EP 65 Mandy Richards
===
Liz Nable: [00:00:00] Today's guest is Mandy Richards, social entrepreneur and founder of Global Sisters. Mandy created global sisters with a powerful belief that women shouldn't have to wait to be chosen, hired, or given permission to succeed. Instead, they can build the confidence, skills, and support networks to create their own opportunities through entrepreneurship.
Over the past decade, global Sisters has supported nearly 10,000 women across Australia to start and grow micro businesses, particularly women facing barriers to traditional employment, whether that's caring, responsibilities, migration, disability, or recovering from difficult life circumstances. In this episode, we talk about the real barriers women face when starting businesses, why confidence is often the biggest one, and how community storytelling and visibility can help women step forward and back themselves.
Because whether you are building a business or [00:01:00] sharing your story in the media, the message is the same. You don't have to wait to be chosen. You can create the opportunity yourself. Let's dive in.
Mandy Richards: Hello and welcome to Medium Magnet, the podcast for female founders and women owned businesses,
Liz Nable: startups, and side hustlers who want to learn how to grow their business, leveraging the media and free pr. I am Liz Nale, and I'm your host, personal publicist, PR strategist, and dedicated hype woman. My goal with this show is to give you a behind the scenes tour of how the media works to break down the barriers between your business and the big ma heads.
So you can see how easy it is to get featured simply by giving journalists what they want at Media Magnet. You'll also get access to the top journals, editors, writers, and PR people in your industry and beyond sharing their secrets and expertise on the [00:02:00] how, why, what. And when of pitching and getting featured in the media consistently, I will share with you how to build your reputation as an industry expert so successfully the media will be knocking down your door.
When I first started in small business 12 years ago, I had no idea what I was getting into. I had spent 15 years as a television news reporter working at several major networks in Australia, and then as a freelancer in the US and around the world. I spent years dividing my time between working long shifts on a news desk and traveling the world chasing stories.
It was unpredictable and exciting until it wasn't anymore. I decided I wanted a life where I was in charge of what happened next and where I was working to build my own empire, not someone else's. There was a lot I had to learn about running my own business, but getting media and great free PR was not one of them.
I already knew what the media wanted. I [00:03:00] knew the secret formula for what made news, and I knew how to leverage those media outlets to build my business, get more exposure, and ultimately make more sales. I was featured in every major media outlet in the country, and I never spent a single cent on pr. I took that knowledge for granted until it dawned on me one day that I could teach what I knew to other businesses.
Let them in on the secret, and they too could build their brands with organic media and pr. Let me help you take your brand from Best Kept Secret to household name. This is Media Magnet. The podcast and I'm pretty pumped to have you here.
Hi Mandy. Welcome to the podcast.
Mandy Richards: Thank you. Happy to be here.
Liz Nable: Yeah. It's been a long time coming. You, you [00:04:00] were, you took, it took a while for me to book you out. You must be a very, very busy woman.
Mandy Richards: Uh, yeah, I think like all women and all moms. Yes, definitely.
Liz Nable: Absolutely. Um, so let's, I, I mean, I'm so fascinated with what you do, but I'd love to know a little bit about your background, your career before you started Global Sisters.
Obviously, you, you've got a lot of experience across like social enterprise, international development, human rights. Can you take me back a little bit and tell me about your journey and sort of what drew you to this kind of work?
Mandy Richards: I think, um, I've never, I'm not one of those people that, um, really had a big career path planned, although I did plan to do medicine and, um, ended up sidetracking from that.
But I guess my interest is always in making a difference. I, you know, I, I always had to have a job where I felt like I was having impact. Um, and it's been really varied. I, um, I started off studying social work and then moved to business and, um, yeah, my jobs have, I, I worked in social [00:05:00] enterprise and, um, business incubation and then, um, I think some of my favorite and some big charities, um, in different roles, fundraising and marketing and that sort of thing.
Um, uh, innovation. I did a whole lot of work around IP and helping inventors commercialize inventions at one stage. Um. But I think, um, uh, and then I guess the projects I've really loved were, I had one where I worked with the Hamlin Fistula hospitals, who are quite well known. In Ethiopia and I set up their American foundation.
And then there was some work I did with the Botswana government around business incubation to help generate, um, internal or domestic business because they import everything except cows and diamonds in, in their country.
Liz Nable: Wow.
Mandy Richards: Yeah. And you know, that sort of thing. I absolutely have loved doing. And then, um.
One Dragons den when it came to Australia, it only aired it for one season in Australia. And that kind of set me off on this, this crazy, crazy business startup path, [00:06:00] um, for a while. And then once I exited that and was very burnt out, I went into the social enterprise space and um, and that was ultimately what led me to starting Global Assistance because.
Was helping people set up businesses, micro businesses for themselves when they couldn't get a job. Um, so that helped them set up their own, own employment, own jobs. And I just got to the end of that. I went on maternity leave and I got to the end of that thinking, right, I'm ready for another project. Um, I wanna do something that helps women.
I knew the two areas where you can have the biggest impact on poverty alleviation or either employment or education. And it, um, employment is, you know, more my thing, self-employment particularly. Um, and so I started kind of working on this idea for a. Initially an Etsy style platform that was helping women, um, to sell their products, but also help them create products that were marketable.
Um, and I kind of really landed on that idea when I'm hiking around the mountains of Sapra in Vietnam, talking to [00:07:00] Hill tribes, women who were in the middle of nowhere, babies on their backs with these. Stunning intricate bags that they'd wave in. And I was just thinking, my goodness, how can I help women like these reach markets and really create products that there's a market for as well?
Um, yeah. And then I had Max my baby and started Global Sisters at the same time, about 13 years ago.
Liz Nable: But you must have always been drawn to social enterprise. I know you did a degree, we mentioned this before we hit record. You did a degree in human rights and then law or masters in human rights law. Is that right?
And but you must have from a young age. Felt drawn to like social justice or what do you think? Or am I just looking into it too deeply, like
Mandy Richards: Oh, definitely. So I think I grew up, so I grew up on a little farm in the country in, in Armadale, new South Wales. And then my family moved to um, Indonesia and my dad was working on a foreign aid research project over there.
And so I spent most of primary school in Indonesia. Um, and I'm sure that had a direct impact on me 'cause I went from being this, you know, kind of little [00:08:00] sheltered country girl to. You know, I can remember walking over this bridge to a flower market by myself when I was about nine to buy flowers for my teacher, and the bridge was lined both sides with people with leprosy and it was horrendous.
And so I'm sure you know, like having those experiences and traveling around Indonesia and just. Seeing, uh, really abject poverty. Um, you know, of course that had an impact on me, even though I didn't think too much about it as a, as a 9-year-old. Mm-hmm. Um, and I knew, like once I got to high school, I really, I really had this idea of I really wanted to be a doctor and I really wanted to go to Africa and, and particularly helped women, um, as a doctor, uh, and.
Catherine Hamlin's, um, book who she was the founder of Fist Ger Hospitals in Ethiopia with her husband, um, was this great inspiration to me and I always wanted to do that. Um, but I didn't get into medicine until later on, and at that stage I was neck deep. It was actually just after the whole [00:09:00] Dragon's Den thing.
Um, and, um, I just couldn't, I couldn't take up the offer to start studying at that stage. One thing led to another, ended up having Max, and that was why I ended up studying human rights law. 'cause I thought, right, well if I can't do medicine and help women that way, I'll, I'll, I'll do it another way.
Liz Nable: Yeah.
Wow. That is fascinating. You definitely did not have a traditional upbringing or a traditional background, so No, probably
Mandy Richards: not.
Liz Nable: It's fascinating. And so I guess. You've got this unique combination of skills like this social enterprise, um, skills and the obviously the entrepreneurial side. Is that kind of how Global Sisters was born?
Tell me, or for anyone who's listening who doesn't know about Global Sisters 'cause it's weak. 'cause I found out about Global Sisters, you know how sometimes someone will say something to you and then all of a sudden you keep seeing it everywhere and people keep, and I was like, what a global Sisters thing.
Can you explain what Global Sisters is? And I guess how that was born.
Mandy Richards: Yeah, [00:10:00] sure. Yeah. Well, we are not a group of nuns. I always like to put that out front. Um, uh, look, I, so I had, so I'd gone on mat leave. I really started working on this idea of some sort of a platform to help women who, um, needed an income and, um, you know, had this idea for this Etsy style platform that was very purpose led.
Um. And I think a few, a few things just culminated all at once. So I think one was the fact that I'd been working this social enterprise space and helping people set up micro businesses. Um, I'd been to Vietnam, um, and I had all these ideas percolating in my head. And then I think the other piece was that.
Um, during high school my parents separated and, you know, we were living in a small country town. I had a brother and a sister. My sister was only five. Um, and, you know, we lived through that experience of then having a solo mom in a small country town where there weren't many jobs. And so I think all of those, um, you know, kind of came together in my head to, to form Global Sisters.
[00:11:00] Um, and. And it's evolved and it still continues to evolve, but, um, essentially it started off as a platform to help women set up micro businesses, Australian women focused in Australia still, um, and, and has Beco and became this one stop shop to help women anywhere access whatever support they needed, um, at, you know, at any time.
And so it's not, it was never, you know, one of these incubation or acceleration programs. 12 weeks or six months or whatever. It's, it's a platform and an amazing community of support and you just dip in and out and take what you need when you need it. And you might wanna do, you know, one thing 10 times.
And there's everything from education and coaching through to sales and marketing support, microfinance. Um, we have lots of incredible, um, partnerships with big, big companies ranging from Mecca to Google. Um, and. They open up all sorts of incredible [00:12:00] opportunities from free coaching and business services for, for our sisters, for the women we support.
Um, right through to like one of our sisters, um, now has her products been sold in Mecca. And this is a, this is an incredible woman who's a solo mom. She lived, um, with horrendous d for quite a while, and she lives with a disability and she now has a product in Mecca. They, it, it's, you know, it's amazing.
Liz Nable: Yeah, it doesn't get much better than that. It's a success story. Um, what, what, what do you see as what the biggest, I mean, it's all very well to be overseas in maybe a third world country or something. It's a little bit different here, although,
Mandy Richards: yeah.
Liz Nable: Sometimes, you know, you can draw comparisons, right? In terms of like DV and all those sorts of things.
Yeah. What did you see as the biggest challenges to women being able to, I guess, help themselves? And you obviously saw that as I empowering, I don't know if I like the word empowering 'cause it's so overused.
Mandy Richards: Hate that word. Yeah.
Liz Nable: Um, so for want of a better word, like to do something to help [00:13:00] themselves to go.
Not gonna wait for someone to choose me. I'm not gonna wait for someone to employ me. I'm not gonna work in a job that I don't get to see my kids and I don't get the choices. You're sort of building a life by your own design when you start a business. Right.
Mandy Richards: Yeah. Well it's, it's such an interesting area because, I mean, there is nothing easy about business.
It doesn't matter how well resourced and connected and, you know, whatever you are. Um, but the beauty of business and self-employment is the flexibility that it gives you. And you might still be working in the middle of the night, but you can, and. Um, for the women we support and the reason I started Global Sisters was to make business and self-employment a genuine option, a genuine alternative for women to earn an income for themselves when they were literally trapped by their circumstances.
And so we've nearly we're about 300 women off having supported 10,000 women across Australia on their business journeys over the last 10 years. And their stories are so [00:14:00] incredibly diverse and that they are so incredibly diverse and so are their businesses. Um, but the unifying factor is that their circumstances have impacted their ability to go and get a normal, you know, nine to five office job.
They needed something that gave them flexibility. And self-employment offers that even though it's not an easy option. Um, but what's important is that. It is possible if you have the right support around you. And that's what Global Sisters provides. And, you know, that's the purpose behind Global Sisters.
So there's so many women, whether they're, you know, they're recovering from trauma or they're in a DV situation or they've left one, um, they're living with some sort of disability, or they have carer responsibilities. And whether that's for children or someone with a disability in their family or parents or, or, you know, all of those things.
Um, lots of migrants and refugees have. Um, a terrible job trying to get employment. Same with older women. You hit 50 and you know, there's not many people [00:15:00] that are gonna employ you. Or you might live in a regional area where there just aren't no jobs. Uh, there aren't any, any jobs, so. Um, this, this was to really add to the playing field.
Um, a second real option for Australian women to earn an income for themselves. Um, and it might not even be the whole, whole income. A lot of women that we support, they have their business and they might have some casual work or some part-time work, but what that does is it lets them get what they need around whatever circumstances they're living with and navigating in their life.
Liz Nable: Yeah. And it's so true, isn't it? Like when you start a business, so I've, I've pretty much had my own business for 15 years and none of it is easy, right? Like even when you do have the privilege of being able to borrow money or, you know, none of it's easy. And I think probably if we knew how hard it was gonna be, I wouldn't do it.
No, I would do it again. 'cause I don't think I could ever go and work for someone and know me. Yeah. Um, but. [00:16:00] The flexibility is the, is the game changer. And I don't know if I even realized that when I was doing what I was doing, but it is a game changer. You can pick up the kids from school, you can, um, you know, like you say, you can pick up the kids from school, come back, continue working, do it while you're cooking dinner, or, you know, take calls, whatever.
It, it's much more flexible than working for someone else when you're on their clock and their, and their rules.
Mandy Richards: Absolutely, and especially if you have particularly tricky circumstances. So I mean, our team, we have a team of close to 25 now, and if I look across the team, it's, it's mostly moms. Um, and you know, we've got a few that are caring for, um, parents with dementia, um, you know, kids with disabilities.
We've had a couple with kids with disabilities. Um, they're. You know, all the one who was the sole, um, income earner for her family, which included she's a migrant, included her mother-in-law. Um, you know, the, the, and, and we've had women with disabilities on the team as well. Like the, you know, circumstances [00:17:00] varies, vary so much, but I.
Um, if you have that flexibility to do what you need to do, whether that's you really are home bound or you need to be able to take people to doctor's appointments, or you need to have health appointments or whatever, whatev, whatever it is, yeah. You, you've, you've got it when you are your own own boss.
Yeah. And you can work when you need to. And it might be after kids have gone to bed or, you know, whatever. Four in the morning. Yeah.
Liz Nable: Yeah. Um, so how, gimme an example of how it works. Can you, I mean, obviously you don't need to share names or anything, but someone who's come to you, what kind of skills do they have?
Do they have products, do they have services? And then what's your revenue model? How do you, obviously you've got a big team like that costs money. Like how does that work?
Mandy Richards: So, um, I, I should say I got sidetracked, which I tend to do. Um, part of what we do, so the programs piece is the self-employment piece and helping women, um, you know, with that wraparound support and most importantly, a community because it, it can be so lonely starting your own business.
And a lot of the women that we support are [00:18:00] quite isolated. So the community is like the heart and soul of everything. But the other part of the work we do is, um, systems change. Work. And so in that piece, we're working to really, um, change the systems that are preventing women being able to obtain long-term economic security so that, you know, the income earning piece is, is here.
And then the other piece is right, how do we remove these systemic blocks that are stopping women getting from here to being able to own their own home? Yeah. Uh, and one of the projects that I'm deep in at the moment is we're actually working on. Housing ownership model for women on low incomes, which includes a, a mortgage product for women who normally would never have a hope in hell of getting a home loan.
Um, but back to, back to the program's, um, piece and what that looks like. If, if, um, you know, you wanna set up a business or you want to grow one. So, so we have women coming to us from the stage of. They didn't even know it was possible to have a business. And we, there's a, there's a program online that [00:19:00] you can go through called My Big Idea, which helps you come up with a concrete idea right through two women who, you know, might have had a bit of a business sitting there for about five years, but they, they're a bit stuck and they, you know, they, they wanna grow it.
Um, we, our youngest has been 16, our oldest, I have no idea, but we have women in their seventies, um, in our, in our community. Um, every, um, every culture you can think of, um, we've got some incredible Aboriginal women in our community. Lots of migrants and refugees, um, and spread right, right across the country.
And we've worked from remote indigenous communities right through to, you know, all the capital cities. So we like cover all bases. Um, so the way it's set up is, as I said, it's not like a set program. It's basically a platform of support. So, um, if, uh, people just go to the Global Sisters website, they can, there's, um, there's a, a link which takes you to a platform, which is just for sisters, which is just focused on the programs.
Um, and they can register, um, and then they just get [00:20:00] access to whatever it is they want. So there's. There's, um, a, a range of education programs. There's a range of co business coaching, um, uh, opportunities. Um, we have a running series of like, for example, the female founder series, which I generally interview.
Uh. An established awesome female founder each month, um, and, you know, really get their hot tips of what they've learned and all the things that have gone wrong. And, um, you know, that's something that's super popular. Um, uh, women might need microfinance. We have loans and we're working on other financial products as well.
Um, we have some incredible partners, like a MP for example, work with sisters on one of our financial programs to help them get all their financials in place because they might want to. Um, access alone, a big alone than a microloan that we, we offer. Um, we have, uh, another really interesting one is these, um.
That we're building up at the moment, uh, what we call our runways, and we did one of these with Mecca and another one around Homewares with KIPP and Co, [00:21:00] which were fantastic. And, you know, they run specialized, um, coaching with like, you know, people on their teams who are the best in the country in these areas of beauty and wellness and home wears, um, um, and provide all sorts of coaching, coaching opportunities, um, and, and other opportunities.
KIPP and CO have been, um, have given some. Incredible exposure to some of our women who have homewares type products. As I said, Mecca are now selling, selling for one of our sisters. Um, so the, you know, the opportunities are not hard and fast, but they're so varied and they, they're constant. Like at the moment.
At the moment, it's actually our 10th anniversary year. This year. We're taking whole year a happy
Liz Nable: birthday. Yeah, thank you.
Mandy Richards: Um, but one of the things we are doing to celebrate is handing out 10 scholarships and we call them, um, big idea scholarships. Each one is $10,000. And then at the end, um, for International Wednesday, actually next year, we'll then hold, uh, one of our sister pitch events where they all pitch for even bigger opportunities.
But the $10,000 is [00:22:00] really, it's for women that, um, and not even off the ground with a business idea, but they've got something that's gonna have a great social or um, environmental impact. It's more about us investing in women who normally never get a look in at anything in terms of scholarships and funding opportunities and support, but that we really believe in because they have the passion and they have the lived experience to really make a change.
Um, so there's always exciting, fun things going on, and there's so much there. You just have to go to the platform and look at what's coming up and choose what it is you want, what you wanna do. And it's all free. It's all a hundred percent free.
Liz Nable: Wow. Yeah. It's so interesting because when I started hearing about you, obviously I went and Googled you and everything, and the work that I do is help women build confidence in women to take a seat at the table and promote themselves through media and pr.
Yeah.
Mandy Richards: Yeah.
Liz Nable: So, um. Maybe similarly to you in some ways, I didn't really realize when I started teaching media and PR that that's what I would be doing. I essentially just started it during [00:23:00] COVID because I was a journalist and, and my main business was closed. Yeah. And now I've realized. Especially working with women in the last five years, they tend to minimize their achievements.
They're worried about what people think. They don't think they're big enough. They're good enough. Yeah. And I've worked with men all great blokes, don't get me wrong. My, my business partner's, my husband, so it's not a, it's not a anti bloke comment. Yeah. But they just didn't have those. Concerns about themselves that, that they were at the same stage of business as all the other women in the course.
Yeah. But men just spoke matter of factly about it, where whereas the women really, really struggle with ownership of that piece. They feel weird about self-promotion.
Mandy Richards: Yeah. So
Liz Nable: that's why I was sort of drawn to what you do, because I'm interested to know like what's the. Position. How, how do these women feel about themselves after they've used your platform?
Or they've, you know, they've got that business running or, or, or, or started or established in some way. Do they have a different perception of themselves? Does that change?
Mandy Richards: Um, so [00:24:00] yeah, I think, yeah, it's such an interesting question. So, um, we, we, you know, we used to say, oh, it's a three year program. You know, people always in the early days would say, oh, how long, you know, how long do women get support for?
And now we've just given up, we just have this incredible community. Um, and you know, women, um, dip in and out. We have women that are really active with us for a few years. They disappear because whatever is going on in their lives and then they reappear. Um, and, or, um, you know, they just stay in touch and stay part of the community and, and, and give back.
We've got some incredible success stories. Um, who, uh, you know, they've become really good friends and they support us and they support, support global sisters and are doing, um, incredible things. So I'll give you another story. So Yoko, who's this gorgeous Japanese lady. She had a, um, corporate career in Japan, married an Aussie guy, moved back to Australia, didn't speak a lot of English.
Couldn't pick up her career, couldn't get a job. She became quite depressed and started making [00:25:00] miso, um, to, you know, as a connection to back home. 'cause she was so homesick and sad. And, um, some of her husband's friends tried it and said, God, this is amazing. Can I buy some? And so she made some, took it to the market.
This was about 10 years ago. Wow. Um, Yoko pitched in our very first sister pitch. And Yoko is now, her dream was a while ago, she said to me, I wanna publish a book. Um, she has this beautiful, mindful business. She's not interested in, um, increasing her business or employing people, but what she wanted to do, PE people are always so interested in her miso.
It's organic, it's incredible. It's on Master Chef. It's in some of the top Japanese restaurants in Melbourne and
Liz Nable: Wow. That's amazing.
Mandy Richards: Yeah. And it has, you know, for the Japanese, you know, we say an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Similar with Miso. Miso is their daily tonic, and it ha you know, it's, it's, um, it has incredible health benefits.
Probably way better than an apple.
Liz Nable: Yeah.
Mandy Richards: Um, and, um, so she wants to give the knowledge to the world, um, so that everyone can make their own miso rather than building up an [00:26:00] empire, making, making it and selling it to them. Um, which is so beautiful. And just how you know it, it's, that's just how, how she's and how she thinks and, um.
She just published a book last year on Japanese pickling. It's the most stunning book, and it ended up being promoted by Nella Lawson on her Instagram. It's been sold in the UK as well, and then it's sold out. It's gone to reprint Nigel's. There's a quote from Nella now on the second print in Australia.
Um, and, and England and the publishers have just offered her a second, um, a second book deal. And so, you know, Yoko had been with us for 10 years and. Um, taken part in all sorts of things over those years. Just stayed a part of the community. Um, and yeah, now, you know, now she's at that, now she's at that point and we have another gorgeous sister, um, sna So, you know, they, these women are both very, very successful now, but they're still a vital part of our community.
And, you know, everyone knows who they are and they still take part in, like, we released a book and both of them [00:27:00] actually were, were, um, have taken part in those. Um, Sana is another one of our sisters. She's younger. Um, she's actually a migrant as well, but she's Vietnamese and she came to Australia to go to university.
Her parents sold the house to give her that opportunity. She didn't speak a word of English. She landed at Sydney Airport, aren't able to speak English, somehow. Got out to, I think she went to Macquarie Uni. Um, and, uh. And then put herself through uni once she was here, um, by working at Subway all night and then going to uni all day.
God knows when she slept. I don't think she did.
Liz Nable: Oh my goodness.
Mandy Richards: But then she, you know, she had a strong accent. She was a migrant. She finished uni, she'd done an accounting degree, you know, well-qualified, couldn't get a job, could not get a job, and she ended up homeless. Um. And so, and then after a while, this beautiful Vietnamese woman she met, took her in, um, and she had a little bit of money still in the bank, and she found global sisters and, um, uh, was [00:28:00] gonna put the last of her money to, you know, um, enroll in Global Sisters.
And, you know, it doesn't cost a sense. So she, she didn't need to do that at all, but she'd noticed people, um, she'd gone to some markets around Sydney. She had this idea for selling flower boxes, dried flower boxes. So she started making some, they started selling. Someone asked her if that she could come and decorate their house for a wedding.
She did that. And last, the last figure she said to me that she'd turned over last year was $750,000. Um, but it's been up and down, you know, during COVID. Yeah.
Liz Nable: Yeah.
Mandy Richards: She everything closed, but then she built up her retail and then COVID opened. Now she's back to doing incredible. She decorates does the day offering same weddings with like flowers all over the roofs and yeah.
Unbelievable. And she's in Meyer. She's done like Mother's Day installations in Meyer. And you know,
Liz Nable: sounds like I would have a field day with media coming from your inside.
Mandy Richards: Probably, yeah. Probably
Liz Nable: so many cool stories. What, what do you think it is about like. [00:29:00] WW women, do they hesitate? Do we just naturally, like is it in our genetics to hesitate to back ourselves or do you just see it as like a bit of a transformation when they get that support that they need or they've got someone like Global Sisters giving them a bit of a platform that they go, actually, I'm really capable.
Mandy Richards: We see. Sorry I didn't finish answering your question. I always get carried away with the stories. Me too. But we, those women, we just saw such a transformation from, you know, being quiet and shy and um, uh. You know, like, I guess a bit, um, downtrodden to like these vibrant, incredible women that, that they are, but we've al we've always noticed this transition, right, right from the start and right from just the point of when they make a decision to start a business and they suddenly say.
I'm a business woman. In the early days, we, um, we did this video and it's, it's so rough and dodgy now, but if you look at it, it's really beautiful. It's all these women, all of our first sisters saying, I am a [00:30:00] business woman, I am an entrepreneur. Um, and you can just see their faces light up. And we also have noticed, like from day one, confidence is the number one barrier.
Um, you know, there's plenty of others, but confidence for women absolutely. The, the, the hardest thing. And so everything we do, um, is designed to build confidence.
Liz Nable: Mm-hmm. And
Mandy Richards: we see it with everyone over, over time, especially as they meet other, other women and, and come together. So most of what we do is, um, online, but it's facilitated.
So it's not like you're on your own, you're in groups with other women. And then, and then we have, um. We facilitate local meetups, um, and we are really starting to work on the ground again, which is how we, how we started.
Liz Nable: I think confidence. I mean, it's obviously like the secret ingredient, right? Because I know that when I first started this business, even though I'd had another business, which was relatively successful, you know, you look around social media, you see your competitors, everyone's talking about how much money they make and [00:31:00] like, you know, it's this whole smoke and mirrors thing.
Yeah, yeah. Even for someone who's relatively confident, which I, I would say I was,
yeah.
Liz Nable: So many moments of self-doubt where you're like, I don't reckon I'm gonna, is anyone gonna turn up for my webinar?
Mandy Richards: Yes.
Liz Nable: Is, I mean, do I really know what I'm, what are people saying? Like, do they think I'm idiot? Like, why am I even giving?
Like, it's so hard to overcome those negative voices in your mind.
Mandy Richards: Social media is so toxic for that though. It's so bad because you only see what people want you to see and most of it's a load of shit.
Liz Nable: Yeah, most of it's agreed.
Mandy Richards: I, I stay right away from social media as much as I possibly can. I hate it.
So, you know, you don't really see me on social media, which probably isn't helpful for global systems, but I can't stand it. No. It's just rubbish, most of it. Um, but you know, as we're really finding out from our female founders series particularly, we could just keep hearing over and over again, the businesses that are doing well are the ones where the founders are getting online and they're authentic.
They're not trying to be influencers or whatever. They're just being themselves and, and it's, you know, honestly, it's the [00:32:00] ones that are quirky and fun and don't mind looking stupid or unorganized or, you know, they've got their mom hair on. Um, they're the ones that everyone is gravitating to and loving because it makes them feel normal rather than inadequate.
Liz Nable: Yeah, it's so true. I do need to be on social media for my business.
Mandy Richards: Yeah,
Liz Nable: and I, I, I find it intimidating and it, it's hard not to compare yourself, but you're right. As soon as you sort of. Accept and own it that it's you and no one can compete with that. Yeah. And it's your own, you know, authentic. She faders, she successes.
Yeah. Be authentic, you know, own your lane and don't really worry about too much about what everybody else is doing is the minute you sort of see a bit of cut through and Yeah. Unfortunately social media is not going anywhere. Um, but. It's, it's interesting 'cause it does create this vacuum where people think that everybody else is doing so well and it's only them that's, you know, struggling when in fact that is not the [00:33:00] case at all.
It only people only ever put their, their best foot forward on social media. Um, but yeah, it, it, it can do a lot of damage if you are not, you know, if you're at the early stages of a business and you're not. Fully confident yet. Um, but it certainly comes with a few wins inside the business. Building that confidence for sure.
Mandy Richards: Yeah, I think, um, you know, the, the, the world is just a bit nuts at the moment and people, everyone's stressed and everyone's got, you know, carrying weight and people wanna feel good. They don't wanna feel bad. So, you know, if you can make people feel, feel good or distracted, or laugh for a moment, then.
Liz Nable: Yeah,
Mandy Richards: that's gonna be a win.
Liz Nable: So do you see, do you see some of the women that your, I guess your success stories from Global Sisters, um, the Vietnamese women that you mentioned, and the Japanese lady who makes it amazing miso soup, do you see that as something that will, like, have a ripple effect out into their communities, both geographically speaking and their business communities and those sorts of things, like using [00:34:00] those voices, using that confidence, using that entrepreneurship to kind of.
Elevate the success of women across those industries and beyond?
Mandy Richards: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we've always, from day one talked about the ripple effect and, um, it's just this, I think, really nice analogy for the impact that we have, but that then each of these women have on their communities and so many of them we see either are or become community leaders because of what they're doing.
Um, and, um. Because of their circumstances. We, we put, I mentioned before we put out this book and it was, um, we called it grit. And it's, you know, is the characteristic above all else. I think that really. Represents, um, just women generally, but particularly in our community. Uh, and there's some, you know, there's some interesting research saying that people who have, um, you know, experienced hard things in life make [00:35:00] great entrepreneurs because they've built up resilience and grit.
And, um, and I, I think that, I think that's right, but I think women particularly, they just have it. They have, they have to.
Liz Nable: Mm mm Yeah. Especially if they have, like you say, had experienced adversity.
Mandy Richards: Yeah.
Liz Nable: It gives them this, I don't know, like a fire in their belly or some kind of like, I don't know, burning desire to like, not to just prove themselves, but they're resilient too, you know, running a business, which is, as we talked about, especially hard.
Mandy Richards: Yeah. I think you, like, you learn to navigate bumps if you, you know, had them in your life before.
Liz Nable: Yeah. Absolutely. So have you sort of witnessed firsthand what happens in these communities when these women step into a leadership role? Like, have you, I mean, I guess you started the business back in 2013, didn't you?
So you must see now like the knock on effect that Global Sisters has had.
Mandy Richards: Yeah, I guess we, um, I mean remember [00:36:00] right at the start we had this beautiful woman, she's actually passed away now, but, um, Tiggy, who was from Sierra Leone, a refugee. Yeah. And, um. I remember putting her up on Facebook the for the first time and sharing her story and, um.
The comments like she, it was, it was nuts. She was like instantly elevated to rockstar status within the Sierra Leonian community. She had people from the UK contacting her just because I put this post up about her and her business and, you know, they were all looking up to her, uh, um, and inspired by her.
And we've, we've, we've, we definitely see that. I'm trying to think of which cases, but. We've definitely, I mean, it's a constant, it's a constant. It's like, you know, it's a consistent thing we see, um, where, you know, if one woman rises, then obviously she's lifting her family up.
Liz Nable: Yeah.
Mandy Richards: But if you see many women rising in a community.
Then that's having a, a much bigger, um, effect. We [00:37:00] were, um, involved in some place-based work out in, um, Southwest Sydney and now are actually expanding place-based work back. Um, we are starting in Dale and, um, Geelong at the moment and then about to expand to another five communities over the next year or so.
Um, and. That's where you really see this ripple effect. Um, take, take hold very tangibly because if you've got a small community that is really low socioeconomic, it might not have many services. Um, I mean there's, you know, Warwick Farm in Southwest Sydney has food insecurity and all sorts of issues going on.
But if you can suddenly help like, you know, 10 or 20 women in that community to start small businesses, whether it's like. Making meals or gardening or a cafe or a beauty service, you start seeing an incredible change. There's money, there's services, there's community that people are coming together. Um, and that, that has an, that is a massive [00:38:00] effect on the whole community.
And we, we do see that, and we'll see it a, we'll see it a lot more as we get back on, back on the ground.
Liz Nable: Hmm. Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it? Upskilling obviously what I do is, is upskilling in a different sense, um, helping women understand media opportunities and those sorts of things. But I've noticed the same when you, when I go on regional tours and those sorts of things, or going into Western Sydney or any place where there's, um.
You know, there's a certain economic kind of situation or um, you know, a certain demographic of women upskilling on mass, like that has this rising tide effect and all of a sudden it's even like, like a cultural shift and a mood shift where people sort of see the possibilities and, and they're really like bringing the whole community up together.
Mandy Richards: Absolutely. Honestly, I think the most magical thing about Global Sisters is, and we've just heard this over and over again, is that it gives women hope because you can't, I mean, it's just, it's the saddest thing when someone is so downtrodden and so trapped by their [00:39:00] circumstances. You know, they're trapped on social security, for example, and they cannot dig them their way out of it because everything's too expensive and they're being shoved into this system that won't let them do anything.
Um, uh, and. You know, they, like, they cannot see, they can't see a light. They're, they're, they're trapped. And, um, actually, Tiggy, the woman I was just talking about from Sierra Leone, one of, she, she had these beautiful quotes and one of them she said to us was, since joining Global Sisters, I can see a light and.
I think that's honestly the, yeah, the most special thing that we do, that we give women hope, but then a tangible pathway to actually action it. It's not just this fuzzy, you know?
Liz Nable: Oh, yeah, I know. And, and I think sometimes, as much as I'm like all for the movement, it's a lot of like inspirational again on social media.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Women say like all this inspirational stuff. Yeah. But a lot of the women I work with are like, I've heard all this inspirational stuff, but like, how, tell me how, what are the practical [00:40:00] steps to make this happen? Because inspiration's great, but then I walk away and go, how am I gonna do that?
I don't have the money, I don't have the team, I don't have the, I've gotta pick the kids up from school. I, I'm struggling to pay the mortgage. Like, how am I ever gonna achieve that? It's all well and good to hear it from someone who's like a billionaire now. But how do I make that happen for myself?
Mandy Richards: Yeah, we don't do anything inspirational as such.
I think like the inspiration comes from the stories, like the real life stories of, of just seeing what's happening for these women. And you know, we've got so many epic stories now of women exiting, um, welfare and buying their own homes and, you know, employing other women and. You know, and it's freaking hard.
Like no one's saying for an instant. It's easy, but it is possible if you have the right support. And that's the whole point of global assistance.
Liz Nable: I I love that. Yeah. As a journalist, I'm like, I'm not gonna lie to anyone. This is hard. Yeah. But it's possible. Like, here's the practical steps and let's just be.
Patient and understand that it's a long game. Right. But it is possible with the right kind of help. So if [00:41:00] someone's listening to this podcast, um, a woman listening who has an idea or a passion or you know, this, this seed of an idea, but hasn't sort of stepped forward yet or taken the plunge, what would you say to them?
Mandy Richards: Um, well, I mean, they can go, if they go to the globalist website and then, um, go to the, the programs platform. Um. Uh, there's plenty of ways to just get started there, but when I, when I used to work with inventors, I had so many people come to me who were so caught up and freaked out that someone was gonna steal their idea that they were paralyzed and they didn't act.
And I've just, I, I just always say, and I love that quote of a journey of a thousand League League starts with. Single step. Um, you just start, just start. Nothing has to be perfect, but nothing's gonna happen unless you start. Um, so just start and start small and that's the best way. You start small, test it out, and then you just move forward.
And I think the most important thing, and this was, you know, how [00:42:00] I, I guess I approach Global Sisters and everything is. You don't need to know how you're gonna get there. Just have a very clear goal in your head of where you wanna get and then just start. Mm. And I think if you have very clear intentions and they're good, um, you know, I think you'll get there as long as you've got access to the right support.
And we have
Liz Nable: that. Yeah, I, I couldn't agree with you. Are you like, you are not a type A personality, are you? You are Type B
Mandy Richards: God, no. Um,
Liz Nable: I dunno. I'm
Mandy Richards: definitely not Type A.
Liz Nable: Yeah. So as soon as you said, just start, I was like, that's me. I'm not type A either, because this is what I teach as well, is just send the pitch.
Just tell them what you do. If you sit on it, no one's gonna know the secret. No one knows the secret. You have to tell them what it is. It doesn't need to be perfect. And this is an interesting thing. I've learned in businesses that scarcity mentality suits no, like it, it doesn't serve anyone because there's always a possibility that someone could steal your idea.
Of course. But if you don't ever put it out there, you'll never know. So
Mandy Richards: no such thing as perfection. Like you [00:43:00] cannot be perfect in business. You just have to do and try and iterate and do and try and iterate. Yeah, just keep, you know.
Liz Nable: Yeah, perfection. Perfection is not a badge of honor. It just holds you back.
Agreed. Progress is key.
Mandy Richards: It's, I, it's impossible. There's no such thing as perfection in business.
Liz Nable: Exhausting.
Mandy Richards: Yeah, exactly. But you know, you, you have to constantly be changing, um, if you wanna stay in business anyway, so you can't, yeah.
Liz Nable: It's a whole mindset. Yeah. It a agreed. I was always so scared that someone would steal my idea in my first business and they did multiple times over, but we sort of stayed the course and we're the last man standing 10 years down the line.
Yeah. So now I see it so differently. 'cause I get, I give away heaps of free information on my podcast in the, yeah. Recordings in my webinars. And I don't feel as scary of, I don't feel threatened at all because I know. I'm confident, I guess, in what I'm
Mandy Richards: even with Global Sisters, like the number of, the number of times that we've seen other not-for-profits [00:44:00] or um, organizations.
Like literally ripping off our content. Um, you know, and, and in the early days I used to get so mad about it and now I'm just like, oh, whatever. Like, we are so focused on impact. Yeah. And quite frankly, if they're gonna have impact as well, great. Like we, you know, it doesn't really matter. We, we, like, we are trying to create.
Economic security for Australian women. So the more people that do that, the better.
Liz Nable: Yeah. I love that. Um, thank you so much, Mandy. Uh, we're, we're only just streets away geographically. We've learned before we hit record. Um, but I love the work that you guys do. I think it is just obviously making a huge impact.
Um, like there's a lot of charities who talk, talk, but you've obviously like the action that you guys taken as, as this huge ripple effect, which is why I keep hearing about you everywhere. Um. Thank you so much for your time. I, I really appreciate it.
Mandy Richards: Ah, you're welcome. Thank you for having me.
Liz Nable: This episode of Media Magnet was brought to you by my [00:45:00] signature group coaching program, the Media Masters Academy.
The Media Masters Academy is a live online six week course taught by me and designed to teach you how to become your own publicist and give you exclusive access to pitch the country's top journalists and editors doors open just three times a year. Check it out@liznabel.com, along with a ton of free resources to help you get started taking your business from best kept secret to household name.
Right now, if you love this episode of Media Magnet, please share it with your business buddies or on social media and tag me at at Liz Naval. And if there's a specific guest you wanna hear from on the show or a topic or question you want to know more about, please tell me so I can make sure the show stays dedicated, especially for [00:46:00] you.
