SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Um Hey Ellie. Yes, Andrew. What did the ocean say to the shore?

SPEAKER_01: 0:09

Um yeah, no. I I don't know.

SPEAKER_00: 0:13

Nothing. I just waved.

SPEAKER_02: 0:19

Oh, that's a good one. Oh my gosh. That's a good clean. You heavy lifted that one. Yes, this is gonna be a great episode.

SPEAKER_00: 0:28

This is gonna be a good episode. Alright, well, uh we're gonna hit the.

SPEAKER_01: 0:32

No, no, we need the link, don't we?

SPEAKER_00: 0:33

Oh, we're gonna bring the link after the thing.

SPEAKER_01: 0:35

Okay, theme tune it.

SPEAKER_00: 0:36

We're getting rusty here, aren't we? Yes. David, put the theme tune on so we can warm ourselves up for what we're supposed to do with podcasting. Thank you. Bye. Alright, yes, so uh the ocean wave to the shore um instead of talk to.

SPEAKER_01: 0:59

Now, the reason I brought in that joke is uh Oh, there's actually a very clear link this time. I'm so proud of you. You need to draw like the longest.

SPEAKER_00: 1:07

No, 15 minutes ago I had my feet in the ocean. You do we are I was gonna go for a swim, but I thought probably not because I get stopping wet and I won't be able to record this episode. But we are we are in the beautiful Boracai. Beautiful Philippines. We are at a destination conference at Toacon.

SPEAKER_01: 1:23

That's right.

SPEAKER_00: 1:24

So one of our amazing sponsors, Toa Global, they do a conference every year or two or so. And a couple of years ago it was in Gold Coast, and this year it's in Boracai.

SPEAKER_01: 1:31

Yeah, and hence here we thought it was Boracai, I know. And I tell you what, I there is nothing better than a destination conference, and I don't care for the tax deductions, but you know what? Well, maybe I do.

SPEAKER_00: 1:44

I mean it's it's it's a it's a perk that it's tax deductible, but but even if it wasn't, you probably would still go.

SPEAKER_01: 1:50

I absolutely would. And look, it's not one of those ones where you go and you don't actually learn anything. The content here is pure gold, like I swear. Like they have so many keynote speakers that you could harve it and still get like the value, like it's insane.

SPEAKER_00: 2:07

And so what I want to talk about today uh is not not just toacon, because obviously Toacon in itself is great, but what I want to talk about is uh that mindset and putting yourself in a position for this stuff because obviously when you hop on a plane for a number of hours and end up in an island on the beach, your mind changes a bit. You you you slow down a bit, you probably become a bit more uh receptive to things around you, and particularly if there's a really good kind of speaking and content and kind of um the content kind of things put together to make that experience great. But even if it's at home or if it's around the corner or if it's down the road or whatever that looks like, what I want to unpack today is like how do we actually put ourselves in the mindset to hear, to learn and to connect.

SPEAKER_01: 2:51

Yeah, and I just have to go back on that on one point. The flying away from the home, the stage, the business for me allows me to connect in a very different way. Oh yeah. So that in itself, and then hopping on the plane and and flying out somewhere, especially out of Australia, it helps me to disconnect completely, and I don't get that from other conferences.

SPEAKER_00: 3:23

Yeah, and I know that's a I know that's a bit of a big deal, and it's it's sometimes it's a hard one for people to stomach is the idea of forking out significant sums of money. You might hear background noise. We are recording in a hallway whilst um the conference is kind of all running away in the background. Um forking out significant sums of money to to come to a conference, which which you all then also then have to make the decision of whether you bring family with you or not, uh whether you stay for a longer period or not, and those kind of things. So I know it can be that can be a barrier. Uh also substantial one, right?

SPEAKER_01: 3:56

If you're spending a truck ton of money, you want to get your money's worth. You absolutely also, and I mean that's why you know when we run workshops, we always put a value on it. Because if you do it for free, no one rolls up. So I think the more you invest into getting there and into the actual conference itself, like yes, you have high expectations for it, of course, but it usually delivers. But you actually are are engaged, I think, in a very different way.

SPEAKER_00: 4:18

Oh yeah, the people the people that are here at at this particular one, um, you can see that there's been a bunch of interactions that the the Toa team have uh have attempted to create, and majority of the time people are engaging and getting into it. If that was around the corner from my home in like Frankston, Mornington, Melbourne, you'd be on your email.

SPEAKER_01: 4:38

Walking outside. They would. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00: 4:40

Mind you, the challenge of being in a destination conference is I went and put my feet in the water early today and I went, fuck it, do I just sit here every day?

SPEAKER_01: 4:47

Now we have to put the explicit thing on. Why do you always have to swing?

SPEAKER_00: 4:50

I don't mean to. It's just it's part of my natural. I know it's all right.

SPEAKER_01: 4:55

Every single one of us is explicit. The children will never be able to listen. But that's okay. But no, I totally get it. Like, you want to go for a bit of a massage, you want to have a bit of a spa day.

SPEAKER_00: 5:04

I was chatting with a couple of people before and I'm like, surely we can hook up a screen at the beach and we can all sit in the water whilst someone's doing their presentation and we can watch the slides and they can talk from there. Yeah. I'm like, that's gotta be achievable, right?

SPEAKER_01: 5:16

Hang on, one of the sessions yesterday was in the at the beach. Yeah, it was a beach.

SPEAKER_00: 5:20

It was a networking session, which was we all just went for a swim and like threw Frisbee's around and stuff. But we there were some there were some um conversation starters which we utilized. Some of us didn't, some of us didn't. But um it was um it was good, but it wasn't let's all just sit in the beach for two hours and listen to someone deliver an amazing session. Oh, that's my gonna be on my feedback form.

SPEAKER_01: 5:39

Love it. Well there was like a there was also a little session this morning, a little bit of a you know, a movement session that was part of today. But yeah, I actually the point is, you know, do you go to the one of these destination conferences and go to a mo the one of the most beautiful spots in the world and sit in a conference room the whole time? Or do you, you know, try and take that opportunity to maybe get outside a little bit and you know, see what's around? And and that's to your point before, do you tack on some time before or after?

SPEAKER_00: 6:06

I my advice on that is having I mean, I landed here the the day before, and I'll be spending uh four four or so more days elsewhere but within proximity to here, uh, is to to try and elongate that as much as you can because if you rush back to your office, back to the real world, you don't allow yourself enough time to maybe rest and sit on what you've heard and what you've thought about. Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like pure gold. For me, it was just sitting at the beach. I just I pulled out my like breakfast, I brought my little my book to breakfast and I just started asterisking things that that kind of worked for me. I wanted to the beach or just walked around in the in the water, and I just sit there and close my eyes and think for a bit. I do a bit of that kind of reflection, and I think creating the space around it is a really good way to continue the disconnect. Yeah, but to help to self-summarize what you've heard and what you've learned so that it actually sits long term. Because a lot of the stuff, like let's be honest, um, a lot of the things you will hear at pretty much any and all conference are are usually a reaffirmation of something you know is good, I think, but not necessarily the first time you've ever heard in your entire life, right?

SPEAKER_01: 7:09

Look, I th I think we have to couch that with if you've gone to a lot of conferences and done your own self-research and education, then yes, a lot of it is reaffirmed.

SPEAKER_00: 7:19

There's so much of it out there, right?

SPEAKER_01: 7:21

Look, I there are a lot of people I talk to that that haven't invested in that way, and so something like this would be like light bulbs and big bang moments the whole time.

SPEAKER_00: 7:30

So possibly, look, possibly. Maybe it maybe I'm maybe I'm just forgetting that I've been exposed to it.

SPEAKER_01: 7:35

I think you're a veteran in the world.

SPEAKER_00: 7:36

But don't mind I've never watched anyone talk about fasting or dieting or exercise or nutrition. And Ollie Bridge, who spoke yesterday, had a large proponent on that for the leadership, and I was like, I know all this stuff because I've seen and scrolled through social media and it's popped up everywhere, and it's just mates that chat. So I think there's an element of like it's sometimes it's underlying. Yeah, sometimes it's stuff that you kind of have heard at, but you've never really picked away the bits and pieces, and now you know more about that. So that's where I think is like you some of it you might have I hopefully you have the earth-shattering moment. For me, there's always like one thing I take away. Same. There's usually something. And I've got one here, but I'm not going to share it. We'll put that on the summary. Oh, I love, I like it. But with continuing, let's I keep we keep talking about this conference the disconnect. So it is, I I would I would 100% recommend spend an extra few days either side if you can, particularly after it, yeah. So that you can kind of download everything and then take your million notes, hopefully your writing notes and and handwriting notes.

SPEAKER_01: 8:27

I handwrite it because that's it helps with the memory, it helps with that connection.

SPEAKER_00: 8:30

So I handwrite, I I summarise and then I I will put it into my phone on my notes because I can carry that with me everywhere. Yeah. Um but yeah, hopefully take that time to really download and go, great, what's the couple of things I'm gonna walk away with?

SPEAKER_01: 8:41

And I think the other thing is um it depends where you are at in that moment. So you know, you might be coming into the conference burnt out, tired, wanting new ideas, wanting systems and processes. So depending upon where you're at is really what's gonna grab you at each of those you know, conferences and each of those speakers. So everybody's gonna take something different. So talking with other people about that after the session as well usually helps to say what was your takeaway, how did you see that? And so it's not just that internal reflection, it's actually the community reflection. I think that that has value too, yeah, especially in more a more intimate conference, which is what it is here. This isn't you know the zero cons of the world, it's not thousands, it's the hundreds, or I think it's a hundred and fifty. So the size of the conference also matters as well, I think, in relation to that.

SPEAKER_00: 9:28

Yeah, yeah, it definitely definitely does, it really does. Um excellent. We're gonna pause. You're gonna hear from Toa, our our sponsor, uh, that we are here at. I figure they're gonna be the ones that are sponsoring. They're gonna hear a bit about why we think they're awesome, we're gonna come back, and we're gonna talk a little bit more about the disconnection process before you leave. I want to ask you a couple of questions on that.

SPEAKER_01: 9:45

Okay. Oh gosh, I think I'm in trouble. Disconnect before you go.

SPEAKER_00: 9:49

Yeah, right. What are those people? So disconnecting before you go. And and I think this this is one of the things that a lot of a lot of business owners struggle to do is how how do we unplug enough from our business that we are not relied upon heavily whilst we're actually away, right? I can't. So the disposed of that. The disconnect. So like it's like the work that needs to be done, has it been handed over? Have you put your emails on do not reply? Has there been any communication internally around what you're up to? Um uh do your team uh respect and appreciate the fact that this isn't just me sitting on a beach, but this is me actually investing a fair bit of time. So how do you actually uh disconnect at that point so then you can connect into the content, the conversations, the learning, the relationships you're about to experience?

SPEAKER_01: 10:36

Well, this is actually, I think, more of a long-term than a short-term thing. I mean, if you you know, it depends whether you're on the tools or not, I think, as to how heavily you're involved. But I think for me, I built a business that doesn't work with me in it. Well, it does work with me in it, but it can work without me just as easily as it does with me. So I think in my personal scenario, because I'm not on the tools, um it is easy for me to kind of get up and and walk out, and then my team kind of holds the thought. Um, you know, you pay a pretty big price for that, not gonna lie. Um so for me it's not that hard to kind of pick up and go, and I'll let the team know, I'll let the clients know, I'll put my out of office on um and off I go. So, but I also understand that I might be like the five to ten percent. I'm not sure that that's the majority of people because the people that I speak with here are saying they were in their very busy period, it was really hard for them to to disconnect, they're worried about what's gonna happen. Leading into Christmas, those all that kind of stuff. Yeah, they're checking in on their phones, you know, they're doing their emails. So, you know, I I I think there is a high proportion of people that would struggle with that because you can't just you can't just be on the tools and all of a sudden just.

SPEAKER_00: 11:54

I think I think this becomes uh like you said it's a long term, I think this becomes a practice and a thing that becomes so if you're if you're if you're not in the habit of of taking time out of the business for various reasons, whether that is professional development, whether that is simply for a holiday to spend time with friends and family, if you're not in that habit, then when you need to do that in maybe a more um direct and immediate kind of way, uh it's really hard to disconnect because your team goes, well, you're always here, you're always doing stuff, your mind is always there, you're always doing stuff. And so therefore you have no environment around what that looks like, and it's really hard. But don't get me wrong, it's not like it's easy, even if you are regularly doing it, because sometimes something will happen and you just have to get involved. Yeah, but ideally you've built the team and the environment around you where you don't have to do that, right?

SPEAKER_01: 12:38

Yeah, well, here's the thought, and especially if you're on the tools and you're very active in your business, it's what you come back to.

SPEAKER_00: 12:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 12:45

Is it the spot fires, is it the panic stations, is it the oh gosh, you know, I don't feel like I can go again because people weren't coping, like it's it's the guilt factor potentially of of leaving and what you're coming back to. I mean, that's something that we that you know is real. And I'm assuming as you're flying back in, you might be starting to panic and worry. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00: 13:09

I mean you will, but like this this is part this is part of understanding that like um you know what's probably happened that maybe didn't go the way you want it to isn't gonna destroy things. It's not, I mean, maybe look, maybe in the absolute worst case example, something horrific happened and and and shit's gone real bad. But realistically, most of it is controllable after you get back if you need to, and this is great teaching and learning moments for your broader team as well as for yourself on how to manage these things. So some of my tips um would be here is um have a very clear understanding of if you need me, contact me this way. Yeah. So I will not be looking at Slack, which is our normal communication, because if I look at Slack, there's a bazillion of things like that. You're just gonna get caught into the jump in the things and even stuff that I'm not tagged in, I'll look at because I just like to keep up to date. So I say to the team, if you need me, WhatsApp is the way you connect with me. Yeah. Or Facebook Messenger, I guess it's the same kind of thing, right? That's if and that is if for whatever reason no one else is capable of delivering a thing, do that. And and I say to them, I'm not telling you you can't contact me. I don't want you to feel like you have to solve everything if you feel overwhelmed and underprepared. But I want to show you that I trust you and that you're capable of doing it. So let me know if you need me. So there's that one. There's then the clients. So if you've got clients that you are high touch with, it's letting them know well in advance that this is happening so that for that week or two or three, or however long you're away, they're aware that you're away doing something.

SPEAKER_03: 14:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 14:31

Um, and so we've had that with a team member recently, um, when on their honeymoon away for a whole month, and we had a client who had a very challenging situation pop up that he was looking after. He emails me and he's like, the client emails me and I know they're away, um, but can I have a chat with you? I'm like, yeah, absolutely, I'll have a chat, and then I'll just understand if I need to bring them in. And on the chat, he's like, I know he's on his honeymoon, but I just wasn't sure if this had to be had to be dealt with now because they've given me a deadline, and I'm like, nah, don't worry about it, we'll come push it out. So that's that whole prepare the clients for that as well. So your team know how to communicate you, your clients ideally don't know how to communicate with you, which is for some people might be hard. I I've created a bit of a stricter environment around like I'll talk to you this way, but outside of that it's just not gonna work. So I think really creating a boundary and say you talk to my team, and if they meet me, they'll bring me in. Not if you don't want to talk to my team, just go around the edges and talk to me and see.

SPEAKER_01: 15:21

And look, there are those clients that get a bit naughty sometimes that do the email, then they'll do the phone call, then they'll do the text message, then they'll do the WhatsApp, and it's like, I know that you're busy or I know that you are away, but a quick question, and it's never and it's not.

SPEAKER_03: 15:35

No.

SPEAKER_01: 15:35

And the reality is, I mean, that's such a good call. So often that can be nipped in the bud by another team member.

SPEAKER_03: 15:42

Yep.

SPEAKER_01: 15:42

Um, and so you know, putting parameters around how clients can contact you or who's that contact conduit in the interim to really control those clients I think is incredibly important because when you are at a conference and destination conference specifically, you don't want to be pulled back into it. Because it does take away, I think, from you being actually present in the moment and allowing your brain to engage in a different way and and out of the panic stations, out of the stress, out of the cortisol, and into a really safe, calm space where you can actually let it kind of roll over you and like simmer, and you know, um I think that's the that's the power of it. Because I even last night and this morning I've been reflecting on each of the presenters and what they've spoken about and what really resonates with me and what I got from that. You know, when you're back in the hustle bustle, you've gone to that conference, you're out, you're on to do another.

SPEAKER_00: 16:39

And what you start doing back in the house of bustle, you start overlaying your real life world. Oh, but but but I can't because of this, or it's not possible because of that. So you you can't remove yourself from it. Um, the other thing, um, quickly on that, disconnecting the hand up, is is the handover of work, I think is really important because it's quite often there are things on our desks that we might be supporting our clients with or we might have a responsibility with. Whether you're still heavily or heavily on the tools or even partially on the tools, there's always going to be something on your desk. Um, I think it's a really important and respectful thing for your team to ensure that that's handed over and communicated clearly. There is nothing worse than four days into your holiday, uh, a client thing that was supposed to be dealt with before you left that you forgot to tell anybody about, the client calls up and goes, Hey, what the hell's going on with blah blah blah? And then your team sit there and go, crap. And then potentially one of your senior team has to then step in to do that on top of their workload.

SPEAKER_01: 17:28

It's not leads to bitterness. It does. But I've seen it.

SPEAKER_00: 17:30

Leads to bitterness and resent and dis and and and that that kind of thing. So I think I think, I mean, and we've all done it, don't get me wrong. It's not like like I've never done it. I've definitely done it. Whether it's purposeful or not purposeful, and you know, whether it's a common thing that you do or not, you know, I think that that and it's understanding with the team how do you have visibility on the work, and and and because often as a leader you might have less visibility on your workload because you're not maybe held to account as much as the team are, which is. Oh man, I've learned that lesson. Yeah, I've learned that lesson.

SPEAKER_01: 17:58

Because you think you're communicating and then you they're like, No, you're not. And I'm like, but I thought I was. No, you're not.

SPEAKER_00: 18:03

It's sitting in your head, Andrew. Uh, how do we know what's going on? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Alright, so that's disconnecting from. Yeah. So let's then uh explore a little bit further around how you actually go about paying attention and uh and soaking in maybe the content you received and connecting with the people around. Because I think when you're whether it's a destination or whether it's simply just the conference around the corner, it's really important, I think, to connect with those around you and the relationship. So, how do you go about actually connecting with others and and learning maybe part of their journey, what they heard or what they see?

SPEAKER_01: 18:36

Well, I think if there's other events around the actual speaking content and getting involved in those, like for instance, uh at TowerCon, they've got the networking, they've got the you know, they had an awards ceremony, they had the the welcome drinks. So actually attending, talking to somebody that maybe you haven't spoken to before, getting that little bit of uncomfortable feeling, looking for somebody that might be by themselves, um, connecting with those that you haven't seen in a long time, asking questions of them, like trying to engage with them and get a bit deeper with them.

SPEAKER_00: 19:12

Just being like, hi.

SPEAKER_01: 19:16

Do you know I have to tell you you're the master at that? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 19:19

Yeah, I can be. Not always.

SPEAKER_01: 19:21

Uh it's definitely a challenge, but I think in the mood if I'm being really honest, I have to be in the mood.

SPEAKER_00: 19:27

What is helpful at a at a conference within your industry is you don't have to be like, so what do you do? Mind you, I've had at least four people at this conference go, You're not doing accounting anymore, right? You you're doing that plumbing shop. I'm like, no, no, no. I'm still three days a week running an accounting firm. I just always also run other things. So that's been an interesting like nuance.

SPEAKER_01: 19:47

No, some of the look, it's so funny. I mean, you you look you have some leading questions where are you from? Like, where are you based? Yeah, you know, what's your tell me about your business? How many people do you have? Like, people love talking. About their own businesses. So just have a couple of questions in your head that you're gonna ask, and lo and behold, you find your way in that you can get a little bit of you know, they'll start asking you questions back, and you know, there's I don't think there's ever been a time that I've spoken with somebody and they've gone, yeah, look, I really don't want to talk with you if you don't mind, just leave me alone, like yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 20:18

They're just being really polite, Ellie. Most of the time, they're not Ellie.

SPEAKER_01: 20:21

They're giving you looks of oh my god, save me. No, I think well, this is the beautiful thing about our industry. We have a very genuine, authentic group of people that are just honestly open to having a convo and getting to know you.

SPEAKER_00: 20:38

And I reckon 90% of this room I've never met before as well. Which is which is which I always get to meet different people and I get to like and there are some people with big proper black.

SPEAKER_01: 20:48

Like I always think I run a pretty sizable business, but there's no it depends. Well, you know, it depends where you go, but look, in in the in the telecon world, there's some big smart players that make lots of money.

SPEAKER_00: 21:01

What that means is it gives me a really broad, diverse conversation set. Yeah. So I can talk to people who are really new in the world of you know, working with an offshore team or even building their own business. They might be small, uh, you know, a couple of team members, maybe not. And then I can speak to the next person who's got 70 people based offshore and and and is part of like a 14 partner network. And you're like, what the hell? I know. And and and do you have any time?

SPEAKER_01: 21:27

Oh, we've got to be like a hundred. Sorry.

SPEAKER_00: 21:29

Like a but honestly for me, that's that's like a that's like a um uh an ego thing and whatnot that I have to overcome is that or or or an opinion thing where I would often look at like the big wigs and be like, stuff you, you big bloody morons, and you you big bullshit, but you don't need to be able to do that. And once you get over the fact, you can actually learn a lot collectively. Like we can share a lot about what we're doing in that small, medium kind of side, so they can share what they're doing in the big, and and I think everybody wins when we remove our egos and remove our ears. I think so. I'm just here to listen and here to learn.

SPEAKER_01: 22:02

That's right. And I you know what a great point. Just put your ego at the door before you walk in, and just be open to learning from everyone. Um and we've all you know, they they say it a lot here that you know we've all got the same issues, problems, and um or somebody's solved that pain point before. So you're going to learn from each other, and so talking about and being honest about what your challenges are, what's worked for you, what hasn't, I think all of those things can give bring so much power. And even if that's even if you're not getting, you know, some gold nugget from a from a speaker, you might have got your gold nugget from the person sitting next to you or the person you had dinner with.

SPEAKER_00: 22:43

Absolutely, absolutely, and I think that is a good place for us to end. Plenty of nuggets, plenty of things. Obviously, we're talking how you can connect in a conference, and one way you could do is by jumping on a plane for a number of hours and coming to Boracai. Uh, if you're in the Toa world, I'd highly recommend having a look at when the next Toa Toa Um is gonna be. And there are plenty of other opportunities out there as well. Yeah, um, and and if needs be, just do it yourself. Jump on a plane, go away, put your own little mini conference of learning and bits and pieces, find the books, get the podcast, and do it somewhere away from where you normally do it. Yeah, that's my final tip. I love it. You're amazing.

SPEAKER_01: 23:19

Um, Andrew, I've enjoyed spending the time with you.

SPEAKER_00: 23:22

Excellent. I'm looking forward to the rest of uh the conference here or the learnings, and um yeah, keep your ears out, uh, listeners, for what's to come around the summary of what's happening here at TovCon and more.

SPEAKER_01: 23:30

Absolutely. Bye.

SPEAKER_00: 23:40

Wasn't that a fun adventure, my friends? Thank you so much so incredibly much for hanging out with us today. Ali, you've been amazing. Andrew, you've been alright. How good is it to be able to have adventures together?

SPEAKER_01: 23:52

It so is, and you know what? Keep following us. We are all over the socials at accounting adventures. Uh, check us out on the website, give us a bit of a like. You know how much we love that stuff.

SPEAKER_00: 24:03

The best thing about the adventure is the people that we do it with. So thank you so much for listening. Thank you so much for hanging out with us. And please bring all the ideas in we can't wait to share more cool adventures with you.

SPEAKER_01: 24:16

We love you guys.

SPEAKER_00: 24:28

We have very high expectations. Always on you. I always feel I always feel like um we've got to get this right alive, like the podcast it makes or breaks the episode, I have to tell you. Yeah. It's like, well the podcast might fail if I don't tell this joke well. I know. And we we could just be ruined reputationally.

SPEAKER_01: 24:49

Yeah, well, you know, everything kinda rests on it, so I hope you're feeling the pressure.

SPEAKER_00: 24:54

Let's be honest, I do all the heavy lifting, don't know, the joking.

SPEAKER_01: 24:56

Yeah, a hundred percent. You like I it's not like it's like I'm not even here. Yeah. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 25:04

I have been recording all of that, which I look forward to gathering later.