Jaimie: Welcome to Pitch Perfect.
Well, it's been a hot minute since I recorded a podcast episode. I reckon it's probably been at least a month. If you are a subscriber, I apologise. I got busy. I took on a different job and just put my hand up for a lot of things, all exciting things. I've also been really investing my time in my health. I've lost twelve kilos. It's now Monday, 14 October, and I've lost twelve kilos in twelve weeks. Feeling great! I'm going to the gym religiously twice a week as well—haven't missed a session. Shout out to Transcend Health in Newcastle.
But yeah, I'm just kind of reprioritising, you know. If it comes down to whether I record a podcast or go for a walk or go to the gym, then I'm going to put the podcast last. So I do apologise. I know I've got some really loyal subscribers. We've been going now for many years—well over 100 episodes, actually. That's how busy I got. I didn't even stop to smell the roses and celebrate my 100th episode. As I'm recording this now, it's 8:00 p.m. at night, and it's dropping just a couple of days earlier than the 14th. So you're listening to this on Monday, 14 October, which is also the day my Speak and Earn challenge kicks off at 10:30 a.m. Australian Eastern Daylight Time, which is Sydney time.
If you're listening to this post-14 October and it's still either the 15th or 16th, you can join at speakandearn.com. It's a free challenge. We go live every day at 10:30 Sydney time, Sydney, Australia, for the overseas listeners here. Just jump on! You can go into the Facebook group and watch all the recordings. I will have them up until the end of my launch because it is launch time.
Doors are opening to Paid to Speak, my signature fabulous course, on 17 October. The doors will be open from Thursday, 17 October, to Thursday, 24 October—an eight-day launch. You can go to paidtospeak.com.au. If you are listening to this during that time, jump in. It will be a decision you won’t regret. We've had almost 200 people now go through this course. It is arguably the best course in the world to show you how to become a paid speaker. But I'll talk more about that a little bit later.
Towards the end, I wanted to record this podcast episode for the first time in a long time without a single note. Like, I haven't even written down any dot points. I just wanted to hit record. I'm actually just recording this on my phone as well, so hopefully the quality’s okay. I've got my little microphone plugged in, so it should be fine.
Just to give you a bit of an update on where I’m at, and things that are happening. I don’t have time to tell you everything, but just a couple of lessons learned lately. I like to reflect, and I've got a new friend actually—Mitch. Shout out to Mitch if he's ever listening. He probably isn’t, but you know, he was talking the other day about how he likes to reflect on things hours later. I do that too.
I’m kind of reflecting on the last couple of weeks, the last couple of months, particularly since I came back to Australia from Jamaica. That’s kind of when I dove deep into my health—doing all the things, cutting out carbs, doing weights, drinking this bloody AG1 green drink, green juice. It’s meant to have like 75 vitamins in it. I don’t know if it’s placebo, but I definitely feel so much better. I’m not even needing as much sleep, either. So anyway, that’s where I’m at.
We’re not here to talk about health because this is not a health podcast. But I am a PR girl, and I am a speaking girl, and I’m coming into what is effectively my 6th official launch. When I talk about launch, I mean going all out—you know, doors open, limited launch formula, opening up on the Thursday, closing the following Thursday, doing a webinar, doing a challenge.
So if you’ve just jumped on board or this is your first time listening to me, or if you’ve been following me for a while now, you’ll know I’m an online business owner. There are so many lessons learned in online business compared to a service-based business or a bricks-and-mortar business.
Now, from my background—I’m not jumping all over the shop here (maybe I should have dot point notes!)—but my background is pretty conservative. I was a conservative politician, and I’m still in the military reserves. I was an Air Force officer in Australia traditionally, but pretty conservative. I could never just be myself. The minute I let it all go—not in an unprofessional way, but just being myself and not giving a shit about what people thought—that’s when my business skyrocketed.
It skyrocketed so much that I was working full-time for the New South Wales Government. I started in 2021 and worked all the way through to the end of 2022. That was my first parade back into full-time employment after having babies. I’d worked full-time for Defence, prior to that, as a public servant as well as being in the reserves. I did the New South Wales Government thing for two years, and my business was this side hustle. I was experimenting—doing fun reels, podcasts, guesting, webinars, going live, all the things, right? And because it was a side hustle and it was so fun, it just exploded.
So much so that I was able to quit my full-time job and run my business full-time. And it just went up and up and up. I got Online Business Owner of the Year. I won that last year at the Australian Small Business Women’s Champion Awards—was in my element! I went to London for some speaking gigs in August last year, saw a job (well, I think I had a few wines and met a few diplomats), saw a job for the UN, and applied for it. Everyone asks me, "How did you get a job with the UN agency?" I saw it on the UN website called Inspirup UN Jobs. It was basically a job there in Jamaica, working for an agency called the International Seabed Authority. Saw it, applied for it, and next thing, I’m in Jamaica!
There’s obviously a few sub-stories to that. Fun fact—I was actually in Launch House, which is Mick Fanning’s house on the Gold Coast in Queensland. He rents this beautiful beach pad out. It’s not too far from Coolangatta Airport. Tina Tower, my fabulous business coach, had hired the house for her launch in September last year (September 2023). And I got the interview while I was in Launch House. I had the email saying, “We want you for this Jamaica job.”
Here I was, surrounded by my incredible multi-million-dollar business coach Tina, and fellow female entrepreneurs, and unanimously, anonymously, the advice they gave me was, "Take the job!" Like, far out—it’s Jamaica, it’s the UN! I had the interview in Launch House, in Tina’s office, that she’d set up for her launch and did the interview. And I just knew when I jumped on the call, the Teams call—it wasn’t so much an interview, it was more like, "When can you start?" kind of conversation.
And I got off the call, and my roommate—I drew the short straw (well, I don’t know if that’s the right term because it was fun)—I had to share a room in this mansion with my roommate Becca at the time. She’s really worldly. Shout out to Becca, I know she listens. Becca Maxwell, who is a divorce coach, gave me the advice at the time. She’s like, "Just take it. You know, find out the conditions." And I was so excited.
What a whirlwind—being in the Gold Coast in this $10 million pad, Mick Fanning’s beach pad, with just incredible women. I was so inspired. There were maybe five or six of us in this house. And despite being at the absolute peak of my online business, I made the decision to go to Jamaica. And it was the best decision. I was in Jamaica for eight months. I ended up working there for nine months. I did the first month in Australia, which was crazy because I also launched my Paid to Speak course.
I did my best-ever Paid to Speak launch, by the way, while I was working for the UN full-time overnight, and then launching during the day. I was surviving on two or three hours of sleep a night. I was quite big then—I was 100 kilos—so I had much less energy than I have now. I’ve lost, you know, I’ve lost 15 kilos since then.
Anyway, I’m digressing again. So I did that launch, then I went to Jamaica, and then... well, I won’t get into the ins and outs of Jamaica because there’s too much to cover. Like we always say, stick to two to three key messages per podcast episode. I might do another episode about that experience and the lessons learned from it.
But my point is, my business then became a side hustle again because I was working full-time in this UN role and doing my business on the side. And you know what? It became fun again. I’m not saying it had lost its fun appeal when it was my full-time gig, but there was a bit of pressure there.
When I ran my business full-time for most of 2023—right up until the beginning of October when I started the UN role—it was a full-time online business. And with that came a bit of pressure. There was no longer that fun, hobby-like feeling. Instead, there was extra pressure. Pressure to film a reel because I hadn’t posted that day, pressure to get my emails out for my upcoming launch, to prepare a webinar, get my Facebook ads and videos prepared—all that kind of stuff.
But in Jamaica, when my business became a hobby again, it was fun. I had a great time in Jamaica. I was out partying, but if I was on a beach and felt like recording a reel, I’d do it because I wanted to. I took myself away for a weekend to a lesser-known area of Jamaica. It's on the southwest side, and I had a car. I drove there and recorded reels which were fun again, and I thought, "Wow!"
This was, of course, when I was on my way back out of Jamaica. I came home a couple of months early because I missed my kids, but my point is, the business shifted back to being on the side.
And then, just like that, I returned to Australia and took on a few different contracts. I’ve taken a job, and I actually really love it. But that’s another episode because it’s the first time I’m in a leadership role that isn’t communications-focused. I’ll talk more about that later because I don’t want to digress even more than I already have!
Remember, I’ve got no notes, so forgive me. Bear with me! Thank you for being here and still listening. I’m literally just talking from the heart after a twelve-hour day—it’s 8:00 p.m., I’ve been working since 8:00 a.m., and yesterday, I drove to and from Tamworth in one day. Exhausted, yes—but prepping for my launch and doing everything I need to. So I’m speaking vulnerably and from the heart right now.
And you know what? My business is back on the side, and it’s so much fun again! Last night, I was driving back from Tamworth, and I pulled over on the side of the road in Singleton. I was playing Cher’s song Just Like Jesse James—you know the one? Tonight you're gonna go down in flames... yeah, that one. I hope that sounded okay—I don’t have headphones on.
So, I was playing that song in the car, saw a park, and felt inspired. I pulled over, put on a Camilla dress that I just happened to have in my backpack because I thought I might have an opportunity to record some reels, like, in front of the Golden Guitar in Tamworth (which I did). And I just had fun dancing. When I got back, I couldn’t wait to edit it.
I’m very fast at editing these days. I can shoot, lip-sync, and edit a fun reel in about five minutes, get it up, and have it ready to go. I’m quick with writing the captions and adding text, too. It was so much fun. And as I record this, you’re going to see a lot more reels coming from me.
I love being funny and creative with it. And what’s the takeaway from this? I think there’s so much pressure on online business owners to build their business, quit their day job, quit the 9-to-5... but do you really need to?
If you’re a travel agent with an online business on the side, do you really need to build it up and quit? Is that really your goal? For me, I went from zero to $300k in revenue in 18 months with my online business. And yes, that’s great, but I’ve thought, "Do I really want to scale to half a mil? Or a million per year? Do I want to keep adding team members?"
I already have an Online Business Manager and a Virtual Assistant. Do I want to add three more VAs, a graphic designer, or an EA? Sure, that would be great, but it also comes with headaches. I love my team, but if I grow bigger, do I really want that kind of pressure? Do I want to force myself to attend networking events because my income depends on it?
And the answer is no. I don’t want that kind of pressure. This isn’t about needing the security of a full-time job—because it is a juggle, don’t get me wrong—but I’ve always been able to juggle. I have great capacity. You want something done? Give it to a busy person. I’ve always been able to smash out a lot of tasks.
I’m not the most organised person, but I have a high capacity, and all my bosses have always said that. They’d say, “Yeah, Jaimie, you have a high capacity,” and of course, they’d give me more work! But that’s just part of it, right?
Now, though, I go to networking events because I enjoy them, not because I have to. I still have this full-time job, and I love it. But now I get to do my business when, where, and how I want. For example, earlier today, I was listening to Hungry Eyes from Dirty Dancing (love that song!), and I thought, "I just want to dance!" So I hit record, did a funny reel, and had a blast because I felt like it in that moment.
What I’m saying is, if you’re a travel agent or you have an online business, do you really want to give up the service-based part of it? Maybe you do. And I thought I did too, at one point. But right now, professionally, at 42 years of age, I feel so fulfilled. Maybe it’s because I’ve never been in better health—probably the best health I’ve been in 20 years, maybe ever! I’ve never been this fit or strong or healthy in my entire life, and I think that’s giving me this perspective.
I’ve ticked off everything I want to achieve. Literally. I’ve worked as a TV reporter, I’ve been a politician, I’ve run for all three levels of government, I got elected as a local councillor, I’ve been to Afghanistan with the military, I’ve worked for the UN in Jamaica, I’ve worked for politicians—I’ve done it all!
I’ve been a radio and TV presenter, I’ve bought my house, I’ve had my child, and sure, I still have a mortgage—don’t get me wrong, it’s a big one! But I’ve got great friends, quality friends. I’m meeting people I want to meet, and I’m excited about the people I might meet tomorrow.
So I say, stop putting pressure on yourself to build your side hustle just so you can quit your job. You might hate your full-time job, and that’s another conversation you need to have with yourself. But think about where you are, where you want to be, and what you actually want.
For me, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be. I want to be in Newcastle, New South Wales. I love the suburb I’m in. Sure, I could get a better car—I drove a Toyota Kluger the other day and loved it, but that’s just superficial stuff. What really matters is having quality friendships and people you can trust. Right now, I’m in a really good place.
My whole life, I’ve been focused on trying to achieve the next thing, the next goal. But now, there’s nothing else I really need to do apart from what I’m doing right now—serving people, working with my PR Club members, and helping my students in Paid to Speak achieve incredible results.
Let’s close this off with a bit of a sales pitch, shall we? Paid to Speak is my signature course. It’s trademarked now, and I’m so excited about the results this upcoming intake will achieve. People who have gone through the last couple of rounds are getting $10k, $15k per speaking gig. It’s not guaranteed, but if you put in the work, pitch yourself, and follow what I teach in the course, you will become a highly paid speaker.
Now, people have said to me, “Jaimie, you don’t do as many paid speaking gigs anymore.” And they’re right. In August, I did 17 MC gigs. Seventeen! Some of them were charity gigs, which I did for free. Some were charity gigs I charged for. I did a lot of corporate events, and there were weekends where I did five events in one weekend. My favourite was the Hunter Breast Cancer Foundation’s 25th anniversary. That was such a great vibe in Newcastle.
But those gigs exhausted me. And I’m an extrovert! So I can only imagine how draining it would be for an introvert. I don’t want to do full-time paid speaking gigs anymore. It’s just too much. I’m happy to do a couple here and there—maybe one or two a month. In October, I’ve got a few big MC gigs coming up, and a couple of keynote speeches too. And that’s enough for me.
I’d much rather teach other people how to do it and give them the opportunities. I’ve turned down a few gigs recently—some for $2,000 each. One was in Sydney on a Sunday night over a long weekend. I would have had to drive down, start at 7 p.m., and it wouldn’t have finished until 11 p.m. I would have had to stay the night in Sydney, and I just said no. For me, it’s about protecting my energy now.
But I’m in a position to say no, and I can refer my Paid to Speak students or other people I know—like my PR Club members—to take those gigs. That’s a really great place to be in.
So that’s it! That’s where I’m at right now.
I just wanted to give you a quick life update. I didn’t go into too much detail about Jamaica or my health journey, but I will in future episodes. Right now, I’m just really enjoying life. At 42, I feel like I’m in my prime, and I can’t wait for the next couple of months with all the fun social events coming up.
If you’ve got a networking event on the cards, do it! Not just for the leads or clients you might get, but for the social aspect. I’ve met some incredible people lately who I just want to have a drink with because they’re good humans. It’s really motivating. Even today, I met someone for the first time through politics, and we had a coffee. What an amazing human he was. That interaction gave me the energy to keep going for the next few hours—to record some reels, prep for my launch, and now record this podcast.
So, sign up for Speak and Earn or join Paid to Speak, my signature course, at paidtospeak.com.au. And let’s do another podcast recording next week.
In the meantime, have a great week!
