Rambles and Shambles with Ana
Rambles and Shambles with Ana is a podcast exploring work, leadership, and everything that doesn’t fit on a LinkedIn profile. Relaxed conversations about careers, how people ended up where they are, and what’s shaped them along the way. It’s for people who are curious about how personal stories unfold, and who knows, you might have a few reflective moments yourself.
Rambles and Shambles with Ana
EP022 - Living Room Shows, Big Ideas and Staying Creative
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Alana was the kid making up shows, choreographing dances and convincing her family to sit through her Hilary Duff performances. These days she works in marketing, so the creative side is still getting plenty of use.
We talk about studying journalism, travelling solo after uni, starting her first full-time job in an industry she knew nothing about, and learning quickly by asking a lot of questions. We also talk customer service, why people sometimes tell complete strangers their life stories, dealing with the occasional difficult customer, and what people often misunderstand about working in marketing.
Yellow. This is rambles and shambles with Anna. Today I'm sitting with Alana. I've known her for most of my life. She lived down the street from me, and we used to run to the bus together, usually yelling, This is a bus stop. When the driver looked like they were about to keep going. But before we get distracted by that, we already got distracted by that. What was your favorite thing to do as a kid?
SPEAKER_02Wow, I mean, thank you for that brief trip down memory lane, Anna, because um I totally forgot about that. I do remember missing the bus on multiple occasions with you. But I was very imaginative. I would make up plays and dances and choreographies and things to like just random music that I that I liked. Um so I think I certainly was a bit of a creative from a young age. I didn't really like playing with toys and things like that. My sister would always want to play with me and I just had no interest. But if I had the option of, you know, creating choreography to some Broadway show or something, then I would take that opportunity and run with it.
SPEAKER_01Did anyone ever get to witness these said plays?
SPEAKER_02Uh yes, my family. Mostly my family. And for shows. Four shows. I would also get like quite influenced by TV shows or movies and things that I saw. So I got obsessed with Hillary Duff and Lizzie Maguire, and I thought that I would be a singer. So after watching one of her movies, I got my parents to sit down in our lounge room and I put on her CD and I plugged in a microphone and I sung to them. And it was more like a, hey, I think you should put me into singing lessons because I'm going to be an amazing singer just like Hilary Duff. Yeah, that didn't actually turn out, but you know, I did force them into that and they didn't ask for it. But yeah.
SPEAKER_01I feel like that's a theme that continues on.
SPEAKER_02It is, yes. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01When you reflect back, what did adults misunderstand about you when you were younger, other than your singing abilities, obviously?
SPEAKER_02That's a good one. I've actually never really thought about that. I think if you asked my parents and people who were the adults in the room in general as I was growing up, they would always say that I was always daydreaming. Um so in terms of misunderstanding, maybe they thought that I wasn't like catching on to things quick enough. Um, but generally speaking, I was quite good at school and all these sorts of things, but I think I was just always somewhere else. I was never just like in reality, I was just thinking and plotting like what is my future gonna look like? What what's what's out there? Um yeah. So in in high school, what were your kind of favourite subjects and things? In high school, history and English were definitely my favourites. I think anything that was heavily like writing, research, thinking based, they were my favourite subjects. Recently, my parents did like a massive clean out of their study, and they basically got a whole bunch of my old school reports and my sisters, and they shipped us home with our own sets of reports from the last, you know, from our 12 years at school. And I've had the chance to read back through some of them and reading them now as an adult and knowing how I am and you know what I do like and what I don't like. Those patterns were kind of always there. So even in, you know, grade six, there was a big emphasis on, you know, my research abilities. I loved researching. I wanted to learn about anything, whatever subject, you know, came across our desk. And I remember in grade six we had like a free, free project, you know, you could just pick any subject. And I, at the age of whatever however old you are in grade six, I wanted to learn about World War II and the Holocaust. Don't I don't know why, but there was just something about that that caught my eye because I was somehow interested in history at that age. And then I pretty I like I went pretty hard with the research in that clearly, and then that carried through to high school, so history was always one of my favourite subjects. I even had electives when I got to uni and I chose history subjects. English, that was just always something that I enjoyed. I think because of that fantasy aspect and reading and words and writing and all that sort of stuff, you know, not to say that I was any good to begin with, but um certainly, you know, built on that. Um, but yeah, I always enjoyed the English and history side of things.
SPEAKER_01Where do you think your love for writing and creating came from?
SPEAKER_02I don't know. I mean, I'd like to think it is because of the exposure that I had. Admittedly, yes, I did watch a lot of TV and movies and things growing up. On school holidays, we're at our Bubba's house for most of the time, and all we had to do was, you know, watch TV and alright, learn some cooking and stuff with, you know, Bubba on the side. But I don't know, the the fantasy worlds and seeing things come to life, I suppose, on on screen always kind of intrigued me when it comes to storytelling and and writing and all that sort of stuff. And also, also, I would probably attribute being part of Lador, the Croatian Cultural Association, Geelong. Is that even the full what is it? It's a folklore group. It's a folklore group, yes. Sorry for anyone listening that I'm completely butchered that performing, playing a character that for me, as soon as I get on stage, I'm like a different person and I love it. Because you can see the joy in people's, you know, faces, and and I suppose that's the same kind of feeling I get when I do write something, whether it's fiction or you know, something personal to me, um, and then getting that response back.
SPEAKER_01Do you find it easier to express things through writing than saying them out loud?
SPEAKER_02100%. You can probably tell by the way that I'm there's a lot of hand movements, guys.
SPEAKER_01There's a lot of hand movements.
SPEAKER_02Um I've always kind of said that I'm I'm far more articulate through words than I am speaking, I think because I all like I constantly have a million things going through my mind. So trying to like work through that and then say it um makes it a little bit harder. But I mean, if you get me talking about real housewives or something, I'll like I can speak pretty um eloquently on that. Everyone, yeah, everyone. Um but yeah, I I find it a lot easier to communicate, I think, through words naturally.
SPEAKER_01Do you think you create more when things are going well and you feel good or more when something's bothering you?
SPEAKER_02It kind of goes both ways. I think creating anything from personal experience is always the easiest because you've got something real, something tangible to to pull from and reflect on and describe exactly how you're feeling at that moment, how somebody else might be feeling. Um, you yeah, you have that real life experience to pull from. I think the hardest thing is just actually putting it on paper. I'm the biggest procrastinator when it comes to that stuff. If I'm doing it for myself, I will like just go over and over in my head why I shouldn't do it, why I should do it. It could potentially help someone over here, but oh, but then this person down the street that you grew up with is gonna see exactly what it is that you think about and you know they're gonna judge you, you know, like all that sort of all that sort of stuff, kind of a fear of being seen, I suppose. Um so in theory, everything that I'm saying is like I believe in it, but actually putting it to to practice can be a little bit hard for me.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, it's hard. Like, I get the weirdest emails about my podcast. Really? Why didn't you do this? Why didn't you say that? I was like, well, you're welcome to come and join me one day if you would like to. Please take a seat. Take a seat on this very couch. Um and it's hard because especially when you put something out there now, it's kind of there forever. Digital footprint, it's always there. So you went to university. You did study something. So you loved history and English, and then what did you end up doing at uni?
SPEAKER_02I ended up studying a Bachelor of Journalism, which I absolutely loved as a degree and studying. It was a three-year course, but I guess the thing that I wasn't expecting when I was at uni was during the course from all of our tutors and lecturers and whatnot. It was a really strange period of time for journalism, the industry as generally speaking. So it was very negative in terms of you'll never find a job, it's dire out there. You like it was it kind of felt very dire. And I I personally took that on because I was like, well, how am I ever gonna get a job in this industry? You know, if they're sacking people left, right, and center, redundancies, you know, nobody's reading, real journalism doesn't exist anymore. So I think in a way I kind of adopted that. But um, that being said, the course itself was great. I learned so much. I think it's it certainly made me a lot more media literate than a lot of people I know now and a lot of people out there at the moment being able to see through the bullshit and what certain media monopolies out there want you to see and hear and believe and think. So their skills that I think are life skills that I'm forever grateful for and take into everything that I do now. Like a lot, a lot of transferable skills. Like, yes, right now I'm not working in that industry. Would I like to? Yeah, in some like capacity, whether it's I mean, I was never gonna be a hard-hitting journalist. Let me let me tell you, like, I'm not that kind of on the front lines in, you know, war-torn areas. That that that that was never for me. I was more like sports. I was like celebrities, like, you know, and that was the worst part because you'd have to do those stupid, like first day of class, you know, get to know me. And you know, everyone would go around in the circle and be like, I want to work in Iraq and I want to do on the front lines here. And and I'm just like, I just want to interview like celebrities on the red carpet, you know. Like that that was literally it, and I was so embarrassed to say that. But I was like one of thirty in that, you know, in that class, that particular class. I was like, can hell, how embarrassing. But for me, that's like that's what I cared about.
SPEAKER_01Unless you're honest, eh?
SPEAKER_02I wasn't gonna lie. Like, God, if I had to go out to Gaza right now and be mucked, you know? Like we'll research after. World War II, we'll research after it's happened, not during the yes, and I have such respect for people in that industry who are so committed to that. But yeah, for me personally, that that was just not the kind of route that I wanted to go down.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, under understood. I think I really misunderstood media marketing a lot, especially when you're talking about you know the university and transferable skills. I just remember thinking, oh, marketing doesn't work on me until you're like hungry one day, and then all of a sudden you feel like akin to Bueno, and you're like, why do I feel like akin to Bueno? Yeah. It's because I saw it on you know 100%. It's just it's fascinating. Yeah. And then I was like, that's it. I'm not watching TV anymore because I'll be buying all the snacks. Yeah. Yeah, it's yeah, it is really interesting.
SPEAKER_02I thought the same thing, like marketing and journalism and you know, just media comms, I would see them as like two different things. But I am a marketer's dream because I will eat that shit up. Like if you send me something that's gonna like plump your face or I don't know, like blow wave your hair, easy, I will I will buy it. Like in COVID, it was the worst because there was nothing else to do. So I the amount of shit that I accumulated over that time, it's yeah, should be studied.
SPEAKER_01Um you should do a you should do a podcast with all the random crap that I have.
SPEAKER_02We should. A lot of it I have like given away of like I don't use this. I think I use this once or twice. But um, yes, it's definitely influential and it works.
SPEAKER_01So you finished uni then?
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_01Um, everyone else went to Iraq.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_01And where did you go?
SPEAKER_02Where did I go? Um, I actually ended up going on a gap year. I say gap yeah. I f I finished my uni degree, then I decided that I wanted to go in trouble, ended up booking a Antiqui tour, went by myself, obviously met a lot of other people while I was there. Surprise, surprise, went to Russia and Scandinavia because I like the history. Um I was like, you know, the Bolsheviks and the Yeah, the Romanovs, all that, all that fun stuff. Um that's what took me to that part of the world. Certainly wasn't the cuisine.
SPEAKER_01But you don't like goats, anyway.
SPEAKER_02Um highlight, really still highlight of my life, you know, traveling and um going overseas and going to places that probably would never go back to again. Um so we're kind of glad I did that. That was like now 10 years ago, now that I think about it. And that was really eye-opening because I thought I should do this and I can do this. I think a lot of people around me were like, oh, that's not safe, you know, traveling on your own. And I was like, I mean, how else are you gonna see the world? Like, I'm just gonna sit around here and you know, wait for other people to join me. Like, I made friends. It was very easy to make friends on a, you know, a tour like that. At the end of it, once the actual Kantiki finished, I ended up doing two weeks solo properly, like on my own. That to me was like so rewarding. And if I think back now, I'll I mean I'd love to do it again if I could. It was, yeah, a fantastic experience, and I'll will never ever ever regret that. It was great. If and if you can, that would be my like one one tip in life. Travel solo, if you can.
SPEAKER_01For sure. There's actually nothing better. There's nothing.
SPEAKER_02I mean, you would know. Yeah. I I don't know. You just see the world differently, and I think it also forces you out of your comfort zone. Like you also gotta put yourself out there and it forces you to, and I'm and I'm glad it did.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely love that.
SPEAKER_02So that's what I did post uni.
SPEAKER_01So then after the world tour and the Romanovs damn Euraskuten. Anyway, um after all of that, well, how did you settle into your first like fully fledged adult job?
SPEAKER_02My first fully fledged adult job. So I was actually approached by my cousins who own GTMB here in Geelong, and they were looking for a receptionist, front of house, and they thought, wow, you'd be really good at this. You're like confident with people. You don't know the industry, you don't know anything about building and tiles and tapware and all that sort of fun stuff, but you'll figure it out. Oh. And I was like, okay, when it was first presented to me, I was like, this is exciting, like, wait, full-time job. And then I kind of didn't even think about the fact that I had no idea about the industry itself. I just thought, well, I'll just be picking up phones, taking messages, passing it on. Like, how hard can it be? I know when I tell you that first full day of work, nine till five, I came home and I said, How do people do this? I need a nap. I was used to working split shifts at the pub, working, you know, lunch, coming home, having a quick nap, and then going. I was like, this is too much for me. How do people work full-time? Like with no break, no half an hour lunch break. Is that it? Like, are you for real? Anyway, it got I got used to it very quickly, but I thought, this is impossible. How am I going to survive this? And I'll at this point, I think I was like 22, 23. Like, you know, still pretty, you know, green in life in general in early 20s. And then I started dreaming about the phone. Like the phone was ringing because the amount of phone calls that came through, and it was like, oh my god, I'm traumatized. I was hearing the phone ring even when it wasn't ringing. So yeah, that was my first impression of full-time work. But I think working within a small business in general is a great way just to get exposure to really everything. Dealing with people, obviously, over time I very quickly, you know, understood the ins and outs of the industry and of the things that I was selling, and I could actually like confidently take an inquiry over the phone and say yes or no, or whatever it was that I needed to um to answer. So that came to me very quickly. I think also the other thing that I was obsessed with, and I took this upon myself, that research brain came back on again. And I would spend any free time that I had researching our, you know, brands and things, just so that I would know what it was that I was talking about. So, you know, trying to fill up the time where I could.
SPEAKER_01So working in customs service does mean that you see people when they're impatient, stressed, on the phone, having a bad day. What have you learned from seeing that side of people?
SPEAKER_02I think being in the industry that I am in, particularly building, renovating, you do see people at a much more of a vulnerable state than they would be normally. Because, you know, there's a lot at stake when you're building or renovating. But your timelines, your budget, finances, all these things, the decisions that you're making aren't just like just slap some paint on the wall. It's a lot more permanent. So um I think when people are in a position where they need to make informed decisions, they're going to take the time and they also might question absolutely everything that you, you know, put forward to them because they want to make sure that it is 100%, you know, what they want because they're gonna have to live with it for quite a long time. Like you don't just renovate and then renovate in two years' time or build or you know, it's a much longer, drawn-out process. So you want longevity out of the things that you um select. So I think when it comes to dealing with people in that phase, you have to be open and empathetic to where they're at because it is quite stressful and overwhelming, especially walking into an environment like our showroom because there's so much going on. Um, it's very easy to get confused, distracted. I don't know what the hell I'm doing, help. So then it's that's our job, I suppose. Sorry, I just tuck a phone on. Okay. That's our job to kind of calm them down and bring them back to center and be like, okay, let's focus on what's actually important. Having an element of empathy, absolutely, and understanding where they're at is the key to a positive experience with a customer or someone who is on that journey.
SPEAKER_01Have you ever had a customer who's come in super stressed trying to pick something and you come to answer the questions and they see that you're younger, maybe less experienced, and they're like, no, I want someone who can actually help me. Has that ever happened?
SPEAKER_02Oh yes. I can't count how many times that's happened. Unfortunately, I think being young, especially at the time when I was on front of house, literally what whatever the question was, I would answer it like I had been trained to answer said question. But sometimes that just wasn't enough. And oftentimes the main perpetrators of those interactions would be older men, uh builders, particularly, people in the industry or just you know, customers, they would demand to s to speak to brother men, like who have you got out in the warehouse or you know, and to my delight, when the answer would come out in the exact same way that I said it, and they would take that the man's, you know, answer as Bible, I'd be you know, like deep down you're seething, you're like, I literally just told you exactly what you wanted to hear. But because I'm young and I'm a woman in that industry, yeah, you know, it kind of didn't translate. So you kind of build a little bit of a thick skin as well over that. But it was nice to hear that the answer that I gave originally would be repeated back. Unfortunately, that's just kind of how we had to deal with those situations.
SPEAKER_01How did you learn to develop a thick skin and not just let it fully destroy your confidence and kind of just drop it all?
SPEAKER_02I j to be honest, I just asked as many questions as I could of any rep, my colleagues, people around me to know that when these questions come to me, that I have a whole like rolodex of you know, of responses and his confirmation of this and this and this. Research queen. Research research and asking questions, and I don't care how many times I ask the question, give me a different way to explain it as well. Because sometimes people also don't take it in the same way, so you've got to find other ways to explain.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, for sure. People in other industries might experience that maybe five times a year, you're experiencing it possibly five times a day. Correct. Right? It's a very steep learning curve. Yeah, it is. It is. I guess on the flip side, when you've got customers coming, you've said, you know, very vulnerable, they're picking their things. Some customers might tell you their whole life story within a few minutes. Why do you think people open up in that way to strangers when they're picking out their tiles? Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, so interesting, and you'd be surprised how how often it happens. Almost every interaction, I don't know, maybe it is also a personal thing with me, because just general strangers do happen to um tell their personal life stories even just through simple interactions with me sometimes. I might just have like I might just be a very open person. It's the Hillary Duff smile. It is the Hillary Duff smile, yes, I'll take that. Um I for me personally, I take the time to listen. Like sometimes people do just want to be heard and have someone to talk to, whether it's to vent or to the other week I just had um this lovely, like elderly couple. Uh, they always have the best, the best things. I'm like, oh my god, how how is this even possible? I was helping them with a subway tile that they really wanted this very specific colour, and it was going to be this specific design because she was designing it for to future proof because they're getting older in age and they need to have like ledges and things in there, and they wanted it all tiled and beautiful. And I found this one and she wanted to borrow it. I said, that is absolutely fine. We like to have these back within a couple of days just because you know we need them back so other customers can see and you know can loan them out if they want to. She goes, Oh, I won't be able to come at least for a week, unfortunately, because um my mother's 103 and we're having a celebration. Um, and I said, sorry, 103? Tell me more about your mum. Like I just didn't care. Literally, and you kind of got you get sidetracked a little bit because you know, okay, yeah, we're talking about this tile and you're, you know, you want to redo this bathroom, which is great, but also tell me about your mum. And that was all great. And then when I followed up to see how she went with the tile, and and then I asked her, how was your mum's birthday? She goes, Oh, you remembered. I said, How could I forget a hundred and three, you know? It's those little things that people do appreciate when you do take the time just just to listen, even though it might not be like entirely related to the job itself, but if you know exactly where that person is at in the moment that they're right in front of you, it kind of makes it a little bit easier to build that rapport and get them to trust you as well. Um and then come back. Yeah, which is what you want.
SPEAKER_01In customer service, you're pretty much expected to stay polite. Where do you think politeness should end and protecting yourself should kind of begin?
SPEAKER_02I think I've only kind of been put to that point maybe once or twice in my customer service. I think I've I'd experience it a lot more in hospitality, I must admit. But I think the minute it stops being about the product or the service, that's when you know, okay, you you you've taken it a step too far. I've not been afraid to tell someone, it's usually over the phone. I haven't really had it face to face. I don't appreciate the way that you're speaking to me.
SPEAKER_01Sorry, listeners, for that, that was quite stern.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, quite stern. Um something along those lines, or I can see that we're not getting anywhere here, um, or you, you know, your tone is not appreciated. I'm going to hang up the phone and give you a moment to collect your thoughts and then you can call me back. Or something along those lines, just to let people know that that is not okay. And I think there's definitely been a kind of a rise in, I don't know, people a lot more expectant and demanding of the most minute things.
SPEAKER_01Well, you see those signs up everywhere that are like don't yell at the customers. So I haven't seen those before. Now they're everywhere. There must be a rise in that.
SPEAKER_02No, there has been. And I can say with our company has been around for 20 years, and it wasn't until last year that we had to put up one of those signs. We've never ever had to do that. And, you know, I'm kind of more now in the back end of things, so I don't I'm not entirely customer-facing, and I know that our team who's on the floor, our sales team, do cop it a lot, and it's just honestly, it blows my mind how some people don't actually see the way that they are conducting themselves and don't see how that's not on. So that's kind of something that takes a lot to deal with and get over with. You can internalize it a lot as well.
SPEAKER_01And what is it that you now do in the back?
SPEAKER_02What is it that I now do in the back? In the back. For the last five years or so, I've been working with marketing department, which we have in-house. Originally, when I first started out on the floor, then getting into sales, I would dabble in little kind of marketing things that we'd do with our creative director, who is also my cousin. Shout out to you, Melinda. Um, and owner of the business. Um, so whenever any kind of, you know, like an article that we had to put together or, you know, paid advertising, things like that, I kind of got involved in that way. I think because as well, I was quite creatively inclined. Wanted to get my hands on all of that fun stuff. So had exposure then, and then now the last five years have been in marketing roles.
SPEAKER_01I love the pictures that you take, very lovely.
SPEAKER_02Oh yes, yes. No, it look, it is it is pretty fun. Like when you think about the subject matter of what it is that we're selling and the spaces and experiences we help our customers create, really, it is like the best job in the world. When you think about it, you get to be with people on their journey as they're picking all the items, you know, all the tiles, all the tapware, timber flooring, all of that fun stuff, which I think is the best part of building and designing a house. You it you might have started that selection two years ago and then you follow along and then you see finally, you know, the the end result. It's it's pretty amazing. It's cool that we get to be involved in that.
SPEAKER_01She's beaming, absolutely beaming about tapware.
SPEAKER_02Oh, I know. Oh my god, who would have thought? Who would have thought? And then I married a builder.
SPEAKER_01Full circle. Full circle. Now build me this one.
SPEAKER_02Yes, yes. Um and unfortunately we both think that we're better than the other at design. So yeah, that doesn't work. But anyway, we do all right. Um stakeholder management snook. Yes, all of that. All of that. But yeah, I suppose the the main thing that I'm kind of most proud of when it comes to my role there is the building of like the brand and the brand voice, which kind of came naturally to me with my writing background. And it was fun to be able to start injecting all of that into everything that that we do, and it's kind of stayed pretty consistent. You know, we're not like a stuffy kind of I mean, we're not stuffy like a large corporation that's you know, um large, large. Um but I don't know, we're kind of cool, fun. We do things our own way, we set the trends. Yeah, trends. Like we listen to our customers. But we're not here to push anything on you, like that I can say wholeheartedly. So building that energy, like our energy as a young, cool, fun team and business, and putting that into words and everything that we put out in the world is yeah, pretty cool.
SPEAKER_01What do you think is something leaders often underestimate about marketing type work?
SPEAKER_02I think the one thing that most business owners and leaders misunderstand is that there are multiple banners under marketing that work together. For example, it's very easy for people to think that marketing is just social media, just posting on Instagram and TikTok, but it's actually not that. It's a lot more. But then you also have your website, e-commerce, so your management of your products on there. You've also got internal and external communications, your content team, photographers, digital marketing, like advertising, all that. Most of the time, people think that like a single person can do that. And it's like so impossible.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the hand up. I thought that was like a lot of those things are the same thing, just with different names, but they're not.
SPEAKER_02Yes, yes. And it's very easy, like because it all comes under the same banner of, you know, marketing, and it's impossible to expect a single person to do that. Obviously, depending on how big you're, you know. Oh, of course, yeah. And if it's a startup or whatever it is, you know, small business, all right, you can find ways to like there's AI and stuff out there. Don't get me started on AI, but I don't know whether that really answered your question, but that would be the main I think that would be the main gripe, because then you, as the the leader of your small internal team, it's a matter of, okay, how do we delegate and make sure that we're doing absolutely everything that the business needs? And also knowing when to put your hand up and say, hey, I think we might need a consultant to come in or a freelancer or outsource that work, know what you can hone in on and do internally, what you can own, because it can also be very hard to then explain to a freelancer, oh, this is like to explain your whole identity, you know, as a business, as a brand, as your voice, you know, all that sort of stuff. Especially when you're dealing with technical items like tiles, tap where talking about a toilet, like not all freelancers will know the intricacies of a tornado flush versus a room, you know? I like that. These are the things that, you know, we have to do. And then if it is something that's created by AI or, you know, you can tell when it's just Oh, it's so bad. It's so bad. But yeah, where you can, great internal teams, awesome. But knowing when to put your hand up and get help outside is also great.
SPEAKER_01Do you think the version of you at work is different from the version of you who loves to write and create, or do you get to bring your whole self to work? That's a great question.
SPEAKER_02I think I get to bring my whole self to work. Like I mentioned before, I'm a very outgoing, energetic person. So when I get presented with challenges, new customers, you know, if I have the pleasure of helping people on the floor now, even though I don't do it as often, I do take that on like with real gusto. I'm not gonna lie. I get very excited being back in that environment and helping people discover what it is that they like, what all the items that are gonna come together and help them get their dream space. And I kind of sit back, I'm like, oh yeah, I'm good at this. I I know what I'm talking about and I feel confident in, you know, the advice that I've given them. Again, I've just I've just got that bubbly energy. I I I don't hide, I don't hide away. I am who I am and I'll tell you exactly what I think. Um, even if a customer asks my opinion on something, if I like something, and if I genuinely don't like it, I personally don't like it. It is not to my taste, but I can see that you like it and it works in with the look that you're going for. So you should go go with it. And sometimes my honesty, I would say most of the time, my honesty in those instances is received really well because you're like, okay, well, I can trust you. You're not bullshitting. It's not like you know, you're going in soupray and you're trying on uh some haltern top that you know like looks like absolute shit on you, but the sales assistant is like, oh my god, babe, you look amazing. But you know deep down that you don't. Like, I know everyone needs that like confidence boost every now and again, but I'm not I'm not the bullshitter. Yeah, I will tell you the truth. I will be honest with you. I think again, there's another layer of like investment because in the things that we're dealing with, they're costly and they need to last for a long time and you need to like it for a long time. So, you know, I'm gonna tell you exactly what I think. No, like no holds barred, but yeah, I think who I am outside of work and at work are pretty much the same person. I wish I could have a little bit more time to be more creative, but that's you know, that's on me. I've got to carve out those hours that time to be able to do that.
SPEAKER_01Is there something that you've been putting off because of time?
SPEAKER_02100%. 100%. I I've always wanted to write a book. I want to build on my own my own blog. I started a Substack like two years ago called The Lazy Raconteur. Lazy Storyteller, in other words, I've only written two articles. Like two is better than none, two is better than none. In that time, I've only published two. I have so many drafts.
SPEAKER_01Oh my god, just publish them. Really go home and just go conversation.
SPEAKER_02I know, I know, and I'm my own worst enemy. Things like that, I need like it all comes back, I think, a little bit to that fear of being seen. That's me and my internal shit that I need to deal with. But I know I just need to put it out there. So doing that and building up a bit more of a name for myself, I suppose. And then eventually, yeah, working on this book, getting my idea out of my head and on paper would be fantastic.
SPEAKER_00I love that. Thank you so much for your time today, Alana. Thank you for your. I really enjoyed that. I shall now shake your hand and you shall go publish those instances. Oh, yes, thank you.