I'm Shivani Gupta, and welcome to the Ask Shivani podcast. I believe that one of the best presents that you can give yourself is time to be able to sit down and ask yourself some questions. I believe that the quality of the question that you ask yourself will determine the quality of your life.

Welcome to the AskShivani podcast. I am so so excited about having Rebecca Saunders on today she has a very long CV, let me tell you a little bit about her. She is described by her clients as a video ninja. She is a sought-after video strategist who builds brands with impactful video and live virtual events. At the age of 22. Just pretty young, she packed a small bag and booked a one-way ticket to Sydney with a laptop and only $500 in her pocket. And she boarded a plane and she had a dream of living in Australia and building her own company to sponsor herself to stay here. And fast forward a decade now she's got a global production company. She's built a purposeful film studio in Sydney, where she produces live virtual events and educational content she is doing and her signature program the video accelerator is going amazing that she'll find out a little bit more about and I have heard so many different people who have worked with Rebecca and rave about her welcome, Rebecca.

Rebecca Saunders

Thank you so much. What an introduction. Lovely to here.

Shivani Gupta

I love that. And look, I know that when we do the intro that tell us a little bit about you. But I'm always fascinated Rebecca about people's highlights and the lowlights you know, the big things that have happened that have made you super successful, but the big things that have been super challenging that have gotten you to where you've got to. So, tell us about some of those.

Rebecca Saunders

Oh, okay, I think the probably the biggest challenging thing. For me, the biggest one was when I moved to Australia, I hadn't I didn't know anyone, right? Didn't know anyone didn't really know what I wanted to do, had my degree and was like, how do I navigate this visa system to stay in the country? What do I need to do? How does this work? And so, I probably after about a year of trying to find a job somewhere, it was very clear that I'm really not that employable. Entrepreneurs very rarely are and decided how to go about building my own business.

So, I guess the challenging thing there for me wasn't just building the business as an entrepreneur, it was building the business with what I call like the golden shackles of the visa system. So, for me, I couldn't just do all the things like a normal entrepreneur would go and do everything until they could employ people. I had to employ people to do the jobs, I couldn't do legally, because of my visa and pay them properly. I also had to pay myself properly from day one. So, I guess in a way, you've kind of got that does that mythical thing really exists where you can start a business and pay yourself properly from scratch from the get go? If your backs against the wall? 100%? Yes, you can. And I'm very proud of the fact that I was able to, to build the business, I got LinkedIn as my first client managed to, you know, have a team of four or five of us and paid us all from the get go award rate raises wages, which was no mean feat.

So, I think that's gonna be my biggest challenge. The second to that has obviously been the growth of technology. What a decade ago was seen as something that was very hard to obtain, as in, you know, making videos, making them look fantastic, has become something that people with the right knowledge can do with the phone in their pocket. And so, the over the last decade, it's been very interesting to navigate how you go from high performing professionals, which we still are in areas of our business, how do we then navigate that to teach and educate business owners how to have those interactions with freelancers or train their teams up so that they don't get burned always time, and then take that even further and teach them how to do it themselves. And I think that's been a highlight and a challenging time for me because it is, it has been a lot of fun. And as someone that doesn't actually use the big cameras myself, being able to equip business owners, content creators with the tools to do it themselves, making it easy and stress free has just been incredibly rewarding for me.

Shivani Gupta

That's, that's incredible. I love that. I mean, there's so much packed in that little piece. And, you know, I'm going oh, my God, I've got my brain going off about wanting to know about how did you get LinkedIn as a first client and all those other things around by? And because this probably leads me on to my next question that you know, there's so many challenges that come in, obviously, as an entrepreneur and a business as a businesswoman. You have those now, let's not even start with COVID and all those challenges, that it's broad, but also some gifts that it's brought with it. But some people attack challenges when those challenges come in, like whether they're small, medium, or large. People attack those challenges in a particular way. Do you have a process, or a mindset of what do you do when stuff comes your way, whether it was coming on a plane and having to work out how you were going to get your visa to running your business? I know you're about to get married shortly and all the challenges that would have come around that and organizing things. Tell us a little bit about the audience about how you tackle your challenges. And whether you have, you know, Rebecca's way of kind of dealing with them.

Rebecca Saunders

Yeah, that's an interesting one. Because, I think I've got a bit of an abnormality in the fact that I don't have that little voice on my shoulder that goes, oh, I really want to do that. I'm not sure like, hmm, that could go wrong. Or what if this happens at that? Very, very, very, very rarely, and I'm talking once or twice a year will rear its ugly head. For me, it's not an everyday thing. So, I'm always going to find a solution. I know that it's always, I've never worked in a corporate environment, or really worked for other people. So, where that has really benefited me is I don't have any preconceived conceptions of how I should tackle a problem. So, to me, it's, well, what does this look like it could be when we made our feature film, back in 2018, we had to get, you know, look for funding and reach out to the large production teams to support us in getting this film out into the world. And the traditional channels of going up through the ranks through assistants to get to the relevant people wasn't working for the team involved. I just went to LinkedIn and sent them a message. And half of these people were like, well, we've actually loved having a conversation with you, you know, so whilst I'm not saying avoid all the, you know, rules and hierarchies in place to reach these high-tech people, they are at the end of the day, just human. And so, for me, tackling that problem was relatively simple, because it was an easy thing for me to talk to them about. And so, I think that that, for me, has stood me in very good stead to tackle problems.

On the flip side of that, though, there are times where you just go, what the hell am I doing, and just allow yourself to sit in a crumbled heap for like, a day, maybe if the feelings are there. Because you've got to let the feelings out. Otherwise, they're just gonna percolate. So, I'm a big fan of having little pity parties, but putting time limits on that pity party. So that that's it's done. It's dusted, I've acknowledged it, we're done. We're moving on with solving the problem.

Shivani Gupta

I love that, you know, don't avoid the pity party, we just put a timeframe on it, that's great. Because otherwise, we sort of suppress our emotions in terms of, you know, working on what we do, and Rebecca with your business, but also your personal life, tell us what some of your future aspirations are, what do you. And sometimes people have these really long-term views on what they want to do 20 3050. Other times people go, Look, I'm just looking at the next six or 12 months. Whatever time frame you want to play with, tell, tell our audience a little bit about what your future aspirations are, where you want to take certain things, what you might want to do personally as well.

Rebecca Saunders

Yeah, so personally speaking, I'll go personally first, obviously, you mentioned we're getting married in a couple of weeks. So, depending on when this episode drops, I will either be married, getting married, or it's relatively recent. So that's obviously taking up a lot of time and has done over the last year, it's been three times in the making of planning. Thank you, COVID, and bushfires of 2019. So, for me, that's the next stage. And I've got huge aspirations to have what I'm calling a country estate. Now as we're not talking Downton Abbey sighs let's be realistic, far from it. But having that country space, having the house that I can entertain in, I am a huge entertainer, if you follow me on Instagram, you'll see that I have business posts during the day and in the evening, at weekends. It's a whole lot of food, because I love doing it. So, for me, the long-term space is had somewhere that I can, I can maybe host retreats, other people can come and host retreats. But for me, it's about having a full busy home. That could be a business Avenue. I mean, let's be honest, all of us entrepreneurs, look at what we can monetize in every area of our lives, whether it's personal or business. So that for me is there. In a couple of years’ time. I do want to take a year off and travel Australia. I say take a year off. We can work anywhere, right? Take the laptop off we go. So well. We'll see how that goes. But I would definitely hit the road for a period of time, which I'm excited about.

Business wise you mentioned it in the intro. The video accelerator is where it's at for me. At the moment it's had several iterations. I've gone from running it as a six-week program, and it's now molding for the next launch in June. Molding into a monthly basis membership, where you get full access to that library of content. And then once a month have access to me once a month have access to my video ninjas for technical questions. And the reason I've changed that is because video can be really scary to some people. And they take time to learn it. On the flip side, the technology is always changing, and the need for video in a business is always changing. And so, whilst the six-week process has previously worked great for someone that has a course to make, or knows they want to batch create a series of videos, and then they're done. The next iteration of this is very much about supporting that journey, having it at a price point that business owners inside other masterminds who are doing big business stuff, you know, all the marketing, or the business growth or the finance, the video accelerator just plugs into that just to support it. So that I'm really excited about because I can reach far more people. And my mission throughout all of the content we create has always been to have an impact on the world. And my impact is enabling other business owners to have their impact further with video. And I can definitely reach more people doing that virtually over the next six months, six years and beyond.

Shivani Gupta

Amazing, that's amazing. And I really loved how you blinked in your purpose, enabling others to do that, because, you know, video contents got more and more important in the last decade, but probably now more than ever, the importance of being able to access great content online, wherever you live, however you live. Yeah, it's become really important. Rebecca, what about leadership philosophies are the things that you kind of really work towards or work within? Or you're inspired by? What are some of the you know, the philosophies that you find that you, you know, weave into both your personal and your any work life?

Rebecca Saunders

Look, I think for me, the biggest element and it has taken a lot of personal growth has been to be the same person in business and at home. And what that has eventuated for me is open communication with my team, with my family, with my partner with clients, you know, there's no hidden agendas or hidden conversations. And to some people that may have come across as really quite blunt, or harsh, or to the point or whatever label you want to put on that. But to others, it's really refreshing to go, ah, we've just self this in 10 minutes, rather than an hour, this has been great. So, I think to have that open conversation and just be really true and honest to your values across the board is vital. Listening is always one of those big things taking the time to to listen and actually not interrupt in the conversation. That has been something that I'm sure a lot of leaders work on on a regular basis when they really just want to jump in and problem solve it. It's actually about listening, and what are the unspoken conversations? And how can we deep dive into that. So, I do like to put that time in.

And I think the final thing they have for me is not being not being the smartest person in the room. And I know that's an old cliche, but having the network and the conversations around you that go, whoa, that's really stretch my thinking, or, oh, I didn't think of it like that. And so really looking for and striving for being part of those groups are being part of those conversations in whichever form they turn up in, to be able to learn, be constantly learning and growing. And learning from people who have had, I'm going to say more years on the planet, but that's not necessarily correct. More years and more wisdom and things that you don't have wisdom and yet and learn from that. Which for me having conversations rather than reading is way more powerful because it sinks in more.

Shivani Gupta

Yeah, beautiful, beautiful. And when you're giving so much like at the moment, I know you've had to reorganize, you just said your wedding a number of times and you know, people are chopping and changing and things are happening. I know that when we were recording, we were going through floods and I had to say hey, you know, we've got a few leaks in our roof, nothing as catastrophic as unfortunately some of the people that have lost their homes, but you know, there's so many things that are moving, and you obviously need a lot of energy to deal with that. So, what are some of the things that you do for your own wellness like whether it's mentally or emotionally or physically? Do you have rituals? You know, some people do some things once a year some people do it daily, like what are some of your rituals and practices around to manage your wellness when you're going through so much chop and change as well?

Rebecca Saunders

Yeah, that's a really interesting one for me because all my rituals got shaken up and changed in COVID. As I'm sure a lot of people did. Mine has always been for a very long time to host the dinner party with friends once a month, because that, for me brings joy to me and I switch off cooking. I haven't got the technology around me I'm not tempted to scroll on my phone whilst watching TV cooking is my downtime, mentally, and the stimulation from conversation at the table brings me a lot of joy and a lot of energy. So, I know that those two things will bring me joy and energy. Regardless, recently was an exact response to that, you know, I organize most of it organized all the catering and food and people like sit down. But that's not me sitting down and just doing nothing that energy. And that for me is doing something that's tactile with my hands that I can, you know, or go walking or talking and making stuff. So, I know that the rest is important, I have a big sleep cycle that I do, it drives my other half nuts, I've timed the lights to go on and off at certain times and start to dip down when it's nighttime. And he's often found himself set in the dark. When I'm even not home, I mean the lights do that regardless.

So, putting in those little hacks has been super helpful. Spread spending time away, doing those retreats, changing up where you are, that, for me, was something I greatly missed in the last couple of years, it's something that I would go and do or learn to go and do by myself as well as with others, just to go in higher that house for a long weekend or the middle of the Business Week. And even if you want switching off completely working from a different space and just changing up that routine really helped me, I guess that's really it, it's noticing, I'm a big fan of integration rather than the balance of work in business. And I think I've got it down to a, let's say fine art now with the boundaries in place. But if once the boundaries drop, it's a slippery slope. So just being aware of them, watching that slide into burnout, it hit me last year and got to the end of the year went for stop doing some of those personal things which were really helping ground me right and keep that energy there.

So, I'm not a meditation person. I'm trying to be this year; we will see what happens as the 12 months goes on. I'm three months in and really not very far in that process. But constantly trying to find that involvement of what can I integrate into life to slow down and be more present has been something I've really learned in the last 18 months. I want to push forward. Now that life's getting busier again in the outside world.

Shivani Gupta

Yeah, beautiful. I love some of the sharings there of all the very systemized likes and the rituals there. That's, that's hilarious. But also, just saying that you're trialing that. And you know, it's interesting. I remember interviewing a meditation teacher and, and he said something beautiful. He said, There's no such thing as a bad meditation. Even when you're meditating in your hands all over the place, you've still sat down to meditate. That's pretty awesome. And it's great that you're constantly trying and learning and growing and doing new things. Rebecca, I want to know how people can find out more about you about the video accelerator. What are the best platforms to find you on? Where can people follow you and some of the work because there'll be a lot of people listening that go, Oh, I haven't really done that, or I need to redo that or, you know, get a bit better at that.

Rebecca Saunders

Yeah, for sure. So, the hub of activity for me, is that https://www.rebeccasaunders.com/, you can find out about all the different areas of my work there. So, the video accelerator, the online program, a membership we talked about earlier is there. It opens its doors in June, again for the year. I'm very excited by that. So go check that out. If not sign up for the waitlist so that you can be part of the launch week. Because launch week for me is a lot of fun. Webinars that I'm teaching active learning without any commitment from any of you at all. So just come and follow along on those and see me in practice.

I do a lot of that stuff from home like I'm doing now, in this podcast interview. Because I want people to see that yes, I've got a team at my disposal, but you can sound and look really great on video using very little equipment. So, I practice what I preach. I walk in the steps of clients from wherever they're at, and very much go about doing it from a space of take what you need. Now come back for the rest later. We're taking overwhelm away and that's really the ethos of what we do. If you're listening and you're more of a corporate client going this sounds fun like I want to explore video in a corporate level. Again, https://www.rebeccasaunders.com/ is the place to go just click the other button on the home screen and you'll find out how I can work with you across Australia, New Zealand, the UK and America is where my crews are at so we are widespread and we're they're very much across the board to make it easy on that video journey. And finally, I am on all social platforms. You can find me at the @therebeccasaunders. But Instagram is my place that I love to play. So, if you want to come play there. I respond to all the DMS personally on that platform. That is my go-to social media place to go hang out.

Shivani Gupta

Amazing, amazing. Amazing. I'm so grateful for you and the work that you're doing enabling others to do the work that you’re doing. Rebecca, thank you for being on today.

Rebecca Saunders

Thanks for having me on the show. Loved it.

I'm Shivani Gupta. And you've been listening to the Ask Shivani podcast where I'd like to ask some questions. Thank you so much for listening. Please follow Ask Shivani on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. And if you haven't done so, please go to the Apple podcasts and subscribe rate and review this podcast. It would mean a lot. Thank you.