This was my year of yes.

Oh my goodness.

This what's an exciting one.

I, if you have been listening

and playing along, you

would know that we have been

running this series of more

personal stories of mine.

And, one of the things, if

you have listened to any of

the podcast episodes, and you

might wanna go back because

it may not make sense, but

one of the things that I did

when I was a little younger.

He's decided to move to

Melbourne from Perth.

I went to Melbourne one day.

I went on a skiing trip

and I thought this would

be a fun town to move to.

Did I know anyone?

No.

Did I have a job?

No.

Did I have a house?

No.

but I thought, you know what?

I needed a new adventure.

I'm originally from

Western Australia.

Now if you live in Western

Australia, you would know

it's boringly beautiful.

My dad every single day

will say to me, oh, it's

beautiful blue skies.

And I think, is

there anything else?

Is there anything else?

And as I'm mid 20 something,

I was like, you know what?

There has to be other things.

So I decided I'm gonna

move to Melbourne.

I. I had a very good job

in Western Australia, so I

organized some interviews.

I went over to Melbourne.

I interviewed with

some, organizations.

Got a job, came back, packed

my stuff up and buggered off.

Now, partly, I won't

lie, this was probably to

escape, my family situation.

Not gonna lie.

my mom was.

Still messing around and

had bipolar and all the

things, and I was just

like so done after years

and years of trying to

manage that situation.

But I'm like, I'll move to

Melbourne and then I don't

need to do anything else.

Poor Serena was

heartbroken because we

only have each other.

So I moved to Melbourne and my

dad said to me, the airport,

bless his cotton socks.

See you soon.

I'm like, not on

your Nelly mate.

I am out.

Anyway.

I moved to Melbourne and at

the same time I made this

commitment to the year of yes

because I don't know about

you, but if you've ever moved

somewhere that you don't

know anyone, the only way.

To get out is to

say yes to things.

So for the next year, I

said yes to everything.

I said yes to movies.

I said yes to standing

in line on my own.

I said yes to gonna parties.

I said yes to moving

in with random people.

I said yes to deals and job

opportunities and, trips

around the countryside and

all the things I said, yes,

In fact, there was one.

Specific moment in time.

I was wearing the most

beautiful pair of shoes.

I was in the, movie theater

in pra and this gorgeous

French man walked past

and he noticed my shoes.

Who does that?

They were amazing shoes.

But anyway, who does that?

And he said to

me, great shoes.

I'm like, thank you.

I really like these shoes.

Anyway.

And of course that turned

into a date which won't

surprise you if you've

listened to any of the other

podcast, uh, series that

we've got going on right now.

and it was lovely French

accent, all the things,

and my friends really loved

him no I didn't marry him.

That's not the

love of my life.

But anyway.

I said yes.

I said yes.

I was standing in a movie

line on my own and I was just

chatting to the couple in

front of me and they're like,

oh, after this we're going

to da, dah, dah, dah, dah.

Would you wanna come?

I'm like, sure, sure, sure.

I wanna come.

It was the year of Yes, and

it taught me two things.

One You can exhaust

yourself with yes.

Which maybe I did a little

bit of, but two, I would

never have had the experiences

that I have had and it would

never have cemented my,

living in Melbourne so much.

it has cemented my living

in Melbourne and my affinity

for Melbourne because I

said yes to so many things

In business, we get told to

be a bit picky and choosy.

We get told to say

no to these things.

Say yes to these things.

We just need to say yes,

especially if you're in

your first year or two.

It's just like gotta

be the year of yes.

You've gotta say yes

to opportunities.

You don't know where

they're gonna go.

You've gotta say yes

to collaborations.

You've gotta say

yes to to work.

You've gotta say

yes to clients.

That's just how it is.

And I think one of

the things that.

The year of Yes.

Taught me is that it's

pretty easy to get rejected.

You say Yes, someone

else says no.

Oh, and you move on.

Right?

But it really built that

muscle for me of just

putting myself out there.

Being bold and the right

people come along and they

stick like forever friends.

And that's the

same with clients.

If you are saying yes to work

and yes to clients, yeah,

you'll make some mistakes.

Yeah.

You go, I shouldn't have

taken that client on.

Yes, maybe they

weren't aligned, but.

What you will learn is who

you wanna hang out with

from a business perspective,

who the right clients are,

who the wrong clients are.

But you'd never know

that if you didn't say

yes in the first place.

So we really need to

stop doing the whole.

These are the clients

and only these clients

I wanna work with.

Yes to niching.

I can hear it right now.

I can hear someone saying,

Vanessa, you always

talk about niching.

Yeah, I do because I'm

nine years into my journey.

But if you are one or two

years into your journey,

you may not know yet.

you may only have one program.

I've evolved so much over

the time, and you know what?

Sneaky secret.

I still work with blokes.

I mean, they have to wear

pink, let's be honest.

But I don't advertise

that I work with blokes.

If bloke comes to me and

says, can you coach me?

Yes, yes, I can.

But that it doesn't

necessarily mean that

we take the focus away

from the niche market.

Saying yes means that

we stretch ourself.

It's uncomfortable, it's

growth, it's all the things.

And you think, I don't really

wanna put myself in that

situation, but by saying

yes, by being positive, by

having a growth mindset, by

making sure that you don't

miss any opportunities means

a chance to build revenue.

You all know how much I love

building revenue because

what does revenue do?

It gives us choice.

It gives us freedom.

It's not about being greedy.

Talking about money should

be absolutely normal, but

talking about money when

you don't have any sucks

talking about business when

you don't have any sucks.

And so my.

challenge to you today

is, are you saying no?

Just a bit too often?

Is there a way that you could

say yes a little more or

instead of just a straight no?

What about coming in with

curiosity and going, yes

and or Yes, and here's how

I think we could do it, or

Yes, however, la la, la, la.

Versus just saying

a flat out, no.

The year of Yes.

Taught me so much.

The year of Yes.

Taught me about rejection.

The year of Yes.

Taught me about how

much fun you can have

with total strangers.

The year of Yes.

Taught me that you can

make lifelong friends.

when I moved to

Melbourne, I moved to

an apartment in Perran.

I. And I will never

forget this opposite.

My apartment was a South

African Indian couple,

uh, Vic and Divinia,

they are beautiful.

And they had just arrived

and I was working a lot

and, divs was pregnant

with their first baby.

I. Now for those of you that

don't know, I don't cook,

can't cook, won't cook,

whatever, whatever at that

stage, none of that anyway,

and as I got to know this

beautiful couple divs and

Vic, I would come home from.

work about seven o'clock

and I would have Vegemite

toast because again, can't,

won't, don't cook, right?

Anyway, div's picked up

on this one day and she

said to me, Hey, Emma, I

do cooking every day for

Vic and I, how about I just

make you something and bring

it over from time to time?

I'm like, that would be

amazing, but don't make it

too hot Ds, 'cause I don't

have those kind of taste buds.

From that moment every

night I had a plate of

food delivered to my door.

With a glass of milk

because she knew I

couldn't handle the heat.

And we played that

game for a good year.

And I babysat their little

boy sun, who is now oh, 2021.

And that was all

from me saying yes.

And so the possibilities

are endless.

Did I see that coming?

No.

Did I contribute

anything to that?

Maybe a beanbag.

I said to divs, do

you need a beanbag?

'cause you know,

that's all I had.

and they also thought

it was quite funny that

I would regale them

with tails of my Yes.

Year.

So I suppose that

kind of worked out.

I'm still friends with them.

However, many years

later, the year of Yes.

Pays dividends.

Now imagine if that was

business and you said yes,

and 10 years later you are

still working with them.

Isn't that freaking amazing?

You both would've evolved,

but you both would have

just developed this amazing,

beautiful relationship that

is mutually beneficial.

So please, please,

please, please say yes.

Say yes to you, yes to work

and yes to possibilities.

That's it for today, ladies.