not being able to be as available as what I used to be. And I'm a very social person, got a big group of friends in Melbourne. And I just, I mean before, like a few years ago, before I was really serious about business, I was always the one messaging, phoning people every day, checking in on people. And I just don't do that as much as I should. Disappointed in myself and I'm like, I'll miss a birthday and I'll just be like, my gosh, I would never normally miss someone's birthday. And I just, I feel awful. So I think that part of it, yeah, I get guilty about, and obviously there's the spending, missing out on spending time with the kids as well. I try and make up for it as much as I can. We go on holidays regularly, but mom guilt is a thing and I think it's a thing for everyone, yeah.

That's definitely something that's on my mind every day.

Caroline Kennedy (30:07.337)
Yeah, yeah. And you know, I heard a couple of months ago and it really resonated with me is an individual was talking about responsiveness and he said, you know, what suffers when I'm focused is responsiveness and I have struggled with this for I think forever. Sometimes I will just not respond and it's because I have so much coming at me then I have to to decide where is my energy best served? Where is my focus best served in terms of what I'm trying to achieve? And I felt like in that moment when I listened to it, it actually gave me permission to say it's okay. And the people that know you know, it's, it's not you don't do it on purpose. It's just that you know, if I want to be hyper focused on on getting outcomes and that I need to be focused on this and it's not personal and and I yeah, not that I needed permission, but I think that it's sometimes it's good to hear another perspective or another individual say something go, but that's me. That's why I do it. And it's not because I don't care.

Louisa Williams (31:23.502)
I think my friends are used to it now. So often, and I'm sure this happens to everyone, you'll go to send a text to someone and you'll see a text that they wrote to you like a few weeks before that you hadn't responded to. You're just like, I'm awful.

Caroline Kennedy (31:34.143)
Yeah. I know. And I also think it's heightened these days, like 10 years ago, 15 years ago, the demands on us were not what they are today. You've just got stuff coming in all the time, particularly on that phone, all those notifications. And, and if you're distracted by all of that, then you can't be focused, unfortunately. And we are in the distracted economy.

So, the fact that you're conscious of being focused, I think is really important. clearly it's one of the reasons why you are so successful as well. But you know, you know what I mean? You're aware of it. And I think that that's, you know, that's good. Yeah. What's next for Kooshy Kids? And what's next for you, Louisa?

Louisa Williams (32:33.453)
Well, I think they're part and parcel, but we suppose this is the official announcement. We are opening our first store.

Caroline Kennedy (32:45.451)
Wow, that's exciting!

Louisa Williams (32:46.57)
Yeah, which is, which is huge. Yeah. That is going to start, start fitting it out in a few weeks and it'll be open in June or July. So it was very, yeah, I was very humble when they approached me and asked me if I wanted to do that. Cause I, I mean, I always thought it would be great, but it was always something that was just so out of reach. like, that would be way, way, way too much, but it's happening. Yeah. It's actually happening. And they approached me, which is, it made me have some belief in myself again and the business. And obviously they think it can work. So make it work.

Caroline Kennedy (33:24.915)
Yeah, I have no doubt it could work actually. And that's the prime position for people to purchase a product that have not been exposed to it previously, right? And it's, yeah, yeah. Well, that's very exciting. I can't wait to see it when I'm next traveling. And beyond that, I suppose now you're thinking whether that's...

Louisa Williams (33:47.914)
No, so we've got lots of things happening. Amazon in the USA has just started to take off. We only started that three or four months ago. Haven't really sort of touched the US much in the past. But then I'm like, the amount, population in Australia compared to the US and also the airlines, like all of the airlines in the US are accepting it. Like it's a no brainer. And so many people travel from, you know, the West Coast to the East Coast in the States. And that's the time, that's the right amount of time for them to need the products. So I think that that is going to be a huge thing for the next couple of years and probably forever or for as long as Kooshy Kids is running. yeah, that's where I'm focusing most of my time, that the store and everything else.

Caroline Kennedy (34:39.315)
Yeah, seems like you've got a lot going on, but all good things.

Louisa Williams (34:42.478)
Yeah, I don't have a goal, like an exit goal. I can't see myself doing anything else right now.

Caroline Kennedy (34:55.423)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. two last questions and one that kind of segues into that. What, what do you want your legacy to be?

Louisa Williams (35:05.23)
Just that I have made travel easier for families and for parents, like that is all. Every time I read a review, it's so easy to get lost in the day to day and you forget that what you're doing is actually such a big thing for parents. You'll read a review or just like an email from someone who is genuinely thinks that I've changed their lives, which I just think, it's not that big a deal, yeah, having having that impact on people is incredible. And I would love for that to be a legacy, to be known as the warm-up change travel for parents. Yeah. I'm most proud of.

Caroline Kennedy (35:59.529)
Yeah, and I have no doubt that you will achieve that. And my final question is, what do want your kids to learn by watching you lead?

Louisa Williams (36:11.502)
I want them to know that hard work pays off. And yeah, I don't want them to be obviously lazy or think that everything just comes to them. I think when I was brought up, my parents worked so hard. We had a great life. We traveled, we did everything, we were not by no means rich or anything like that. But then watching what they did, I wanted to do the same.

And then I hope to pass that down to my kids because they live, my kids are very well looked after. We live a very comfortable life. But I want them to know that that just was never been handed to me that, you know, it's important to work hard at it and not to give up as well because they have seen me in the bad times through COVID and everything else.

And they've probably overheard conversations where I've said, just can't do it anymore. But yeah, definitely working hard and not giving up. That's what I hope to pass on to them.

Caroline Kennedy (37:20.447)
Yeah, yeah. And I think, you're leading that with being such a fantastic role model for them as well. one last thing, is there anything that I haven't asked you that you think, listeners could get some insights from?

Louisa Williams (37:44.398)
I think a lot of people from just from when I post on socials they find the most interesting is my morning routine and five M's that I live by every day and that includes making my bed because I know that if I don't make my bed I'm off for the whole day. Like making a bed it seems so small but for me it's just one of those things that is a non-negotiable and I have to do it. And then there's movements. So whether that be walking my kids to the bus stop, going for a run in the morning, or when we're going to work, we do like a tea and coffee walk. I think movement's really important as well. Then there's this manifestation, which I got from ChatGPT, which is just like a daily thing that I read out to myself, my mantra, if you like, which really helps set me up for the day.

What I spoke about earlier was mapping out my day, definitely like super important. And I've just sort of been doing that for the last month or two, and that's helping a lot. And then for me, it's music as well. Like music's a huge motivator for me and I, whether I'm cranking it in the car or when I'm running and we've always got Spotify playlist happening at the warehouse as well. So they're the five M's that I swear by every day and it helped me to be the best version of me.

Caroline Kennedy (39:10.739)
Yeah, I love that and I love that it's got a framework as well. And music is so important. It really shifts our state as well. I always find that when we're, well, when I'm in a bad mood, if I just put music on and dance around, it just makes me feel so much better. So thank you for sharing that. Yeah. All right.

Louisa Williams (39:29.486)
It does. No problem.

Caroline Kennedy (39:34.143)
Well, Louisa, thank you so much. The conversation wasn't just about building a business. It's about becoming the kind of person who can lead one as well and the journey around that and your honesty, your grit and your transparency will hit home with so many of our listeners. And to our listeners out there, if you've enjoyed today's conversation, press the follow button and there plenty more conversations on www.carolinekennedy.com.au.

And thank you so much for your time. Louisa I've really appreciated it.

Louisa Williams (40:05.294)
Thank you, you're welcome. Lovely, lovely to have a chat.