Suzanne  0:04  

Hello and welcome to The Midlife Business Show with Suzanne Mountain. This is the podcast that celebrates all those of us who are building a business during our middle years. I’m an ex corporate girl who started my business six years ago in my 50s. And I’m loving it. This podcast is here to inspire you with conversations with other entrepreneurs about the messy and magical ups and downs of this period of our lives. Plus, I’ll be sharing simple, actionable, step by step strategies to help you build a business with impact and a life that you love. So today, I want to welcome my first podcast guest, the lovely Yve Audaer. Yve is a weight loss coach and the founder of six for success. Yve has a unique programme. With her support and coaching her clients lose an average of 19 pounds. Wow. And that’s all while eating real delicious food. Welcome Yve. 

Yve

 

Hello, Suzanne. 

 

Suzanne

So good to have you here today. And thank you for agreeing to be my first guest or victim as you’ve just called it.

 

Yve  1:16  

I’m excited. I’m so looking forward to it. Good meeting.

 

Suzanne  1:21  

So let’s start by telling us how you came to set up 6 for Success.

 

Yve  1:27  

Well, 6 for Success was born 11 and a half years ago. And I set it up on the back of working as a consultant for a large, very well known UK slimming organisation. And I loved it, I really enjoyed my experience. But I decided that I wanted to do something different. And with the learns that I took from running my groups, I decided that I knew that what people wanted more than anything else was individual support that mattered to them more than anything, somebody who was going to hold their hand, who was going to hold them accountable, who was going to support them every single step of the way. So that was my number one takeaway, if you like from running a group programme, and the next lesson I took from it was to make it short term, a six week programme. 

Because when we embark on any weight loss programme, we have an idea of how much we want to lose. But we don’t have a set goal in mind. So six weeks is long enough to learn new habits to lose, as you mentioned, that wonderful average of 19 pounds in six weeks, and long enough for you to be able to take on board the new way of eating and for that to carry on to be long term weight loss success.

 

Suzanne  2:53  

Excellent. So you spotted a gap in the market, didn’t you? Really the clubs were providing group support and you know, once a week accountability, but you noticed that people really needed was everyday contact, constant support and accountability, and the short term goals so that people felt you know, it’s a programme, I can do that over that period of time.

 

Yve  3:20  

Absolutely. That’s the case. And yes, when I was running my groups, people would say that they left on a Monday and would be all gung ho for the first couple of days, and then they you know, they slip over and a piece of cake might like find their way into their mouth. And then they think, well, I’ve blown it, you know, so I did realise that it is about somebody caring as much about your success as you do.

 

Suzanne  3:48  

Yeah, yeah. And you know, we’ve all been there, haven’t we? We’ve all done that, you know, motivated on the Monday, or the Sunday night and by Wednesday, so, you know, Pour me another glass of wine, what the hell is worth living?

 

Yve  4:02  

You’ve had a bad day, the weather’s rubbish. It was your mum’s birthday. You know, I don’t know. There’s all there’s all sorts of reasons and excuses we can give ourselves to have that piece of cake to have that glass of wine. Too easy sometimes.

 

Suzanne  4:15  

Yeah. And too nice. Anyway, so approximately how old were you when you started your business then?

 

Yve  4:23  

I was 47 years young, when I set up fixer success. And yes, they were at 58 years old. Well, soon, very soon. Actually. Next week, just remind yourself, I will be 59.

 

Suzanne  4:39  

And how did it go when you set it up?

 

Yve  4:42  

Well, it was very different in terms of the food we eat and the support. It wasn’t different, but initially, I used to see people at their homes so I was driving around. Yeah, the boxship basically, go see people And, you know, doing their weigh in and having, you know, a week, an hour long coaching session with them.

 And suffice to say, it was taking me a lot of time, and I wasn’t making any money. So I then moved on to actually seeing people at my home. 

So they came to me. So that was better in terms of I wasn’t doing all that travelling. And I used to make them food every week, I would get one of my recipes. And we’d sit there and they’d eat with our coaching session and obviously be celebrating fantastic losses and planning for the week ahead. But that was the next stage, if you’d like the mid stage, it’s a success. 

 

And then, once in my life, I got ahead of the curve, unusual for me. And I started working with people remotely on a remote basis. 

So our communication being via WhatsApp, and then weighing themselves on their own scales each week, sending me a photograph, that’s the only difference really, and also, that they obviously weren’t tasting my delicious food, they still had the recipes. But again, if I think about what I provided, and I loved doing it, it wasn’t making a tonne of money. But I loved it. 

 

But where I am now and getting that in place a year before that first lockdown meant that it really didn’t have an impact on my business. So like I say, I was ahead of the curve. Amazing.

 

Suzanne  6:32  

Brilliant. Well done. Yeah. And what was the biggest challenge for you then in making these shifts in your business?

 

Yve  6:39  

Okay, this is the biggest challenge was the dreaded T word. Technology. 

 

It’s, you know, I’m sure that I would be described as a Luddite by some people, you know, give me a call man and a nature and I’m well away, I think it was making sure that I had everything in place that I could, you know, forward people, the recipes, you know, clearly enough that, you know, the communication works. And, you know, thanks to my trusty iPhone, this is basically where I run my business from.  WhatsApp is a fantastic thing. 

 

And it means that I can see photographs of what people are eating and the way to we keep in contact, and, and it’s free, it’s not costing my clients anything to send me those outings, which is great.

 

Suzanne  7:34  

And I love that, you know, it’s so simple, it’s as simple as that you found a way to move your business online, just by using your phone. And you know, everybody, nearly everybody has an iPhone that they can take photos with and upload,, things easily within an app that’s easy to use and send over to you.  I love that you’ve just kept it so simple in that sense.

 

Yve  7:59  

It really is. It’s so straightforward. And so simple. And, yeah, as you say, I don’t know, anybody, that don’t have WhatsApp. WhatsApp is so easy to use. So yeah. And of course, the great thing about it is that I can work with people, not just in the UK, but globally and have done. And also it means that we can work when I go away. So yes, it’s all done via this phone, which is fantastic.

 

Suzanne  8:29  

Love it. Yeah, and I love that, you talk about taking your clients on holiday with you, to beautiful places in the world, and, and are able to work and continue to support your clients while you’re there. Which means you can go away more often than you could, if you were, you know, tied to big pieces of technology, or you didn’t have the technology at all.

 

Yve  8:52  

I, know, absolutely. And that’s the thing. And of course, what it’s meant is that I can you know, from from going from the basis of seeing people face to face, the number of clients that I can take on and work with in any block is what will Drupal did, I think, you know, by being able to do that, because I wasn’t restricted to people coming to my home every week. So, yeah, it’s been amazing and a massive breakthrough from somebody like me, who is, you know, I suppose my age, many people of my age, are still a little bit scared of technology, see than they really are, and use it effectively. You know, the amount of people that I speak to that say,  my daughter or my son does that for me, you know, that was that was the case for me for sure.

 

Suzanne  9:42  

Yeah. And you’ve been open to learning new things and how to do new things. I mean, you know, we have a history, don’t we, you and I! 

 

Yve  9:53  

I promise you, I’m not eyeballing but yes, you gave me the confidence. That’s that I could do it. And at times when you told me we just got to do this and that, and I think no, can’t do it, can’t do it. And when you persevered with me, which you did, you know, very patiently with lots of humour and lots of kindness, and I did do it. Wow. I felt so empowered. It was great. And yes, things I do now that students things for years ago, I wouldn’t have even thought of doing is, oh, it’s just brilliant. Just brilliant. I’m almost a nerd. I’m almost done.

 

Suzanne  10:38  

I love that. I love that. So let’s just talk a little bit about visibility, then, because I know tech is an issue. But for lots of us, you know, actually getting visible, you know, getting our faces out there is not something that comes naturally to us. We’re not part of this. We weren’t born into the selfie generation, like our beautiful daughters and, and sons who just do it naturally all the time taking photos of themselves and looking at themselves. Talk to me about your experience of visibility and what it meant for you.

 

Yve  11:11  

Well, first, chuckling away here, just because of how much I fought you when you suggested that I actually put a photograph of myself. On my business page as the profile picture. I had a set of skills, which is the logo, and that was it and lots of colourful food as the main banner. But I just didn’t feature. So you know, I fought you, I eye rolled, I did all sorts of things. I said, No, I don’t want to photograph myself up there. Now I don’t, you know, I went on and on. 

 

And you came up with a few photographs that you’d seen of me that you said, why don’t we put this one up. And in fact you just, with my agreement, popped it up? It was the most liked and engaged post or the previous two years. I mean, it’s just amazing.

 

 And people do want to see you. They absolutely do. And, you know, that was the start of it. Then the next battle was doing videos, scared about doing videos, I can’t do them now, and I don’t know what to say. And all the rest of it now can’t keep me off the videos. 

 

Doing them normally, you know, with a few props, you know. Have you a different outfits to printing, you know, Christmas outfits, Halloween outfits, whatever. But I just realised that, and that’s when my social media took off. Big time. 

It makes such a difference. And you know what? No one cares that  I’m 58 years old. And I’ve got more lines, you know, than perhaps I’d like it. So what? That’s my age? That’s who I am. Why was I trying to hide myself? I don’t know. Crazy. I love it now. And I hadn’t realised how important it was.

 

Suzanne  13:08  

Yeah. And you know what? I think that resonates with most of us, doesn’t it? 

You know, we live in a culture where age is something to feel slightly embarrassed about because we celebrate youth. 

And you know, I’m on a mission to make sure that our wisdom gets out there as well. And that’s not to take anything away from all those beautiful young people who are doing what you know what they want to do. Great, you know, let’s cheer for them as well. But what about us, we’re just as valid, we have just as much if not more to give. But it’s painful, isn’t it when we first start trying to put ourselves out there. And it’s the voices in our own head that tell us that no one wants to see me with all my wrinkles, or my glasses etc. So whatever. Being overweight, it really doesn’t matter to anybody else.

 

Yve  13:59  

If that’s something that you sit through, I don’t like how I look in that when you said nobody is going to care. They want to hear what you’ve got to say. Stuff that we focus on, like that dodgy tooth that, you know, I don’t like, nobody else knows that. So why on earth was I, you know, not doing it. So, yeah, I totally agree. And, you know, I’m very proud that, you know, I’m 59 Next week, and I’m running such a successful business. And yeah, I I love it. I really do.

 

Suzanne  14:35  

Yeah, let’s hear it for that. I mean, we should be proud of ourselves, shouldn’t we? Absolutely. 

 

So what’s the one tip on business building you’d give to the listeners then?

 

Yve  14:46  

Okay, so I think it’s not trying to do every single thing yourself. Delegate those tasks that either bore you or make you eyeroll or you that you just literally haven’t got the skill set for it focus on what you excel at. And always think that like, you cannot be every single department in your business. You can’t when you can, but it’s going to be diluted skills, if you like that you give to that. So, yeah, if you can delegate it, if you’ve got the option to do it, then yeah, farm it out, do that and focus on your brilliance. And yeah, like I said, what you absolutely excel at.

 

Suzanne  15:32  

Yeah, and I agree, you know, if you can stay in your zone of genius, and allow someone to help you by them using their zone of genius, then it’s a win-win all round isn’t there.

 

Yve  15:42  

That’s such a brilliant expression. Zone of genius. I love that. I love it.

 

Suzanne  15:49  

It’s not my own expression, I have to say it comes from a book by a guy called Guy Hendricks, talking about The Big Leap, and he talks about us, staying in our zone of genius and identifying what that is. And it’s so crucial, because there is so much to do with small business owners, isn’t it? The list is endless. And actually, if we spent, you know, trying to do everything, and particularly those things that aren’t in our zone of genius, that’s where overwhelm and frustration comes, isn’t there?

 

Yve  16:19  

For sure. And I think, you know, that that happens to me at once I just can’t do everything. And then it made me stop wanting to do it at all. Yeah, because I thought it’s all too much. It’s all too much. And as you describe it as that overwhelm, I mean, it really does overwhelm you and overtakes you and and couldn’t, you know, disable you? Definitely.

 

Suzanne  16:42  

Yeah, yeah. And, you know, you’re not alone in experiencing that, you know, if I think about, over the six years, I’ve been running this business, the matter of fears, I’ve had to deal with, you know, from clients who have just got to that point of just being so frustrated, you know, so desperate to move forward and to move forward quickly, but so frustrated that they can’t seem to do it, or you know, that, that the technology is getting in their way, or the fear is getting in the way, and it just gets to the point where they think I’ll just throw the towel in and go get a proper job.

 

Yve  17:18  

Yeah, I’m sure I can identify. I absolutely can. Yeah,

 

Suzanne  17:23  

yeah. Okay. So what do you love most about your business? Then?

 

Yve  17:28  

What do I love about it? I absolutely adore the relationships that I built with my clients. The humour, the love, the emotional investment that works on both sides. It is fantastic. And I feel, I often say this, I feel so honoured and, and so flattered and grateful that people put so much trust and faith in me. I, yeah, it gives me a buzz every single day, and seeing people succeed, and particularly when they say I cannot lose weight, because I’m too old. I’m through the menopause. It’s, you know, too late for me. I love,  love,  love proving them wrong.

 

Suzanne  18:18  

Yeah, which is amazing, isn’t it, because there is this big thing about, you know, being menopause or, or being postmenopausal. And, you know, a lot of our listeners will be in that, that category themselves, that sort of acceptance that this is how I am now. And you know, I can’t change it. And I know you work with a lot of clients of that age and help them see that it doesn’t have to be

 

Yve  18:41  

I know, it’s always, like, it’s my mission. To say it doesn’t have to be this way. Then number of discovery calls that start with somebody saying to me, Well, of course, you know, I’m going through the menopause and post medicals, that means, you know, I’ll never lose weight. And yes, you can. I’m there. So, yeah, yeah, and I think it’s really important because we’re not going to write ourselves off. You know, we’re not going to start worrying when certain posts with elasticated waist and having a bone young. We need to do this, we need to kind of you know, yeah, embrace life and know that there is no such thing as not being able to lose weight, pre children or post menopause.

 

Suzanne  19:29  

Brilliant. Brilliant. And you mentioned discovery calls. So can you just explain what you mean by that in case anybody who’s listening doesn’t understand

 

Yve  19:37  

your sources. And so when a client gets in contact with me and expresses an interest or they might be word of mouth from a friend or family member, or they’ve been very inspired by Netflix and media, things, some great success stories. We set up a discovery call and that call lasts about an hour and we go through a All sorts of things, maybe how much weight somebody wants to lose what they’ve tried before, what gets in their way, what an average days eating looks like. And, you know, I’m pretty forensic in my questioning about exactly what the bleep because, you know, many of us can get to the end of the day, and if asked to recall what we’ve eaten up to struggle with that, so, because a lot of my work is about mindful eating, yeah, it’s a very good exercise when people didn’t realise I had all the snacks or whatever. So we go through that I explain a little bit about, you know, the basics, how my programme work, and certainly the all important accountability and support. And, you know, we also dig deep about, you know, where the emotions come in, in terms of carrying extra weight, but for some people can be, you know, quite a sad and negative experience. So, you know, we discussed that a lot, and we talk a lot about that. And often there’s tears because it’s a very, very emotional subject, it really is. So, it’s full on information gathering, and information sharing during that hour long call.

 

Suzanne  21:17  

And I think it’s so important to talk about those feelings around weight as well, because, you know, like we talked about a bit earlier about this, you know, feeling embarrassed at being older, there is that shaming of people who are overweight as well in our society isn’t there in that aren’t that you know, terrible culture for your name, then you must be lazy, or you know, all those labelling of people who are who are overweight. So, you having that Heart to Heart conversation with them, must make them you know, must start that relationship on a really good honest footing, but also a non judgmental,

 

Yve  21:55  

basically. And, and you absolutely right, you know, we do live in a fattest society, we absolutely do. And people do feel that we feel ashamed, they feel embarrassed. Often those feelings will lead to people eating secretly want to hide how much for eating from other people, it stops, people even exercise even going out for a walk, because they’re worried that they’re going to get laughed out or catcalled or whatever. And it does make me mad, and it makes me mad. It makes me so sad. And I think it’s one of the reasons I can empathise so much with my clients. I’ve been there. Yeah, t shirt. Done. It struggled, cancelled going out, Suzanne cancelled social engagements and made excuses. Because I did not want to be the biggest person there. Or to see people think, gosh, you know, she’s, she’s gone to seed or gone to it. Is it scary at what it does? So, you know, I get it. And I I feel it, you know, for people that I work with? I absolutely do.

 

Suzanne  23:02  

Yeah, yeah, I’m sure. So what one tip would you give to our listeners if they wanted to lose weight?

 

Yve  23:08  

Okay, my one top tip is you’ve got to want it. You’ve got to desire it so much, that it is going to be one of your main priorities in life. Don’t try and lose weight, because you’ve been told you should. Whether that’s by a GP who’s told you you’re pre diabetic, because you’ve checked the BMI scales, and you found yourself in the, you know, the morbidly obese or clinically obese category. You’ve got to do it for you. Absolutely for you. And all the helpful suggestions that sometimes our loved ones can give us. Ooh, do you think you want to lose weight? When we’ve got weight to lose Suzanne we know it. We don’t need to be told that by somebody else. But I believe all of us and and that this can happen several times over the years have that light bulb moment where we think now’s the time. Now, I want to find me again, I want to feel lighter, mentally and physically and shake off the if you like the negative feelings of carrying that extra weight. Really

 

Suzanne  24:22  

nice. Yeah, I agree. People have got to be ready, haven’t they? So one piece of advice you’d give to your younger self Eve?

 

Yve  24:30  

Uh huh. This is a this is a good one. And it certainly something I think since then that I have properly grown up in the last three years. So the advice I would give is, not everyone is going to love you so much. You want everyone to love you. They aren’t so you can’t please all of the people all of the time. That’s that’s pretty I would say and like I say, probably any of the last three years, I actually feel I’ve made that that massive step into proper adulthood. Yeah, not gonna happen.

 

Suzanne  25:12  

Yeah. And I think, you know, while while we’re building a business, it’s key to remembering that actually not just not just in life, but you know, we make ourselves vulnerable in building our business and putting it out there and putting ourselves out there on social media. And it’s very easy for other people to make judgments about that. And to hurt us in that process is really a great tip there. So how can listeners find out more about your services

 

Yve  25:42  

that keep that they can get in touch with me via my website, or my social media channels, so I’ve got a very active Facebook page, and Instagram account, and I’m also on LinkedIn. So I will, if you want to set up a discovery call, or just you know much about do a bit of research into how I work and what I do, and the type of food we eat, then yeah, those are the four places to go.

 

Suzanne  26:11  

Brilliant, brilliant. So thank you, Eve, I will add links to your social media and your website onto the show notes. So anybody who’s listening, pop over to the page and click through those links and connect with Eve and find out about the fantastic work she’s doing. And see some of the wonderful transformation photos before and after photos to take. Thank you very much Eve. It’s been a pleasure.

 

Yve  26:38  

I’ve so enjoyed it. Suzanne, thank you very much for having me on. Thank you.

 

Suzanne  26:43  

Very, very okay, that’s a wrap for today. Thanks for listening. Please subscribe, rate and review the midlife Business Show. And if you’ve enjoyed it, tell your business buddies all about it. Bye for now.

 

Transcribed by https://otter.ai