Podcast S3:E7 - Amplifying your voice with Nicola Rae-Wickham

You can connect with the fantastic Nicola Rae-Wickham over on Instagram or on her website!

In this episode I talk to Nicola Rae-Wickham about finding and using your voice in business. We discuss leading with your values while allowing them to evolve as you do, and the ways that you can work on using your voice.

Nicola Rae-Wickham is a certified coach and brand strategist who helps big-hearted creatives and purpose driven humans to amplify their voice and make a real wholehearted impact on the world. She is founder of A Life More Inspired where she's combines her 20 year corporate marketing experience with coaching in order to coach big-hearted creatives and purpose driven humans to to build brands and lives based on truth-telling and soul-connecting and do work that makes a meaningful and wholehearted contribution to the world.

You can find out more about Nicola on her website www.alifemoreinspired.com follow her on Instagram @alifemoreinspired and listen to her podcast Dream and Do Podcast

This podcast is presented by Ellie McBride from Calibrated Concepts. It was produced by Emily Crosby Media.

Transcript:

(Please note that these are computer generated and therefore imperfect).

Ellie: [00:00:00] Welcome to the capable collective podcast. He plays for women who want to ditch the overwhelm and learn to run their business with ease. I'm your host, Ellie McBride. And I firmly believe that as women and non-binary folks, we work best as a collective. So together with my. We are sharing the tools, systems and ethos behind a simple yet thriving business.

This season, we will be talking all about making great content from your website to social media. My guests and I are here to help you create content that attracts and engages your audience episodes drop on alternate Wednesdays. So make sure to subscribe, to catch everyone ready to dive in. Let's go.

Nicola. Ray Wickham is a certified coach and brand straps. Who helps big hearted [00:01:00] creatives and purpose-driven humans to amplify their voice and make a real whole-hearted impact on the world. Nicola Ray Wickham is a founder of a life, more inspired where she combines her 20 year corporate marketing experience with coaching in order to coach big hearted creatives and purpose-driven humans to build brands and lives based on truth telling and so connecting and do work that makes a meaningful and wholehearted contribution to.

She's committed to bringing nuance to the personal development well, and an entrepreneurial space so that it is a development for the many and not for the few affirmations are her love language. And as long side, her podcast and coaching practice, she has a range of affirmation. Both for adults and children helping them to dream and do so.

I'm really excited to have Nicola Rae-Wickham. I'm here today. And I first came across, Nicholas' work through Mel, who was on the podcast last season. And [00:02:00] Nicola had also come in and done an amazing workshop when I was part of Mel's, um, accelerator program. And I've just been following your work ever since.

And I'm so excited to have you.

Nicola Rae-Wickham: Oh, that is so lovely to hear Ellie and yeah, I'm excited to get into this conversation. So do we want to kick it off with the rapid round? Yeah, let's do it. All right. Cool.

Ellie: Um, so let's start with where you're from.

Nicola Rae-Wickham: I'm from London. And are you still living in London? I'm still living in London.

So I actually live around the corner from where I was brought up.

Ellie: Oh, that's really cool. And then London, I feel like that's just such a, like an, almost like an oddity. It doesn't ha it happens, but it doesn't happen like. Yeah. There's so many people moving in and out.

Nicola Rae-Wickham: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes it makes me feel a little bit like, oh, I've gone about 200 meters a bit more than that.

Not far too. So I moved away for university out of London. And then, um, I, when I moved in with my husband, we lived not far from here. It was still [00:03:00] Northwest London. And now I'm back around the corner from my childhood home,

Ellie: but that does, does your family still live over there? Do you get to be really close to them off?

That's so nice.

Nicola Rae-Wickham: So the childcare is awesome. I'm what keeps me here, honestly.

Ellie: Like this is something we talk about on this podcast and in weight, various ways shapes and forms, but that like having that community around you, because. Up until pretty recently childcare cooking. A lot of that stuff did happen as a community.

Yeah. And it's just such a different way that our society functions recently. And I think it's really cool when you can still have parts of that.

Nicola Rae-Wickham: I feel very blessed to have a village, so that's really, really cool.

Ellie: And what are your preferred pronouns? Sheand her. When did you start your business?

Nicola Rae-Wickham: Goodness, I was thinking about this because I'm not very good with locking it.

So I think it was. 2016. I think I obviously didn't have this big kind of like bang [00:04:00] it's open now and I've got a set date, but I think that's because it really evolved and there's kind of been various iterations of it. Yeah. Um, and it very much started as a side hustle as well. So yeah, it was around 2016.

Yeah.

Ellie: If you were to talk about my business, like I usually say I started in January of, I think what 2017. I did start a version of it before it totally petered out. And I usually just count from like the day I got my first client, which is funny, cause like, oh no, I guess I launched. And then like, I got a client very quickly via Facebook groups.

So it's always like, I can find that first invoice in that tells me,

Nicola Rae-Wickham: love me now. Like, Ooh, how can I find out an actual date? Cause it would be really nice to know, but yeah.

Ellie: And another thing that is often happens with solo entrepreneurs is we don't really celebrate the, like the anniversaries, the, these types of things that happen.

Um, yeah. So more on that. How did you start your business and why.

Nicola Rae-Wickham: So I started, so I always knew that I wanted to have my own [00:05:00] business in some way, shape or form. And when I was on maternity leave with my first daughter, I took that opportunity to start doing some freelancing work. And then the freelancing then rolled around to me doing more marketing consulting.

So the freelancing, I was kind of more in-house, but it was a side, still a side hustle to maternity leave. And my main job. Um, and then I decided to do more marketing consulting. And then I discovered the world of personal development wanted to launch a product shop or based all around affirmations. So that was kind of the first iteration of it.

And then I added mentoring onto that. So I was doing marketing mentoring, and then over the years, different elements have been added on. So it really came from. Me feeling like, and it really annoys me to say it, but once I was on maternity leave, I felt like I had a reason to start the [00:06:00] business that I'd always wanted to start.

And so, yeah, that's how it kind of started. But prior to that, I was a blogger and I'd gone into blogging because I loved it and it was for creative expression, but I'd also seen it as possibly being a bit of a business. It was around 2012 when blogging was starting to kind of really have its heyday. So that I feel like that helped me get into it as well.

Yeah. So it was all of these different threads that made me, um, yeah, start my business. Yeah.

Ellie: So it was like a, it was a woven path. And I love that. I love that your experience in corporate gave you some, some of that stuff, but you already knew that that wasn't like your forever and you had been blogging knowing that that was going to give you experience and a following from when you started a business.

And then you did all this kind of the freelance work that turned in and evolved into this beautiful business that you run today. It is an evolution. So what [00:07:00] do you love about your business?

Nicola Rae-Wickham: Oh my goodness. I love that my business is a home for my ideas and it's a home for my ideas in terms of the kind of meaningful difference that I want to make.

On the world with individuals in terms of the actual work that I get to do, but then also it's a home for my ideas about our culture and our society, and kind of wider than that. And so what I love about my business is it enables me to. Express myself in that way. And then also I also love about it is that it is what we've kind of spoken to is that it's evolved with me and there's been various iterations.

And I can see that there's going to be iterations that come as well. So I always call my business that it's a lifestyle business in the sense that it was designed to fit around my life. [00:08:00] Yeah to support my life in whichever stage it's then. So that's another thing that I love about it. It allows me to be there and nurture my family and nurture myself and really support me in that way.

There's that real part of me that is like, that's what work should be. Yeah. Right. Like imagine if work was designed to support us in that way and put our lives farther than the other way round.

Ellie: I know. And I think that's, that's something where a lot of people start a business with that in mind, and they get sort of lost in the details and the things that need to get done.

The things that I guess, the hustle culture that is so prevalent and entrepreneurship. Because I had started my business at the stage almost for three and a half years ago or so, and it has evolved and evolved and evolved. And I started my business with the sole purpose of being able to go back to America whenever I want to do.

I think that was 100%. I was in my first year here in Northern Ireland and it was [00:09:00] gray and rainy and I was sad,

but

you're right. Like having that and it's evolved with. And I'm now in a period where I am about three and a half years in. And I'm realizing that I'm like really tired from a lot of things.

It's not all business-related life has kind of hit me. And I'm decided that I'm taking the next six months, like quote unquote off. I'm not, no. But I'm not launching anything. I'm not doing anything out of the normal. I am literally going to focus on my like couple of website designs a month, nothing else.

And, and the fact that we, as business owners can make those choices to support our, where we're at the stage of life or of any stage of life is really important.

Nicola Rae-Wickham: Yeah. For me. Well, I'm hearing that it's like the epitome of freedom, right? That you get to use it to support the kind of life that you want. To live.

And I talk a lot about living and working seasonally. So we have, if we're, if we're planning, we're thinking about the season of life, where in and what that [00:10:00] requires. And if your next six months requires you to take some time out, then that's what you're doing. And that is like, that is winning.

Ellie: Yes. Yes.

And I love, love having these conversations because I think. It's amazing that they're finally starting to happen. Like I didn't, I don't know if I was just in the wrong like silo when I first started joining a business, but I didn't hear conversations like this. When I first started my business for years.

Nicola Rae-Wickham: No, I, I definitely didn't either. And I don't know if I would've been ready to receive them at that point either. I think even now sometimes the message hits me and I'm kind of like banging it off. Like no, even though I'm able to embrace it and embody it more. But I think that four years ago, the landscape looked very different and there were different voices being heard and amplified.

And there is the, to certain extent that what we see helps us to know what is [00:11:00] possible. And that was very narrow. So,

Ellie: yeah. Yeah. I'm very excited about what's coming for entrepreneurship, especially because it's now to the point, I'd say again, a lot of the entrepreneurs that I follow are women and seeing women set themselves up for success and for lack of better phrasing.

Thriving, but not thriving in the, like the hustle way, but the thriving as an, the nurtured soul centered, happy, like aligned place that you can be in business, it's pretty bad-ass to see women do that for themselves.

Nicola Rae-Wickham: It is really, it's so lovely to see them start to define what success looks like. And it is so easy for that definition to be handed to.

I think even when we enter this entrepreneur real world, There was, and there still is sometimes this kind of like, well, this is what success is. I thought everybody was kind of like hamsters on that hamster wheel, trying to get that. And it feels like there's been this [00:12:00] real reckoning where it's like, well, actually, what does success look like?

To me and for me, and that's where, what nurtures one person doesn't nurture another, but we get to find out what it is that actually nurtures you and go for that. And I, that's a lot more attainable than attainable, unsustainable than we think is yeah,

Ellie: you guys can't see me, but I'm grinning like the Cheshire cat here.

Like, I love this. I love this. Okay, so on that kind of a similar ish line, one of the things I like to talk about on this podcast is what help we have in our business, because most of the people that I'm around are solo entrepreneurs and whether you have help in your business or help in life, that makes your business possible.

I want to hear about it because there's this myth in the solo preneur world, sort of that people hit these multimillion dollar businesses or. Multi million or like six figure launches and they do it all by themselves and it's [00:13:00] all fine. And they don't have, you know, they're running, wearing all the hats and it's all them, it's all them.

And I don't like that

Nicola Rae-Wickham: and it's not true. So my team is pretty lean to be on air safe. I start with the business side. I have a VA who helps me with all of, kind of the admin stuff, basically anything that she is able to do in my business. She does anything that I look at and be like, that's going to take me a long time and I don't need to be doing that.

Ideally, what I want to be doing is working with my clients, creating content. And then thinking about like the vision of the business and strategy, those are like what I want to do. I don't really want to be doing anything cows, so yeah, I've got my VA and, um, that's it. That's beautiful on the business side.

Um, and then I have also, I have in and out, I'll have coaches. [00:14:00] Um, so for instance, at the moment I'm working with I've recently completed some additional coach training, so just. For ICF accreditation. And, um, one of my colleagues on that has now become a coach of mine. And what is really beautiful about that relationship is that she's not a business coach.

Like she's not bad, she's not experienced in anything that I'm doing. She's just a really amazing coach and gives me that space and time to unravel and digest and all of that stuff. So she's part of my team at the moment. And then on the kind of life part of it, I would say that the nursery is part of my team because they have my childcare.

Yes. They are a hundred percent part of my team. And then I've got, I'm very lucky to have my parents who helped with childcare as well. So, um, they, that helps everything to kind of function. [00:15:00] And then also my VA, what I've got her to do is to help him personal staff. Okay. So for instance, if I need to, like, I was booking a dinner for a friend's 40th a couple of weeks ago, I got her to help me out with that.

Right. So I just look at my diary, look at my to-do list and anything that I look at and think that's going to take up loads of time. I don't need to be doing. That's what we try and give. Yeah, definitely.

Ellie: I, when I was a virtual assistant, I was a virtual assistant for an online business manager. And so I manage a couple of her clients accounts and did a lot of, like, I worked specifically in content for them and socially.

But then she also had us, uh, by the end. So I started with her and I was her only VA. And by the end, I think she had four of us, but she would have us like buck her massages and her haircuts and like these things that needed to happen on like a six week recurring basis. Cause she had quite short hair and just.

Yep. Over every six weeks you booked me a haircut. Like here's my car to here. The S the software, you book it through, just do it, [00:16:00] but in my calendar.

Nicola Rae-Wickham: Yeah. And it's because it's so funny how much time those things can take up and how much mind space it can take up thinking that that needs to be done. So being able to hand that over is

Ellie: yeah.

Yeah, definitely. Definitely. Um, I think that's really, really good. So you have amazing help in your business and your life that make your business possible so that you can continue helping other people. Um, but do you have any simple systems or softwares that you use that you feel really help you to do business with more?

Nicola Rae-Wickham: Yes. So I mainly use click up, which my VA introduced me to only a couple of months ago. So before that I've tried all different ones. I've tried to up, I've tried Trello, like, yeah, I've tried many different systems and never stuck to them. I'm a very much a pen and paper person, but then pen and paper just gets a bit overwhelming.

Yes. I feel drowning in pedagogy.

Ellie: Yeah. Especially when you have [00:17:00] multiple projects potentially going on and when you're trying to be able to communicate and outsource parts. Yes,

Nicola Rae-Wickham: exactly. Exactly. So she was like, Nicola, how about you try, click up. I think it's going, like having got to know you now. I think that this is going to work for you.

And I absolutely love it. Um, so that's kind of the main system that I would say that I use. Other than that I'm very much like a Google drive person. So I put all this stuff in there and then give her access to what she needs to have access to. But click up has literally changed my life. It's amazing.

Isn't it? It's amazing. Yeah. I love the way that you can have the work spaces and then even personal things I've got lists for. And it just, it feels like it takes a creative mind and. In a format that makes sense.

Ellie: Yeah. Yeah. I really like click up. I've used it with several clients in the past. I'm personally on a Sonic cause I like that it's sort of a simplified version.

So it's like more complex and manageable to me than like Trello, but click up, [00:18:00] like to me as a sauna on overdrive, it has tons of features that I would never need, but it also can totally kick ass. Like it can do so much and you're right. The way it organizes information is really, really.

Nicola Rae-Wickham: Yeah, it helps me to keep a log of, cause I find like I'm a multi passionate person.

So it means in my business, I always have multiple projects on the go or, um, like at the moment I've got corporate clients, I've got my membership, I've got one, two ones. I'm also now a coach trainer. So there's all of these different things going on. And it enables me to have sight of what I need to do.

And when. So, yeah.

Ellie: And isn't that just fricking magic?

Nicola Rae-Wickham: Oh, Ellie. I was wasting so much Headspace in. I need to do something. I'm not quite sure what, or just, I think it's one of the things about being a creative that has lots of ideas that is doing lots of different things is being able to. Just have a handle on that.

Yeah.

Ellie: I [00:19:00] think it makes a huge, huge difference to not feel like you have to keep everything in your head or find that right piece of paper, you wrote it down on. Or like those kinds of things, I get makes a huge difference. Huge, huge difference to use some sort of project management tool. And there are a bunch out there I just had, I'm working with an SEO specialist right now.

She uses Monday. So now I have an account for that. One of, two of my contractors use. The whole thing is. Yeah.

Nicola Rae-Wickham: Yeah. And also what I use in terms of keeping track of my ideas is Google keep

Ellie: love. Yeah. It can be really useful.

Nicola Rae-Wickham: Yes. And auto as well.

Ellie: Otter for transcription and all is amazing.

Nicola Rae-Wickham: Yeah. Those are like eighties.

Very,

Ellie: very. All right. Well, let's talk more about what we're like. I've loved chatting about your business, of course, but, um, I really want people to hear a little bit about your expertise on our topic of the day. We're talking all about amplifying your voice, which is one of your specialties and you create [00:20:00] content around this.

And it's absolutely not my expert. So I just would love to hear a little bit more about that.

Nicola Rae-Wickham: Yeah, absolutely. So one of the things I really help people do is to find, use and amplify their voice. And what that means is being able to locate that story within you and be able to translate that. So the way that I do that, primarily at my work in my work at the moment is helping people.

Do that through their brand. So who is their brand and what do they want to be saying in there and what is important to them and what are their values? And, um, using that to build up what their brand is and what it represents, and then put that out there into the world. And whilst that, is it kind of on the surface level, what comes behind that is us being able to own our stories.

Being able to tell our story, to be able to really tune into [00:21:00] what is important to us. And that is where for me, it gets really exciting. Um, the people that I tend to attract, we are culturally aware of what is happening. We care deeply about the world and the people that are in there and have thoughts and opinions and things to say, the people that I chat to, aren't always the loudest in the room.

So have often learned how to not talk and not use their voice. And then they're thrust into this environment where there's all these marketing people saying, show up and kind of, you know, put messages out there and create content. And, um, they're like, yeah, but who am I? Like, what am I saying? And so for me, it's about using your voice as being able to find that sweet spot of.

Talking about and being about what you care about and making that work with your brand or business. And then in terms of amplifying your [00:22:00] voice, it's about then getting it out to more people, um, and being more visible, not necessarily in the traditional sense. So visibility doesn't have to look like doing videos every single day, but it's almost like just turning the dial on.

Ellie: Yeah, that is really cool. Like I love, I love that intersection of finding out how to use what you care about and finding a way to weave that into who your business is. And what you talk about in your business. And that's something that you brought up even at the start of that, that is what you love about having a business in the first place is that you get to do that.

And then on the other side, as you get to help other people learn to

do that as well.

Nicola Rae-Wickham: Yeah, absolutely. And I really believe that like the, and this wouldn't go for everybody. And I, I get that for the people that I attract. They often have some kind of social mission with their [00:23:00] business. So whether it is directly, they work, they do, or just by their presence in the space.

It's saying something. Yeah. The opportunity for our brands to, what do I believe is like wholehearted work in the world where we're serving people and we have platform, right? Like all of this tech has afforded us the opportunity to have platforms that give us a voice. That allow, um, information to be democratized and kind of other voices to be heard and other stories to be had.

And that's important. Like if we're going to be able to. To make that change. So like, when I was a little girl, I always, I loved magazines so much. And so I was like, I'm either going to be a radio presenter or a magazine editor. And that would have been the only way then back in the eighties, when I was.

The only way that you can get out there. So when I discovered the [00:24:00] internet and it's like, wow, I can have my own magazine or radio show I put costs. Yeah. Then it's like, we have the ability to have that voice. And so it's kind of helping people who want to use that to use it. Yeah,

Ellie: definitely something I encourage all of my clients and it's actually included in all of my tests.

Is to have a values or integrity statement on their website somewhere. And that can be like in the homepage copy, but it can also, if you're not feeling loud about it yet, it could just be in your footer and have like, having things that you care about is so important for lots of reasons. First off, we, all your rights should, can, and should be using our platform.

In the best way that we can. But additionally, like for me, it helps me feel good about my business to know that my businesses providing for other parts of important work in the world. So that [00:25:00] includes paying other businesses. It includes, um, which in my case are usually women owned businesses. It means I'm helping my livelihood is helping their livelihood.

Um, it means that I can give a portion of my profits to things that matter in the world. And various ways, but it also means that I'm using my voice in an important way. And so not only is that like important for feeling like I'm doing what I'm meant to in the world and that I'm helping the world be a better place.

But also people like to work with people who give a shit. Right? So it goes, it's a win-win.

Nicola Rae-Wickham: Yeah, it really is. And, and the thing is like the big brands are onto it and they always have been in their way, but we all know that it is I've worked there. Right? Like it's the corporate, um, lines that will come out.

It's glorified PR exercises. To show that they care about and some of them are getting it better than others, like Ben and Jerry's is one that has always been [00:26:00] amazing.

Ellie: Right. I think I used their value statement when looking at how to do mine on my own website. There's this incredible,

Nicola Rae-Wickham: definitely. But we have an opportunity as solo preneurs to.

Create this thing from our hearts and put it out into the world to make that difference and to be really genuine about it. So, and, and as you say, kind of, I know that when I'm deciding who to work with, what they care about helps me to know about them and to have an insight into them. And, and it's that whole, whether it's somebody I'm working with a client or somebody who just comes across my platform, It is connecting those heart to heart.

Um, and those are the kinds of conflicts of the guide. The conversation that I would have with you here at my kitchen table is the same one online as an in person. And if we could all just add that element of humanity to things, it would probably change. Yeah. [00:27:00]

Ellie: And I think that, especially when you're new into business, you fall into this trap of saying what people you, what you think people want to.

And the longer you are in business, the less you can. And the more you just say what you need to say and trust that, that saying those things will

Nicola Rae-Wickham: be beneficial all around. Yeah. And they always are. There's always somebody who's like, oh, Thank goodness. She said that. And that's why I always say it's like, by you using your voice, it gives permission and encourage other people to use theirs.

And in a sense, you're able, it's not that you're speaking for anybody, but sometimes we do need people to say what is on our hearts. Fora. And so it's kind of opening up those flood gates.

Ellie: Yeah. I think that's something that I see in the business space a lot. I don't consider myself to be somebody really great with words.

Like, I'm great at talking, but there's so many times that I'll see somebody like you or Mel or taboo or somebody say something and I'm like, Ooh, that's exactly what I was thinking in so many, [00:28:00] like men are words, so much better words.

Nicola Rae-Wickham: Yeah. It's yeah. And I have the same. I will look at other people's stuff.

Like they'd be encapsulated. What is on my heart and there is something really powerful about that. There's something that helps us all to feel more seen and heard and represented and held and all of those things that are very important and also lacking.

Ellie: So do you, as somebody who kind of coaches through this people through figuring out how to amplify the voices and find what matters to them to amplify.

Do you have any tools that people can use to start this work?

Nicola Rae-Wickham: Yeah, absolutely. So my approach is very low values, less. So, first of all, identifying what your values are is one of the key key foundations. And I encourage people to look at what their personal values are and what their brand values are, because whilst they will sit by side, sit side by side, they may be [00:29:00] different as well.

So like my brand values are different to my personal values and I have actually a new screensaver that has the, both of them. Just to keep me grounded and key as a reminder, but doing that exercise to know what your values are, especially the first time you do it can be quite eyeopening. It can help you to look at past situations and be like, Ooh, that's why that didn't feel right.

And then when future opportunities come in, you can be like, okay, if I I'm honoring my values, what does that look like? So one of my, um, brand values is equity. Which is just one that I love. And then also sometimes one that I grapple with in a society, like the one that we live in. Yes. But it's such a great one for me to be making decisions about pricing and offerings and all sorts of things.

And I'd be like, when I put it through my equity value lens, what [00:30:00] looks like honoring. Yeah, it may seem so it's. Yeah. It's great for being able to say, to help you, to align with who you are, what you want to do and how you want to do things as well. And also it really then comes through in your voice because ultimately what you care about is encapsulated into those values.

So I would say values is, um, one of the first things. And then one of the second things is kind of getting. Clear on what your story is and starting to own your story. And, and for many of the people that I come across, they feel like they don't have a story, or it's not grand enough for a lot of what we've been shown in this space.

There's a lot of rags to riches stories. And it's like, if it's not a rags to riches story, it's invalid and that's not the case at all. So it could be just challenging yourself to share your story more, write your story down for yourself. [00:31:00] And one of the, kind of this merges into the fed tool is to talk it's to talk.

So if you go into your phone, hit the voice memo app and just start talking, like we use our voice, we find our voice by using it. And that does not always have to be publicly at five. But just getting into that rhythm of allowing yourself the space to talk and think what you think and say what you think your voice starts to emerge.

And then you can start to put it out there in what feels safe to you. So I'm not going to say that you jump onto Instagram out or like pick up your mic and record a podcast. If that doesn't feel right to you, maybe it's you choose a few people to share it with. Maybe you do a quiet block. Whatever, maybe you're just journaling to start off wave, but you're doing it kind of in a way that will say.

Ellie: Yeah. And I think that's something to be like, I love that. You're saying that [00:32:00] this is a journey, right? Like I'm considering myself to be an open book, but I've never, I don't think I've written down, like my story. I was in high school and I was going to a medical career exploration camp because I want it to be a doctor and then a physical therapist and all this.

And eventually it's so funny. Cause I got my whole degree with all my prerequisites to go and do physical therapy school in America, which is a doctorate. Yeah. And then woke up literally from a dream. You don't want to get to the therapist. And I was like, yeah, but, and it's because in that camp, I didn't, I didn't realize this at the time a lot of things happened between and a big part of it had to do with the cost of becoming a doctor in America.

Right. But another part of it had to do with. Like we talked about before. One of my biggest values in all of life is freedom and not in the like really cliche American way, but more of the being able to pick up and go and the calling. [00:33:00] These kinds of things in my business, um, both in life and business, you know, the, the being able to travel or go for a hike, which is, I think one of the things that we've learned about recently about myself, I was like, I really need to learn to drive in this country because that adds to my freedom and being able to do things right.

So understanding your values and, and some of those, like go for my life and my business, but understanding your value sometimes. There's some tools out there to help you do it. Questionnaires. Um, I think in Mel's programs, she's got like, just like a big list of words. You pick the ones that jump out at you that like, sometimes it can be kind of overwhelming to be like, what do I value?

But there's tools out there on the internet. You will find them people.

Nicola Rae-Wickham: Yeah, absolutely. And just to say as well, but it's like, everything I think is a bit of a theme of this conversation is that it's allowed to evolve and there will be different if duration. So some people believe that your values never change.

I disagree with that. I think that they, they [00:34:00] evolve and sometimes they do, they do change. Like equity was not a value of mine. Five years ago. I had fee I had feelings of the undercurrent of it, but I didn't have the language of it for him. Right. So, whereas now I have it, I own it. And I'm trying to embody it and kind of everything I do.

So, um, and who knows what that will look like in the future? But there can be a lot of pressure when you're like, I need to come up with these, I dunno, four or five values I'm going to hold for forever. And it's like, well, no. How about if you chose your values based on how you're feeling in this season and then as you move into the next season, see if it translates.

Ellie: Yeah, definitely. Yeah. And I think that that even goes for like, having like same equity has been something that has been a lot more present in my mind and my business. Obviously it's been a bigger conversation lately and. It started with doing a lot of anti-racism work in my business and that continues to evolve [00:35:00] too.

But then it came into, oh gosh, how much of my work is actually like accessible? Like, and I knew across like websites, like I knew I had to choose right. Fonts and stuff, but I was like, am I using all texts? Am I doing things right on Instagram so that people using screen readers can read my content? And so it is like an ever evolving thing, but you're right.

It gives you a lens to look at things so that you can make decisions on your business.

Nicola Rae-Wickham: Yeah. I know that there's like we start somewhere and that's one of the things that I can't leave. I've gone all this time and not mentioned, and the notion of imperfection, because that's something I talk about a lot, but it's like, we're allowed to do this all in perfectly.

Like we don't start off. Like when we both started our businesses. They weren't what they are today and what they are today is not going to be what they're like in the future. So allowing, embracing the notion of imperfection and being okay with starting and taking each step. It's definitely the way to go

Ellie: [00:36:00] and the way that my brain works, like that is really hard for me.

I'm very much like a, why isn't it just done now? Like, why haven't you finished? I have an idea it should be done. And that is something that is taking me a lot of water to learn. Um, but having a recurring task in my, a board to say, have you checked in on your accessibility? Have you checked in on what's the next steps for your business?

And anti-racists are means that it just forces me to trust that, that as a process.

Nicola Rae-Wickham: Yeah. Yeah. It's a very. Linear point of view, that we've been handed down that it's like, it should be done like that. Right. It's almost like a branch of the hustle culture. It's just kind of like, and then onto the next, rather than it being what as humans we do is evolve and things come and, and what we know now, like we will be different to what we know in the future and just allowing that.

Ellie: Yes. Okay. So kind of along the same veins, I want to talk [00:37:00] about what has been your biggest learning experience in business?

Nicola Rae-Wickham: Oh, well, that's been my biggest learning experience, probably realizing that I can't do it all, which is a lesson that I continue to learn in different ways, but it is that, um, Yeah, I can't do it all.

And to honor where I'm at and just be okay with that.

Ellie: That is so beautiful. That is beautiful. I mean, it's so easy to say. Like I just noticing in myself how easy it is to say that, and then how hard it is to land this and every single time. That that's probably been. Um, and what goes in with that is that yeah, mistakes will be made and decisions.

We made that you're like, oh, I wouldn't do that now. But then again, that's all the benefit of hindsight that I [00:38:00] see this whole w the word journey is so overused, but it's always so out. It really is that. So you live in your land.

Yeah. You said it all, that was, that was really nice to hear. And I think that that is such an important thing that we learn in life and in business is it really comes down to self trust.

Nicola Rae-Wickham: Doesn't it? It does. I'm not something that we grow as well. And I think that it's so like if we take Instagram, it's so easy to look at other people and think they've got it all sorted. Like they know what they're doing and really. None. None of us stay like we know more than we did yesterday. We're working on a, and we're evolving and your values become maybe more solidified because you've got more evidence to support set.

And you, your confidence grows because of that. But

Ellie: yes. [00:39:00] Well, I just want to thank you so much for joining us today. I have a couple other questions that are, um, first off. Is there anything you're excited about that you're working on right now?

Nicola Rae-Wickham: Yes, my membership. So I've got a membership called written rise.

There is a four big hearted creatives helping them to share and show up with hearts and I'm doing something like a bit. Everything I do, I feel like is a bit off the cuff sometimes. Kind of away from the way from the norm. But what I did is the membership's been running for just over a year. And I found some things I wanted to change with it and things I want you to up level.

And so I've decided to pause it for a few months while I do that implement, like I'm quitting the it's, the membership remodels. So I'm in the middle of the membership remodel at the moment. And I'll be opening the doors back up at the beginning of November. Um, so I'm really excited about it. And it was so funny because I really grappled with the decision to take this pause.

I was [00:40:00] like, can I do it all? Can I make it work with all of the other things that I've got on? And I was like, actually, no, I need this time and space to implement the things I want to implement. And I was grappling with all, they're going to think I'm unprofessional that I don't know what I'm doing. Um, and when I put it out to my members, they were like, I'm so glad NYCLA that you're showing us.

That this is allowed. Like we don't see people doing this. And one thing with me is that I always wants to just model my message more than talking it all the time. Like we can use our voice by our actions as well. And so I know that me modeling my message is sometimes 10 times more powerful than using my voice in anything I could say.

So that has been it's. So it's been very exciting and very. Thought provoking on, on different levels, but it's something I'm so excited about. Launching written rise, 2.0, after this [00:41:00] pause, I could oppose that we've

Ellie: had, ah, that's so cool. So this episode is going to be going live in early December. So definitely keep an eye out for the 2.0.

I've written rise.

Nicola Rae-Wickham: Yes, definitely.

Ellie: Very cool. And then where can people find you?

Nicola Rae-Wickham: So my, um, digital home where I play, not as much as I used to do anymore is Instagram and I'm Nicola, Ray Wickham over there. And then what I actually love to play is my podcast, which is called the dream and do podcast. And I'm getting into blogging a lot more as well now.

Ellie: Yay. So kind of that's full circle for you in a way.

Nicola Rae-Wickham: It really is. Yeah.

Ellie: So I'll make sure that Nichola's, Instagram and podcast and website, and all are in the show notes for you to find her and all of her amazing. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for joining me today. It's [00:42:00] been a really fun conversation.

There's so many, like I cannot wait for people to hear this.

Thank you for listening to the capable collective podcast. I really hope you enjoyed this episode and have gotten value from it. If you did, please subscribe on your chosen listening plus. And if you happen to be listening over on apple podcasts, please take a moment to leave a review. It helps other people to find and trust this podcast.

And it would mean the world to me, this episode was edited by Emily Crosby media. She's amazing to work with. And if you are looking to start a podcast or for some practical media solutions, definitely check her out. Thank you so much. Again, have a great day.