caroline west

[00:00:00] This is an Undiscovered Legacy production.

Hello, Scoob believers, and welcome to episode number 94!

Almost 100 we're getting there on the undiscovered entrepreneur get across the start line, and it's me Scoob Coming at you whatever device you happen to be listening on okay before we get into the episode today I just want to make a really quick announcement by the time this recording goes out I will have bought my tickets, my flight tickets to get to podfest.

So this is definitely going to happen this year. This has been three years in the making. Ladies and gentlemen, it's finally going to happen. I'm looking, I'm so looking forward to this. I'm really excited. This is happening. Follow me as I take this trip. down to podfest. I will be doing some live streams.

We're going to be doing some recordings. It's going to be amazing. And I can't wait to do this. So that being said,

today's entrepreneur is Caroline. Now Caroline has been through a lot of things and I'm really excited to have her on my program [00:01:00] here. So after nearly 20 years in the childcare management She experienced burnout and made a dramatic career change to become a full time artist for the last two years She gained media attention in the UK for her unique sustainability art creating detailed paintings on used tea bags of all things of British landmarks and if you actually watch the video of this go over to YouTube and watch this we're actually going to get a chance to see some of that amazing art.

She also contributed a chapter called Chasing Butterflies to a book titled Beyond the Ordinary about creative and neurodiverse women's journeys and If you want to take a look at that book, we're going to talk a little bit about it in the podcast.

But if you want to take a look at that, look in the show notes, I'm going to think I'm going to have that down there for you. So without further ado, let's listen to Caroline.

Salutations, school believers. And we are here again with another [00:02:00] amazing entrepreneur. Today, we're here with Caroline. Hi, Caroline. How are you?

Hi, Jesse. I'm very well. How are you?

I'm fantastic. Thank you so, so much for taking the time out of your day to be on the Undiscovered Entrepreneur Get Across the Start Line.

I really appreciate you.

Oh, I really appreciate you having me on to chat to you.

All right. I'm looking forward to this conversation. But before we do anything, I want to ask you a kind of a semi serious question. Okay. Are you ready?

Yeah, I'm ready.

All right, here we go. Are you a school believer?

Absolutely.

All right. Thanks for being a sweet believer, Caroline. Super appreciate you. Okay, so what I'd like to do here in the very beginning is just kind of get an idea of who you are, what your entrepreneur adventure is, and how you got across the start line in your entrepreneur adventure.

Okay, so, I'm an artist.

And I'm also from the South of England, but in a previous life a couple of years ago, I had worked for nearly 20 years in the childcare industry. And I just ended up completely burning out and [00:03:00] completely losing touch with who I was what was important to me, I guess, and just what I wanted to do with my life.

So I quit my job and I've been since been following my dreams and passions to become an artist.

That's fantastic. So how long have you actually been an artist for as far as after you quit your job?

Two years now,

two years. All right. That's awesome. So, I I've actually interviewed a couple people that's been in child care that's transitioned over to something else.

Can you kind of give me an idea how that actually worked out for you?

I mean, there were lots of things I loved about my job. It was it was, it was a good thing fit for me for quite a few years. I mean, I was a mom, I had my children, it fitted in really well. But I just think that as as a woman, especially as a wife and a mother You're sort of all things to all people.

I say I was a wife, a mom, I was a boss, a daughter. I mean, they're all brilliant things, but I ended up in my childcare role becoming a manager, which wasn't something that really resonated with me being an innate [00:04:00] people pleaser and perfectionist, so there was a lot of it I really struggled with in my job.

But I think as you do, you just kind of push on through it and keep going. Cause you think that's what you should be doing. So I sort of kept on with it for quite a number of years, and then in the end it just came to a point where I was just burnt out from it all, just from the pressure, and I think just from not being authentic and true to myself.

Yeah, that happens a lot too in burnout. It just sounds like to me you were just so much to everybody else. But not so much to yourself. And when you're not, yeah, when you're not kind of good to yourself and how are you actually going to be good for other people? So we got to get into that transition to, to include ourselves in what we're doing.

Otherwise we've grown on to burnout very quickly.

I think so. I just think that you feel a lot of guilt around that. And I felt very selfish for a long time because putting yourself first is not something necessarily that society teaches you. You kind of think you've got to be there for everyone else, put everyone else first, and then you just lose yourself in the process.

Definitely. I mean, I started [00:05:00] counseling when I experienced burnout and my counselor said to me, what are your core values? And I was just so disassociated with myself that I couldn't, I couldn't even tell her I didn't know who I was anymore. So yeah, it was a real wake up call.

Yeah. Knowing what your core values are and making sure you're incorporating yourself in those core values, at least a little bit somewhere is really important because I mean, if you, like I said before, if you can't help yourself, how are you going to help other people?

No, exactly. I mean, that's the first thing they teach you on a plane, isn't it? You've got to put your own oxygen mask on before everyone else's. But I just think in the general busyness and pressure of life, you kind of just forget that you're just so busy, like trying to do everything right and, and as you should be.

And so, yeah, I just think you lose sight of looking after yourself and making sure you're okay.

Earlier you said speaking from a woman's aspect in that I'm going to speak a little bit as, as the male side of that too, because I mean, for the longest time, I thought all I had to do was go out and just work really hard and it'll make everybody happy.[00:06:00]

And I would work hard, work, work, work. But I lost myself in all of that. I didn't know who I was anymore. And it started coming out as very negative for me. So, now that I've changed my mindset, it's not so much as everybody else and what I have to be for everybody else. But, me being me and doing at least one or two little dainty, little small things that I like for a living.

For myself has changed my outlook on everything and made me a better person. Now I could be better. And I've noticed around the, this around the people around my friends and relatives too, I'm better for them.

Oh yeah. A hundred percent.

I'm not so negative around them. I'm not so grumpy around them and I'm able to have a normal conversation without exploding as it were, because I'm so, I'm so tense from everything that's happening.

So yeah, it's good to get a perspective of both sides on that.

Oh yeah, absolutely. Cause obviously I can only say it from my point of view, but yeah, I think all my [00:07:00] relationships have definitely improved since I've started looking out for myself first. Like you say, just small things. It doesn't need to be anything major, but just there's things that make you happy.

I mean, mine in the end was quite major as I left my job to do something that brought me joy and felt authentic to me, but it has just changed so many aspects of my life doing that.

So tell me about that transition you had. Okay. You had the job for a while. You realize you didn't want to do this anymore.

So what made you decide art was the way to go? I mean, what, what was the catalyst for that?

I've always been creative and I've always loved arts a lot. When I was a child, I think then you kind of, you have your family and then that sort of takes over your life understandably for a while. And then because I was so stressed at work, I started painting again, just as a way of being mindful and sort of just escaping the stress of it.

And then I was just, it, that's the thing that makes my heart sing and brings me joy. And so I was just, it took a long time. It wasn't just, I woke up one morning and thought, I said, quitting. It did take a long, long time to come to that point. But I think the the [00:08:00] catalyst was one morning I was just sobbing in the shower before work and I was like, there's got to be more to life than this.

This is not what it's all about. So yeah, that was the point where I thought I've seriously got to think about what I want to do.

I think it doesn't necessarily have to be like that, but I think there's always a point. A breaking point for us all that we decided that this is not what we want for our lives and we have to do something to make a change.

Yes, totally. Yeah, it could be different for all people. Definitely. And I'd say just to me, it kind of cracked up slowly. I knew I wasn't like for a while, but yeah, it just it just came to a point where I'm like, no, I really need to to make a change.

Alright, so keeping in mind that, I would like to know what you think keeps most entrepreneurs from getting across the start line in their entrepreneur adventures.

What stops them from starting?

I think it's probably mostly fear. Mine was definitely fear based. There's fear of failure, fear of what people will think. [00:09:00] There's just all these fears, how I think you get too caught up in the how and you then you lose your why. So rather than asking, how can I do this?

I think you should be asking, why should I do this? Because if you get caught up in the how, you're just going to talk yourself out of it, because you'll put too many obstacles in your own way.

Yeah, we're really, it's really easy to do that too, because when we fear something, we want to give every and all excuses to stay away from it.

So. Yeah. And I call, I fought, call excuses the minions of fear.

Oh yes. And I mean, I'm procrastination. I'm a, I'm a serial procrastinator. So yeah, most definitely. That's another, that's another challenge.

So that's actually a couple of the hurdles that we talk about in in my podcast here fear of failure procrastination, fear in general.

Do you think, do you think it's the same? Obviously it's the same for you. And when you are trying to get across the start line in your art. And things like that too. Yes.

Yes. Most definitely. And, and paradoxically, it was [00:10:00] also fear of success. I was scared of failing, but I was also scared of succeeding because with succeeding comes, you're out of your comfort zone.

There's a whole different, it's a whole different set of challenges, a whole set, different set of things. And quite often, I think you're, even though. You're not happy where you are. It feels safe and familiar. You're in your familiar hell, I suppose. So I found that I was kind of ended up in a free state because I, I was too scared to, to move cause I was going to fail.

But on the other hand, I was also scared to succeed. So you just end up like not doing anything.

It's hard to really phantom that hearing that from the outside fear of success. But once you're actually experiencing that for yourself, you really realize that can be a very, very hard fear to overcome.

Because it's like you want to succeed. I mean, that's the whole reason why you're doing this. But when you actually get to that point now what am I supposed to do? What are these new challenges that I have to come across? Do I want to face these new challenges? Yeah, I fear of success. I haven't personally felt that fear yet, but I know it's coming [00:11:00] soon.

So, I'm going to prepare for it.

I think when you level up, you kind of level up and then, then you just hit that. Yeah. That fear of success for ages. I was just like, can I handle it? Am I worthy of it? I think a lot of it's to do with self worth you quite often don't necessarily feel worthy of that success.

So that is something I've self love and self worth is something I've really had to work on in my journey.

Yeah, absolutely. So, you, you wrote a book and I'm really excited to talk about this book called Beyond the Ordinary. And you're obviously an artist and a creative because but how would you, how do we get this book going here?

How did that work out?

I've just, I've written a chapter in it. So it's a book written by a lady called Maggie Nicholson, and she's included 30 different women and we've all written chapters about our journey. It's a book about creative and neurodiverse women and how you can help yourself get to Achieve your potential because obviously being creative and you're a diverse, there are often lots of challenges along the way.

And lots of [00:12:00] things, lots of stumbling blocks. And this is just a book that will help women sort of overcome those challenges learn their self worth, I say, and, and achieve their potential.

Fantastic. So what was your chapter actually about? Don't give it away, but I mean, can you give me like a little, I can my chapter

it's called chasing butterflies.

And it's, and it is a chapter about my journey from burnout to following my dreams. Fantastic. And is that available like on Amazon or where can I find that book?

Yeah, it's available on Amazon at the moment on Kindle and it will be available to order on paperback and hardback from the 22nd of October.

Awesome. So after this episode comes out, it'll already be out. So what I'd like to do if if anybody wants to get ahold of this book, please look at the show notes. I'm going to have a link to this book so you could take a look, possibly buy it and that would be fantastic.

Oh, yeah, for sure. I'm glad to help. So we've talked a little bit about pitfalls and what you've actually come across already in your entrepreneur [00:13:00] adventure. But one question I like to ask is, is there a pitfall that you're actually proud of something that I'm glad this happened this way because I wouldn't have gotten here.

Have you ever had anything like that happened to you?

Yes, I'm actually glad that I had my burnout because, do you know what? I I had had troubles at work with a certain couple of staff members that I really struggled with and I kind of think, do you know what? I'm really grateful I had that experience.

At the time it was tough, but I think if I hadn't, I would just keep repeating that same pattern throughout my life. I've noticed that. My people pleasing is a pattern from my childhood, from my father that I repeated through my first marriage and then through this burnout. And I just feel like life keeps throwing you these things you need to learn over and over again until you recognize the lesson and learn it.

So I'm really grateful that I went through that and I've come out the other side.

Yeah. These struggles that we have, first of all, we [00:14:00] have to expect these struggles are going to come. Don't, don't make it a surprise because they'll just make it worse. Just know that, Hey, I'm going through this entrepreneur adventure right now.

There's going to be struggles, so when they're there, I'm ready for them. But these struggles are definitely a learning experience for us all. And there's a reason that we go through these struggles. And once we get on the other side of these struggles, we learn that whatever it is that we've learned from that particular point, from that particular struggle, we can incorporate into the next struggle or into the next entrepreneur adventure.

Whatever it is that happens to happen to you, Now we're ready for this particular thing that we're going to come across again and again, but now we're ready for it.

Yeah, it's all learning and it's just, I think it's just about taking personal responsibility as well. For, things happen, I don't know if things happen out of your control, but how you respond and how you react, that's, that was my responsibility.

So I just, I just think it taught me to take a long, hard look at myself and the [00:15:00] role I'd played in the things that had happened to me. And yeah. And just go from there, learn from it, and then move on and incorporate that into sort of whatever comes next in my journey.

That's exactly what we need to do.

Yeah. All right. So on the other side of that, I know you have the book. That's a great accomplishment, but do you have any real accomplishments that you're really proud of?

What in my business

and anything, whatever it could be.

I'm proud of lots of things. I'm proud of my children. I am, I'm proud of the fact that I took that leap and went for it.

And I'm, I'm proud I'm doing, I'm doing lots of things with my art. Now I've had like lots of, quite a lot of media attention over here in the UK for painting on tea bags. Which is an interesting thing because I'm big on sustainability, but I think most of all I'm just I'm really proud of myself.

I'm proud of myself for actually stepping up and doing the work and realizing that you know, no one else is going to do it for you. Like I said, [00:16:00] you need to take responsibility and And just do the things you want in your life, go for it. And just, sometimes you'll succeed. Sometimes you'll fail, but it's all learning.

And it's all just going to propel you forward to where you want to be. Be

proud of yourself. Be proud of your accomplishments because that's ultimately, ultimately what it's all about.

Yes, 100%. Yeah, I am. I'm learning to do that for ages. It took, I think it took a while because sort of like when you say to people, Oh yeah, I'm doing really well.

I'm really proud of myself. It doesn't always come naturally. I feel like quite often society teaches you to dumb down or play down your accomplishments, but I've got to point out, I'm like, you know what? I want to shine. I want to say what I'm proud of. And I just, I just want to shine and share those things with the world that, that I feel I'm doing well.

And I feel just help make the world a bit of a better place.

Yeah, I think we all learn to deflect sometimes, and that's what we call a deflection of compliments or our positivity. And that's actually a sign of imposter syndrome, if anybody's interested in [00:17:00] knowing what that's about. Because we don't really, we feel that we don't really deserve this, these accomplishments or what these compliments that people are giving you.

So you're kind of like, Oh yeah, I do, I did my best or whatever, instead of just saying thank you, that really means a lot to me and taking in that positivity and learning and controlling that, that deflection. Because that was my first, when I first started doing things too, I was like, Oh, you're doing great.

Okay, thank you. I'm doing my best, whatever. I was a big deflector. I had all kinds of excuses for deflection, but now, so did I, but now it's okay, yeah, thank you very much. I hope you learned something from it, or I hope this, this helps you in some way, shape or form. And I've, I've learned to kind of incorporate the verbiage that way instead.

Oh, absolutely. I mean, a compliment's a gift, so, we should be taking those compliments as gifts incorporating them and yeah, definitely. I was a, yeah, a major deflector and imposter syndrome, but I guess it's all tied to your self worth and just [00:18:00] believing in yourself.

All right. That's awesome.

Thank you so much. Okay. So what I'd like to do here is get, most of my list, most of all my listeners are brand new entrepreneurs that are just getting started. So if you came across a new entrepreneur, what kind of advice would you give him? What steps would you have to take to get across the start line?

I would say that you need to definitely, I mean, you don't need to take a massive leap. You don't have to take a massive leap like I did and quit your job. But I just think, even if it's just taking small steps every day towards your goals and what you want to do, just, just small steps to build up the momentum, the trust in yourself and the knowledge you can do it.

I would say to definitely do it. be authentic to yourself and do something that resonates with you, that brings you joy, that brings you meaning, because then you are going to definitely give it your all and you're going to be fully invested in it. And I think it's really important to believe in yourself and also to surround yourself with the right people.

You need people who are going to support you, uplift [00:19:00] you and just help you on your journey.

It's really important to be authentic to yourself because if you can't be authentic to yourself, how are you going to be authentic to the other, to other people? Just like what we talked about earlier. Kind of, I see a theme happening here.

So yeah. And then the people you surround yourself with are so, so important. You can't surround yourself with a bunch of naysayers or people that are going to be negative to you or Energy vampires. We'll call that. Somebody's car alarm went off right in front of my place. I'm so glad I have editing because this is crazy.

I have, okay, there it goes. Nope, back on.

So I'm quite impressed. My dogs haven't barked to me.

That's okay. Cause usually when I have dogs or something in the background, I start incorporating them into the show. So I like animals in my show. It's fine.

Can you,

can you hear that horn? I [00:20:00] have no idea how long that's going to be.

No, I figured you're

drinking tea. I'm drinking coffee. I don't know how,

what kind of tea do you like?

Herbal tea.

I mean, I'm a, I'm a big green tea guy. I'll drink

a

cup of green tea with some lemon at least once a day.

I can't get on with green tea. I don't know why. That's chamomile tea that I'm drinking at the moment. Chamomile?

Okay, yeah.

Yeah,

yeah. Do you put anything in your tea or do you drink it straight?

No, I just drink it straight. Yeah. So, yeah, try and relax yourself a bit. Yeah.

Yeah. I drink, I, I don't put too much, I'll put lemon in my tea most of the time, but that's about it really. I don't put like any sweeteners or anything like that in there.

I'll drink hot, like boiling water with lemon in the morning just to kind of like wash my system through.

I quite like that, but yeah, I'm not like, [00:21:00] I haven't drunk normal tea for a long time.

I I work two full time jobs.

Wow.

On top of the

podcast.

So it's I'm a really busy guy, but what I've learned is if I can get some, I take some green tea to work with me at the restaurant and then I'll, we have lemons all over the place.

So I'll throw some lemons in there and just drink that throughout my shift. And it's been a very huge improvement and I've been doing it for only a couple of days, but I could really notice a huge improvement in my mood and everything else because I've been drinking more tea than coffee. Oh, that's

good.

Yeah. You've got to find what works for you. Definitely. Haven't you? Cause

that's going to go on forever. Yeah, it is.

I don't know. Okay.

Yeah. Okay. All right. Okay. So it's very important to, to surround ourselves with people that are positive, people that are willing to give us that, that to give us a good job or anything [00:22:00] like that.

And remember that the five people you surround yourself with are the most likely that you're going to be like, yeah. So keep that in mind as you kind of gather your people around you and you understand who you, who you are.

Yeah, I mean, I'm really lucky that I've got a really good support network, but obviously not everybody would necessarily have that.

But then I would say, go out and find people who are sort of interested in the same thing that you are join groups or, I mean, I joined a creative mastermind when I started my business. For the first year I didn't, and then I started it in January and that's just propelled me forward so much.

'cause I'm in a group with other business owners, other creatives, and it's just, it's just the whole sort of talking about it, the bouncing ideas off each other. It just can really sparks sort of the just spark. I just sparks your brain, just like you say, fills you with confidence, gives you ideas. It's just a wonderful, definitely a wonderful support network.

So I would recommend finding your tribe.

Absolutely. If you [00:23:00] want to hear more about that, there's a book called think and grow rich. Have you heard of that?

Yes, I have. Yes.

That's amazing book that actually goes into deep about how to find people that are like minded to yourself and bounce ideas off of them.

Like we were talking about just a minute ago. So that's awesome. So what I like to do with all my guests here is get a six month goal for you and your company So, where do you see you and your company or your art in the next six months?

Oh my goodness You can ask me that I'm a terrible terrible planner

There you go. I'd want to continue with my art. I do want to write another book. I'm actually working on a book of poetry that I'm incorporating with some of my art at the moment. So that's that's my plan. And also just to keep going with, I said, I've had some success at the moment with my teabag art.

So my plan at the moment is to keep going with that and just see how, how far I can get and obviously grow my business bigger and better and get as much visibility as possible. [00:24:00]

Fantastic. So what I'd like to do with you in six months, I'd like to follow up with you with another interview. Is that okay?

And see if you've actually hit those goals.

That would be amazing.

Fantastic. All right. Do you, I, and this is kind of off the cuff here, but do you happen to have any of your art, your teabag art handy or.

I can go and get some.

Would you? Cause I'd love to see at least like one or two pieces if possible.

Yeah.

Okay.

Oh, so sorry. Oh, that's okay. It was kind of impromptu. So, I'm just going to try and dig it out here now. Yes, fighting my way past dogs. I was so do you have dogs?

I do not but I love dogs. I am a dog. I'm Scoob.

Oh, you do. Yeah, you don't need one. I'll just, do you just want to see a couple like a couple?

Yeah.

Yeah,

for anybody that's listening, I encourage you to go over to the YouTube channel and take a look at this art that that Caroline's going to pop up, pop up on the screen here. Go ahead.

Okay. So, the thing I've got sort of media attention for, I did, [00:25:00] so I've been doing British landmarks on British tea bags.

So basically I use tea bags, then I dry them out, scrape out all the tea leaves, iron them flat. I mean, I think I'm probably the only household where my husband asks what I'm doing and I'm like, I'm ironing tea bags. And then I and then I, then I paint on them. So I've got a couple here. This is a one of Big Ben.

Wow. Look at

that.

That's

amazing.

Thank you. That's the Angel of the North, which is another British landmark. Yeah.

Oh, wow. I love the colors.

Oh, thank you so much. And that's Loch Lomond in Scotland. Oh,

wow. I love landscapes. Landscapes are my favorite.

I am. I am a nature artist. And also, I don't know that you have it over there, but we have a range of teabags called Pucca Tea, and they're all different herbal ones.

And this one is a honey teabag. Oh, look at that! I've got a little bee on it.

That's fantastic. I have a gentleman that I [00:26:00] interviewed. His name was Dragos. And he's a beekeeper.

Ah.

And in the UK. So,

yeah.

That kind of hits home a little bit for me. That's awesome. That's fantastic. Alright, everybody go to the YouTube channel so you can see this amazing art.

That's fantastic.

Thank you so much. I just like to paint on things that would usually we'd usually throw away or would decay. So I paint on things like preserve, I preserve leaves and paint on those as well. And sort of like wood, just anything really you would usually throw away that I can reuse.

Absolutely. That's fantastic. All right, Carolyn, this is your time to shine. This is the time I want you to advertise yourself, see how we, tell people how we get a hold of you, and all that good stuff. Okay, ready, set, go.

Okay. So, I do have a website, which is www. carolouiseart. com. It's a mouthful. And I sell my art on there.

I'm also on Facebook [00:27:00] and Instagram so you can connect with me there as well.

All right, you can find all that information in the show notes. Okay, everybody. All right, Caroline. Thank you so much for being on the Undiscovered Entrepreneur. It's been an absolute treat. I love your art.

Oh, thank you so much.

And it's just, it's been lovely chatting with you as well.

All right. All right, school believers. Make sure you stay tuned for the wrap up. Okay, everybody. Thank you. Bye bye.

All right, Scoob believers. That was Caroline. What a great interview. I really enjoyed her art and I'm really excited to take a look at that book that she was a part of. But there was a couple of things that actually stood out for me while I was listening to Caroline speak. And one of the things is you don't need to make massive life changes all at once.

Even the smallest step forward each day can transform your dreams into reality and build an unstoppable momentum.

We don't need to take huge leaps. to make a difference in other people's [00:28:00] lives and our own lives. Even the smallest steps, just like I talk about all the time, the little things that you do on a daily basis can make the biggest difference after they add up and create great things for yourself and others and ways that we could help others.

Also when you choose to pursue work that generally lights up your soul and aligns with who you truly are, you unlock a level of passion and dedication that could turn a person's life Any dream into a success just like Caroline. I mean, what a big switch from daycares and taking care of children to art form, creating amazing art on teabags.

, that's a whole left field, isn't it? But she did it and she's making great progress for herself and her family's being able to do what she's doing. Some things that she really loves to do by making that switch. And with that, I'm going to say, thank you [00:29:00] very much for another episode. And I will see you at episode number 95 on the undiscovered entrepreneur, get across the start line.

Goodbye, everybody.