Hello, and welcome everybody!
Janet Beckers here with Romance Your Tribe Radio, and I'm so excited to introduce you
to my beautiful guest this morning, Heather Yelland!
Hi Janet!
Lovely to be here and lovely to join you and your tribe!
Yeah, well one of the reasons why I truly wanted to introduce you to Heather is simply
because she's one of my favorite, favorite people.
Heather and I have gone back years and years and years ago through a girlfriend of ours,
[01:05 Jenny or Gerry?]
Martin, who was one of the first people I interviewed years ago when I was starting
off my business.
And Heather was a really integral part of that team and we got to know each other really
well through there.
Now, our relationship and our friendship has gone on for years so much so that Heather
is actually one of the strongest mentors for my son, Clancy.
Heather Yelland Yes.
I'm a little in love with him, too, Janet, I might say.
We can tell, we can tell!
She's just made such beautiful influence so we're going to talk about how that came about,
and also Heather is also one of these people that everybody feels, you know, very, very
special to her.
She has that ability, and that ability to really engender trust within a tribe, so much
so that you've even won a Trust Awards, wasn't it?
Yeah.
2015 I was voted the most trusted business leader in the country, which sounds a bit
nobby - but, I mean I think if it was an award that I wanted to win, Janet, that was it because
I really think that we've reached a time where in business we need to go back to the basics
and one of the fundamentals in any relationship is trust.
Absolutely, and the interesting thing is was I found out later on I was nominated for that
and I had already gone and voted as many times as I could for Heather.
[Both laugh]
Bam!
That's very sweet.
So what we're going to talk about today is a few things.
One is...
I really want to dive a little deeper into how does Heather have that beautiful trust
within a tribe where people have never ever met her, so core to doing that.
And then also I've seen the evolution of Heather's business and its growth and the impact that
it's making.
So we're going to dive into her branding and the growth of her business and how you can
take -- follow the process that Heather has used to be able to build this beautiful, strong
brand.
That's what we're going to dive into.
Now, before we do that, first of all, over to Heather now, we are going to attempt to
try to give you the maximum value in about 20, 25 minutes max.
So to start with, to cut to the chase, Heather can you please share with us who do you serve,
and how do you do that?
Sure.
In really simple terms, the people that we serve are those invested in their own growth.
We do that through, largely through 4 streams; the company has 4 streams to it.
Elevate children, which is all about serving children and the people who support them,
so families, teachers, communities.
Secondly, elevate people, which is personal growth programs for anyone who's interested
in their own growth and development in leadership.
Third, elevate business, and that's all of our business consulting, particularly focused
on the development of culture and values-based leadership.
And then our fourth area is elevate humanity, and that's a whole range of different things
that we offer and get involved in to support other people from a sort of a charitable perspective.
Not just here in Australia, we do work in India, Africa, Indonesia, Myanmar and New
Zealand.
Wow!
That's huge impact, and I love how you're so clear on the 4 different levels that you
do, because your company is the Elevate Company.
That was...
The Elevation Company, yeah.
So the Elevation Company is the sort of the arching -- the overarching name of the company,
but those 4 streams of service sit underneath.
Yeah, that's fantastic.
So we're going to dive into that clarity, you know, of what you've done there.
Now, before we do that, let's just talk a little bit about your first one, which was...
which is where I've had a lot of contact with Heather over the last few years.
So we're just going to indulge us both here because we have a mutual person we love, and
it's actually through one of those streams that Heather does.
So could you give us in a nutshell about your Green Super Camps.
Yeah.
So Green Super Camp is basically the result of -- I was actually having a conversation
with Roger Hamilton one time in Bali, and he said to me "You're one of the most passionate
people I know, but when you talk about your business the way that it's structured right
now, I don't feel the passion," and I said, well you know, past the cocktails, cause nor
do I.
And so it became fairly clear that something needed to change, and he said "Well, what
are you passionate about?"
And I said I'm passionate about kids.
Unfortunately, I was never able to have them, but, you know, the universe works in strange
ways - I now have 8.
All of it just into me, but means I get to mother on a daily basis.
So I think that as a result of that conversation with Roger, what I really started thinking
about, Janet, was how do you create opportunities for the stuff that you love to inform the
way that you make a difference in the world every day?
And lots of people had said to me, you know, "We know you love kids.
Don't do that.
There's no money in that," etc, and I thought 'what if there didn't need to be?'
Right.
What about if I actually grew my business in a way that it was so successful that I
could do whatever the hell I want to support children and play with children and spend
time with children and learn from children, without needing it to return me a financial
return.
Now, I think when you set out with that, what I call the heart investment rather than a
financial investment, the universe has a way to conspire to give you what you want.
I'm really clear about who the hell I am and what I stand for, and I think that's been
the crucial aspect of the success of my business and the growth of the team that I now get
to work with everyday.
Because I sort of -- well, I love kids.
I do love kids and I want to spend with them and I'm like the biggest kid of all the kids,
so what opportunities are there for me to do that and not have to make the money, and
I thought, well, our business consulting is the growing area of the business.
What happens if we look at ways that we can make money out of that and then take the cream
of the milk as it were and support the children's program.
So we did some research, discovered Super Camp in America, which is an American-based
program but runs all over the world and has been running for -- I think they're entering
their 39th year or something, and I made contact with them and said, you know, why not come
to Australia, pretty much.
And what I didn't know at the time, which was great, was that they'd been trying to
come here for about 18 years and had had 12 different partners in that time but it had
never worked.
Right.
And it was great that I didn't know what because I might have been a little more nervous.
But once we ran our first very successful program - the co-founder from America came
out for that program, and told me that "I figure it was just because you were waiting
for me, or I was waiting to find you guys or something," and it's grown exponentially
from there.
So we've run, in fact, we just ran in October this year, program number...
13 here in Australia.
Fantastic.
And we've run 3 years of it in Bali, as well, in Indonesia.
We've now taught the Indonesia people to run it for themselves, which is terrific.
It's an incredible program and provides really great personal leadership, academic acceleration
and environmental awareness for kids from, well, all over Australia mostly, but we always
get about 10 to 15 kids from New Zealand.
This time we had kids from Myanmar, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Canada...
I think that's all I can think of off the top of my head.
Yeah, for me it's a real peek into the kind of work that you do with your corporates,
because my son Clancy went, you know, he had a scholarship actually, which was really nice,
he got to apply, you know... why should your child go, and I basically said "Look, this
kid is fantastic!
He's really funny.
He's really, you know -- all of these things that are wonderful about him, but I just can't
work out if he knows what lights his passion up.
This kid's capable of anything, but he just doesn't know what he's passionate about and
so this kid is driving me crazy.
If you can help me work out the passion, you've done your job."
And I tell you what - the difference in this boy once he'd been able to go through such
a wonderful process and really into what lights him up.
I was just, like, you know, that was all he needed.
And so yeah, so we've seen that amazing process and, of course now, Heather keeps on inviting
him back and he's now training.
You know, it's a big part of his life, so we get to see, all the time, the process and
we get to practice a lot of the techniques because he brings them home and we have to
use them.
Practice on the family and all.
Yeah, so anybody that wants to know about that, we will put the links here for you to
be able to know about Green Super Camp because, you know, you've got to send your kids there;
it makes such a huge difference.
But I think, Janet, there is gold in there.
For the people who are listening, you know, they'd be thinking "Okay, so where are the
parallel - what does that mean for me?
How can I learn from that?"
And I think though, there's a few things that stand out to me.
One is get really clear about what it is that lights your fire.
Get clear about what it is that makes you want to get out of bed everyday and make a
hell of a difference and leave a legacy.
And that, for me, was about working with children.
Number two is... if that doesn't enable the opportunity for you to make the money that
you want to make to build your business and have the kind of lifestyle that you want,
find other ways.
Like, don't box yourself in, so from my perspective it was about -- okay, I knew I was probably
gonna blow somewhere between 15 and 20 grand on that first program, so I thought I've got
to find a way to put together 15 or 20 grand.
So then I thought "Well, okay, what am I good at?"
I'm a speaker; I'm really good at speaking, okay.
With whom can I partner in order to spread the word about the Green Super Camp Australia
program, but also to ask for support to make it possible for young people to come along
if they weren't able to pay their own way.
So it's like who can help?
Why are you doing it?
I guess this is the process I run myself through.
Why am I doing, and I don't ask or answer any other questions until I've got pages and
pages and pages of answers to that, and I literally will book time, date myself, and
I do it during business hours not during personal hours, I actually book appointments with myself
and I sit down and I just write.
Why does this matter, why is this important, why does it speak to me, why does it call
to me, why will I commit to this above anything else even if it all goes wrong or the shit
hits the fan and I don't know which way to go forward, why why why - get really clear
about that.
That's great.
Yep.
Then get clear about, okay, what's the what?
What is it I want to achieve?
What is it I need to do?
What is it I need to be?
Get clear then - I write and I write and I write until I've got that - the "what" clear,
then I ask the who.
Who's done it before me that I can learn from?
Who's currently doing it that I might partner with?
With whom could I develop a partnership or a collaboration or even who could I join for
a little while, and in fact, Paul Dunn, who is the founder of Buy One, Give One, or B1G1
as we know it -- Paul and I had a conversation, that was about 3 and a half years ago in fact,
and he was part of the incredible influence that helped me to redefine the name of the
company and the way that I do business.
And I remember in the conversation with Paul, he said "Yoiu know, Heather, I know 2 or 3
people that have done a similar thing that I think you should talk to," and that's exactly
what I did, and I rang those people and I said "Paul suggested I should speak with you.
I'd really love to buy you a coffee or shout you lunch and take an hour of your time, and
this is what I'm working on and this is what I'd love to hear from you, and I guarantee
that if you're prepared to do that, I will give you the results of my research."
And absolutely followed through and honored that commitment.
Right.
Then I think once you've got the why, the what and the who sorted out, there's a far
greater sense of momentum and flow, and you feel much stronger about your certainty in
what it is that you're doing.
So then putting together the bones of it -- I think the big trouble for us in the western
world is as soon as there's a dilemma, we go straight to how.
Right.
"Here's my problem.
How can I fix it?"
From politicians to law to whatever.
Here's the problem how do I fix it?
And in my experience, all the how question does is amplify the energy.
So if you're asking that question from an energy of expansion and possibility and innovation,
great!
You'll get more expansion, possibility and innovation.
Most of us ask the how questions from a place of plain or deprivation or uncertainty.
I love it Heather!
That is a huge clarifying point for, I know, a lot of people who are listening here because
that is that classic thing.
You should do the how because you solve a problem.
Correct.
Don't even ask how until you're clear about the why, the what, the who and the when.
Yeah.
And once you get clear about that, you know, it's like a funnel.
The how steps kind of fall out the bottom with a real clarity and sense of certainty,
but then if something that you choose to do in terms of how doesn't work, you don't get
dissuaded, you don't get shaken off, because you've got that absolutely clarity of why
you're doing it, what you're wanting to do, who it is that can help you or who it is you're
trying to serve.
All of us can pull ourselves out of bed even on horrible days when we've got that level
of clarity and we've got that emotional engagement or emotional invested - investment.
So yeah...
A few things that you said there that I'd like to just dive into for people to be able
to apply, now one of the things you talked about was, with the why... because that's
the beginning, and I love how you were saying about your why was working with children.
But, then you did a reality check and thought actually that's going to be a really difficult
way to make the money.
So when it comes to people who you work with, because I know that this is the core part
that you do, not just with the kids but also with your corporate clients, is getting into
that why.
Because I find when I talk with people, they can tend to fall into a few categories.
They will go "Oh my god, I'm so shallow.
I don't have a big, overarching, life-changing why."
But then if they go "Well, I just basically want to make a shit-load of money," that also
is not a strong enough why for when things get tough.
So I know that this is stuff that you do with people all the time, is there any advice that
you can give on that part there?
Yes, absolutely.
Two things: one, go and watch Simon Sinek's TED Talk on why -- S-I-N-E-K, Simon Sinek.
Simon and I have different interpretations of exactly what the why is all about, but
his TED Talk is a really great first cut of what why is important.
The second thing is most us have either had a 3 year old, currently have a 3 year old
or know somebody else's 3 year old, and one of the things that's lovely about 3 year olds
is that their little brains are undergoing such changes and there's so many wonderful
things happening in the firing and wiring of their, neuroscience if you like, that they
ask why a lot.
And even though spending too much time with them starts to feel frustrating because it
feels like they're asking why just to annoy us, they ask why to create meaning.
Right.
Yeah.
So just do the same thing.
Sit down with a pen and say -- write "Why does this business matter to me?"
Well, because I love to serve people.
Okay, service.
Why is service important?
"I love to make a contribution."
Great.
Contribution.
Why does contribution matter?
What is that important?
"I guess it gives me a sense of fulfillment."
Great.
.Why is fulfillment important?
"It helps me to, sort of, connect with who I really am and the reason I was born."
Okay, connection.
Why is connection?
And so on it goes.
And one of the things that we love to do with people is help them to understand what we
call their big why, and to us your big why is the essential energy that must be in all
things for you to be content.
And in my case, Janet, you know, I do love to hang out with kids and I do particularly
love to be around them.
And I think perhaps part of the reason for that is because I wasn't able to have my own.
Yeah.
But then I started to think what is it?
Why do I love to be with kids?
It's the sense of connection.
It's that pure presence.
It's the honesty of the way that they engage with you.
And so, then I started unpacking that a little bit more and saying, well, it's actually that
the why behind connecting with kids for me is not about the kids, it's about the connection.
Right.
Absolutely!
But -- my big why is connection.
So whether I'm working with Macquarie Bank, Blackmores, you know - some of the bigger
clients that we have or whether I'm sitting having one to one conversations with young
people at Super Camp, as I did with your beautiful son, the juice in that, the what feeds my
soul, and that is the connection.
Right.
So when you get really clear about that, like, you get to a point where you're able to say
there it is, that is my why.
We sometimes refer to it as the things that calls to your soul.
And you know what I really love about this, Heather, is you're not having to articulate
something, like...
I'm going to bring water to developing countries where they can't have clean water, you know.
You don't have to articulate something huge that you go "I should think that."
Really deep down it's not the thing that's getting me out of bed.
Whereas what you're taking about is that real energy, that integral, which that connected-ness,
you've totally tapped into that.
That's brilliant.
I've actually done quite a bit of work on this myself, working out what is absolutely
core to everything I do and what comes really naturally, and it's love.
Like, love is actually in our mission statement.
Or, you know, everything -- the first thing I do when somebody comes into our company
is "how are you going to demonstrate love?"
How are you going to bring into every interaction?
But then you have to define, well, what does love mean to you?
You know, love does not have -- love, for different people, is different, but for me
the love is about connected-ness and making people truly believe in themselves.
That's a real buzz.
So I really like that that there can be your why.
You can take the pressure off yourself.
And, you know, in the sense that I'm speaking with the queen of Vibe --
Of Vibe?
Hahaha
Well, the queen of -- I should, sorry, say that the queen of Tribe, your vibe attracts
your tribe.
Yep.
Spot on.
So if you show up with a vibe of uncertainty and, you know, lack of clarity and all those
sorts of things, then those are the people that your vibe attracts.
So if you're -- and we talk to the kids at Super Camp about this, your vibe attracts
your tribe.
If you turn up to camp going "Your camp sucks and I didn't even want to come and my parents
made me," you're going to find a whole bunch of kids who'd also feel like it sucks and
didn't want to be there.
And that's then going to be the way that you construct your reality.
If that's what you want, knock yourself out.
Yeah.
But if that's not what you want and if you look at the kids who are engaging with the
activity and drawing a huge amount from it and you want some of that, shift your vibe.
That's a personal accountability thing.
And it's the same for us in business.
Why is it that some people are, you know, why is Heather so lucky?
Yeah, I am.
But I am because I create it.
Yep.
And I create it with the vibe, and the vibe that then attracts my tribe is that sense
of certainty.
And it's interesting because, Janet, you know, in many ways there was a fairly significant
cost to me in setting Super Camp up, and I still probably tip in somewhere between 10
and 15 grand per program, although the at-camp cost is now cost-mutual because of the numbers
that we have at the program, but I don't care because it's interesting that even though
what I did was set out to run a program that allowed me to just help young people understand
and believe in and love who they are, and I didn't care whether I made money out of
it or not, it's become a huge marketing strategy for us.
And in fact we were commissioned to run a program for YPO, Young Presidents Organization
or World Presidents Organization, which is sort of the creme de la creme, if you like,
of business people around the world.
We did that, a parent-child program we ran for them, and it was the highest rating program
that YPO across the world has ever run, and the sponsor of that program was admitted into
the hall of fame at the international YPO, and off the back of that, I then got to be
in contact with about 25 extraordinary business people, 3 of whom are now coaching clients
of ours.
Fantastic.
And one of them is a business consulting client so, in fact, one of our biggest pieces of
work going on in our company at the moment is a piece of work that came to us from that
program.
So you just never know - it's about being... if I break it down: one, know who the hell
you are and why you do what you do.
Two, structure that into the way that you tell your story about what you offer.
I could stand here, Janet, and say to you, you know, "I and our team work with corporate
Australia and businesses across the country who do this," who cares?
Nobody's listening anymore.
Here's the reason we do what we do: because we fundamentally believe that all anyone wants
is to love and be loved and to be known - loved and got, for who they truly are be that in
life or in business.
So what we do is we grow people and we help them to connect to and express more of the
truth of who they are.
Brilliant.
We do that whether it's at Super Camp, whether it's in our personal growth programs for adults,
whether it's in our business consulting.
I turn up literally to the big 4 banks when I'm having conversations with them and I talk
about - I'm going to teach you how to love your people.
If you're not up for that, tell me now, I won't waste your time and you don't get to
waste mine.
Excellent.
Interesting that the big 4 said "there's the door," not as frankly as that.
And Macquarie said "Well God knows we could do with a dose of that."
That's fantastic, and that's the other side, as well as you being -- you've got your why.
I love how you said you weave that into your story because the next part about that then
is that, it means that, you're getting it off the fence; you're getting the splinter
out of your bum from sitting on the fence, and being able to say "Well, this is what
we believe," now that's our tribe.
That's our vibe.
That's who we want to work with.
So, you could very clearly, you know, your people who don't want to be a part of that
could very clearly go "Nah, this is not where we belong."
The ones who can relate, like the corporate with the Macquarie, or like the people who
work with you one on one, is they not only go "Yeah that sounds good," they go "Awwe!
That's fantastic!"
"Thank God!"
Fantastic!
So I absolutely love that.
So... wrapping up, so we've got that super, super clear on your why.
We're getting... weaving that into your story, which I just absolutely love.
Then we've got this other, like, that adding in there of, you know, get the splinter off
your bum - get off the fence because that's where you're going to get clients who you
love working with.
And that level of clarity will allow you to say no to tire kickers because tire kickers
refer other tire kickers.
Yes.
Good point.
Absolutely.
That's brilliant, that's brilliant.
And there's probably one other thing I would say, Janet, and that is understand the difference
between growth and change and how you relate to both.
Yeah, because I think a lot of is, especially if you're looking to either you're starting
out your business or you're looking to expand your business, a lot of us will say things
like "Oh yeah, I'd really love to grow - I'd really like to grow, and I very much like
--" and as soon as I go "Okay, well that's going to require you to change," they go "choke"
and stop breathing.
Most of us want growth, very few of us engage with an enjoyed change.
If you don't engage with an enjoyed change, that's okay, but know that upfront and don't
let it become a constraint to you.
Build in the supports and the structures and the systems that will help you to overcome
yourself, really, when the fear of the change strikes.
And the other thing that I would encourage people to think about is, especially if you're
a small business or maybe a solopreneur, and you're thinking to yourself 'it's all very
well to say outsource the stuff that takes you out of the flow, but I don't have the
money to outsource,' you don't need it.
You don't need it.
The very first person that I brought into my team 8 years ago was a mum that was looking
for an opportunity to re-hone her skills because she'd been out of the workforce for 12 years,
she worked with me for 12 months for nothing.
Wow.
... and still believes she got the better end of the deal.
Right.
That's... fantastic--
Think differently about where the supports are available.
Kids that are doing study at university need the opportunity to practice their skills.
If you provide the context or the opportunity - the possibility for them to do that, they'll
often provide the assistance free of charge or at cost only, you know, be innovative about
the way that you think about where the opportunities and the possibilities are.
But, when you back yourself, you know what you stand for and you put out a vibe of that,
those people and opportunities are often coming to you instead of saying "Well, look, I don't
really like to work with fill-in-this-name-here, but at the moment that's paying the bills."
Because while you're doing that, the insert-name-people are saying "Well this is great because I'm
getting heaps of good outcome for not much money.
I'm going to refer my mates who want a cheap deal," and suddenly you've got an entire client-load
of cheap deals.
I remember when we moved our fees, our day rate fees, from 4000 dollars, which is what
they were at the time, 4000 dollars [ 30:59 | down or damn or and?]
I thought that was pretty steep, and I went "You know what, stuff it.
What would happen if I just changed it to 10?"
It wasn't as simple as "when I woke up I'm going to make it 10," it was "Who would I
need to be?
What would I need to believe?
And why would I need to think I have a right?"
And once I had the answers to those questions, I went back to my existing clients and I said
"3 months from now if we're still working together, I need you to know my fee is going
up to this."
I lost 2 clients, but I gained about 8 of what I would call higher caliber clients who
then refer me to other high caliber clients.
Excellent.
Excellent.
You've just given an amazing wealth of wisdom here, Heather.
You're welcome.
Truly have!
So, as a wrap up because I'm looking at our time, making sure that we're--
Sharp?
Well on that, we're totally sharp.
In that wrap up, I think that the key things that I really want people to have a look at
is really those - tapping into your why, and then you know, we've got some fantastic strategies
there to be able to do that.
Now, getting around to the who because you did a really nice loop then when you talked
about the who you get to help, and it's really because you're super clear on your why.
And so that was a really nice example to show how to be able to use that, including the
way that you used that when you were first growing your business to be able to see 'how
I get to do what I love and to fund it.'
So putting those points going across is, really, and seeing how you can get super clear then
on what it is that you do and who you want to work with, so I absolutely love that.
So what I would really ask everybody that's listening here - hopefully you've been taking
lots of notes.
Haha!
And, you know, on the website here we're going to have all the transcripts and the summary
notes and all the links so you can go back there as well, but what I do ask you to do
is...
For Heather and I to be here, like, you can tell that both of us, we genuinely care about
you getting results.
It's what drives both of us.
And so for us to spend this time here is a gift, for us, you know, it's a gift to us
as well as gift to you.
What would be incredibly, you know, a gift - real gift to us is if you get in contact
with Heather.
So whether it's going to be, well put your contact down below, anywhere that you connect
with Heather whether it's dropping her an email, whether it's stalking her on Facebook,
but let her know one thing, at least one thing, a big a-ha from today.
Something that you have done because nothing will give both of us greater pleasure, and
I especially know Heather, to know that there's -- we've made a change.
So to do that, what's the best way -- where people can go to find out more about what
you do, Heather, and to, you know, if they're interested in working with you, how do they
find out?
The best way is just to make contact with us and we'll find out what we're up to and
get a sense of who we are.
There's videos and information, that sort of thing, on the website, which is theelevationcompany.com,
but also to just shoot us an email - admin@theelevationcompany.com.au is our best option -- *clears throat* pardon
me, or you can shoot me an individual one at info@heatheryelland.com.
Excellent.
And of course, I am very fortunate to work with an extraordinary team of people so, you
know, you might be interested to hear their views and what it's like to be a part of the
company as well, particularly if you're wanting to look at, you know, adding staff to your
team.
Anyone in our team would be more than happy to answer your questions or give you some
insights on what it's like to be a part of the Elevation Company's family, as we like
to call it.
Fantastic.
Thank you so much for your time, Heather!
I could just spend days, literally, and we will.
We will--
I think we found it quite well to keep it to 20 minutes or 25 or whatever.
Well it is a difficult thing to do.
For us.
Hahaha!
Yeah!
Okay.
Bye, everybody!
And can't wait to see what action you take from today.
Bye!
Thanks Janet!
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