Curious AF

#9 - Building Success Through Outsourcing - Linh Podetti

• Luke B

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Guest: Linh Podetti, Founder & CEO of Outsourcing Angel, Host of EO Business Podcast, Versatile Entrepreneur, Speaker, Presenter, Mentor, and Author. 

Host: Luke Biermann, Managing Director of Mechanical Seal Engineering Pty Ltd, Councillor of Pump Industry Australia, Forum Chair of Entrepreneurs Organisation Adelaide, and Founder of Hard Stuff Podcast

In this episode of the Hard Stuff Podcast, host Luke Biermann chats with Linh Podetti, a versatile entrepreneur, podcaster, and outsourcing expert. Linh shares her profound and inspiring entrepreneurial journey, from starting a nail polish business in 2009 to founding Outsourcing Angel, a company providing remote staff from overseas. She opens up about her personal challenges, including being a single mother and dealing with a dysfunctional family, and how those experiences shaped her path to success. The discussion shifts to the power of outsourcing, the intricacies of managing remote teams, and Linh’s deep commitment to social impact and philanthropy. Additionally, she talks about her venture into podcasting, highlighting the joys and learning experiences it brought her. Lynn’s story is a powerful testament to resilience, growth, and the importance of giving back.

ABOUT CURIOUS AF PODCAST

Curious AF is the evolution of what started as The Hard Stuff Podcast. Initially focused on guests who’d done hard things—ultra marathons, building businesses, overcoming personal challenges—it’s now becoming a broader platform to explore anything and everything I’m genuinely curious about.
The new direction is more personal and wide-ranging. I want it to feel like a space where I can follow my curiosity and have real conversations with people who inspire, challenge, or fascinate me.

For further information, contact:
Podcast Host - Luke Biermann
General Inquiries: hello@curiousaf.com.au
Instagram: @curiousaf.podcast

Hello, and welcome to the hard stuff podcast. Today, my guest is Lynn Pedetti. She's an entrepreneur. She's a podcaster with multiple podcasts. She's a philanthropist. She's an outsourcing expert, and so much more. I love talking to Lynn. She's an amazing storyteller, very charismatic, and she's just got, she's a very inspiring person. if you are enjoying the show, please make sure to follow me on whatever audio platform you are listening to. Hope you enjoy the show. Thanks for listening.

Luke:

Thanks for coming on the show.

Linh:

You're welcome. Thanks for having me. And it's a privilege to be in beautiful Melbourne.

Luke:

Um, that's so much fun prepping for this interview and kind of going over all the things you've done. You're such an inspirational character. Um, I just thought we'd get started by kind of diving into your entrepreneurial journey.

Linh:

Yeah. Uh, so I started my business in 2009 actually. It was a nail polish business. Uh, the reason why I started that is that I had no idea what to start. You know, when you Have never been in a business. Well, you don't have any Entrepreneurs in your family. You just so limited in your thinking you can't think of any any opportunity So there was the first opportunity that came at me a friend of mine gave me some nail polish And I thought I could sell it and make a million dollars by if I could just make a dollar from a million woman I would be successful, but I was so gullible and that's probably why You know, I'm where I am because I'm, you know, I'm so naive that I just give things a go. I

Luke:

think that's a, that's an important trait for entrepreneurs. I think if you know how hard it's going to be, you probably are never going to start. Yeah.

Linh:

So yeah, when you're oblivious to the consequences of life, you just go ahead. And so I learned a lot about e commerce or building a product online, building a business online. Uh, I had to learn to outsource because I had limited funds and I learned a lot about marketing and so because of that business, it led me into starting a marketing agency, leveraging offshore staff and then it led me into outsourcing, which is the company that I'm in now, Outsourcing Angel, where we provide people with remote staff from overseas. So that's kind of like the short story to my entrepreneurship journey. That's

Luke:

awesome. Yeah. I mean, I think a lot of people like, like for me that my business journey started. As, uh, I'm a, I'm a tradesman, and then so you kind of get good at something. You're like, oh, I can turn this into the business. But it's an interesting perspective thinking about, I mean, how old were you at the time?

Linh:

So I was about 27 at the time. Okay. I was, I'm a, I was a single mom. Yep. Um, my, yeah, my child was quite small and I was really determined to start an online business because. When you have a corporate job working nine to five, you just, you could not be there for him. And I remember taking him to school, you know, before care, after care, and I said, that's it. I really need to take the leap and start a business. Um, and I didn't have any particular skill set. Like for example, if someone is a graphic designer, then they naturally start graphic design business or, you know, whatever you're good at, you start. But I actually. I didn't think I was good at anything because the skill that I had is more of like a soft skill like I'm a people person. It's one of those things that you can apply to any business, but it's not a particular business. And so that's probably why I kind of struggled to think of a business idea. But I think the lesson I learned is that, you know, whatever you start, you never know where that would lead you. If I didn't start that nail polish business, then I wouldn't have learned the skills from there. That when people said to me, um, so when I was. I knew that I hated nail polish. I woke up more depressed than, you know, when I had a corporate job. So I need, I knew I needed to do something, but instead of going back to a job, I'm like, okay, what else can I do? So I started like a meetup event where I would bring together other entrepreneurs who are just starting out like me. It was actually called business startup, zero capital. I'm like, you know, what if I just. Just gather more people who don't have money like me and we can help each other. And maybe I don't even have to be the one giving all the content. I could actually get some of the members with different skill set to go and speak. And so it was like a fortnightly event in Melbourne actually, cause I was originally from Melbourne. And that was when I started to build an audience. People started to go, okay, Lynn, what do you do? And I was like, Oh, I run an Apple business. I started learning a bit about life coaching and all that, but didn't really have anything to offer. Uh, and they're like, Oh yeah, me too. I started a business and. I don't know how to do this website, I don't know how to do this marketing, and I was just giving tips. Uh, and I didn't think that was worth anything. But when they said, okay, how do you do that? I go, oh, well, you don't do it yourself, you can go hire these people from overseas. And, you know, you upload a job, and then you get them to apply, and they're like, well, how do you do that? Can you just do it for me?

Recording 17:

And

Linh:

then that was how I discovered that I had a talent. And from learning it from my first business to be able to start a, uh, I guess like a marketing agency at first, uh, for several years before I decided to pivot into, let me just match you with the person.

Luke:

So I mean, so this was all back in 2009, I would imagine with both the e commerce and also the outsourcing, there wasn't anywhere near as much infrastructure for that kind of thing. Um, as far as I'm aware anyway, so how did you kind of go about?

Linh:

I mean, e commerce back then, it was all about like, you know, WooCommerce and there wasn't Shopify, I don't think, but there's still other platforms. Um, and in terms of up, so the site that I used to use is called Odesk, but it's called Upwork now. Uh, and you know, at the time there was still some other sites like. Freelancer and a few others. Um, it wasn't that it wasn't around. It's just not as many people know about it. And a lot of people were skeptical about it because it's true. If you don't know what you're doing in the outsourcing game, you would be finding duds like I did. And look, I didn't actually knew to, uh, knew about this offshore. I first outsourced to Australian companies. I had a website built only to find out that they built it on a proprietary platform that after spending three or four grand, I couldn't even do anything with it. They said, we need to do the changes for you. It's going to cost you 75 an hour moving forward. And I'm like, why don't you tell me that at the beginning? I was like, in a way, that's deceitful, you know, like without knowing what you're doing, you know, you can get taken advantage of. So with limited funds, I actually had to throw away the website. And build it from scratch. And that's when I was searching and somehow stumbled across like, cheaper people to be able to do that.

Luke:

Yeah, I mean that's so interesting. So, so my kind of experience with that was, I had a few situations the same as you, where I tried to outsource and it would just turn into this big expensive thing that cost me so much and I just didn't have. So, I went the other direction. Instead of outsourcing, I just did everything myself. Right? So, and it just turned into me being a tradesman, being a, you know, website development, and all, like doing all this stuff that I had no business doing and I wasn't that good at. Um, so yeah, I've recently kind of started outsourcing myself. And the freedom that that gives you is just, just unbelievable. And

Linh:

the thing is, I think we all outsource stuff. some parts of our life, you know, we outsource the cooking, we eat out, we source, you know, I outsource cleaning. I mean, we outsource a lot of things that we're familiar with, but when it comes to online outsourcing services, people are like, it's weird, it's foreign, you know, I should try to do it myself. Um, but it's really comes down to the same thing. It's like, how much is your time worth and can someone else do it better than you as well? All right. The stress, the energy that it takes from you. So I spent the last, my

Luke:

12 month journey. I've, I've read, uh, is it who not how? Yeah, absolutely. And, and I've gone from working ridiculous hours. And this was also part of my mentality. Like I have to do everything because nobody can do it as good as me, which just fundamentally is just not true. Right. Um, and I've, I've kind of, I've got all aspects of my business for the last 12 months started outsourcing everything and the level of freedom I have and the level of kind of Um, I met how much my mental health freed up going on that journey. It's just phenomenal.

Linh:

Yeah. And I mean, the word outsourcing could also mean just who can you delegate it to? And that comes from, you start off as with contractors, someone that you can just hire on demand, then you want to get them, you know, full part time, then you can upgrade to full time. Um, even hiring a local person, sometimes we struggle with delegating. So it's like, it's all about like being able to let go of control, knowing that someone else can do it. Maybe not better at the beginning, but even it was 95%, but eventually, you know, they'll get, you know, better. And so sometimes people think of outsourcing very transactional. I always tell people, hire someone, try to have them working for you as long as possible, because the longer they work for you, the more they know you. It's like, you know, whoever you're married to, if you first make them, it's like, they don't really know you, but the longer you are, they can almost. You know, talk on your behalf, right? Yeah, 100 percent

Luke:

agree. I mean, for what we do as well, what I do is so niche and getting somebody up to scratch is so, I guess, demanding that, you know, losing a staff member is such a you know, hard, negative experience that, yeah, I think you just gotta get to the point where you gotta get really good people and keep them happy.

Linh:

Exactly, so I think whether you're outsourcing, you should treat it like you're hiring local staff to really get them to grow with you, yeah.

Luke:

Yeah, so as far as my outsourcing journey Um, I've just hired my first, uh, VA, and she's fantastic and it's really, I guess I wanted to touch base on my fears. Outsourcing overseas was always something other people do. And I had a deep fear of, I guess, how do you manage people? And also I have this issue in my own business. I think it comes down to a lack of trust. But as far as, um, managing remote teams, would you have any advice for anyone listening?

Linh:

Yeah, um, that's what I do for a living. Yeah, absolutely. Our whole company is remote. Yep. Um, yeah, and I think, what did you think of VA when you first started? When you heard the word VA? You know, did you know what skillset they were doing or what were

Luke:

some

Linh:

limited thinking about that?

Luke:

I mean, specifically the word VA. Yeah, like when you first

Linh:

VA'd, did you even know what VA stand for? I knew it was VA for virtual

Luke:

assistant and I kind of just thought it's overseas executive assistant. Uh huh.

Linh:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then you thought that they were going to be working so close with you that you're wondering how are you going to, you know, Pass on the information and if you can lean on them, is that right? Yeah. Um, well, yeah, I always tell people it doesn't matter. I mean, the good thing about after COVID is that people realize you can work from anywhere and you can get done things done more efficiently. Um, for me, I remember I wanted to start an online business. So when I started working remotely from home, it was my mission to build a not remote business. Even when, you know, we, like any business you have. Client retention issues and you have to anything and I had a like a I guess like a joint venture partner at the time And he was like maybe we should put everyone in the office and then we can control them and we can make sure they don't You know, we can control the quality and I said nah, you know I'd rather close this business then to make everyone go back to a corporate.

Luke:

You're also trapping yourself I mean like like right now I have the luxury of being in South Bank, you know This is amazing. And and I just spoke to my leadership team this morning And everything's fine. You know what I mean? I had such a deep fear of not being in the office because the second I'm not eyes on, that everything's going to crash because nobody's going to do their job. Exactly. Don't

Linh:

tell me, when I was in a corporate job, I was surfing the internet half of my time doing my work enough that they're like, wow, you're so good. And I'm like, you don't even know that I've been surfing on the internet and still deliver. And that was why I decided to start my business. I'm like, just because I'm getting paid. Um, but I'm not feeling challenged, you know, I'm, I'm just a number in this corporate job. And even when I'm wasting half of my time, they still hire me and still think I'm amazing. So imagine if I work full on for myself and put a hundred percent effort in. So anyway, remote became a thing for me. I wanted to have the flexibility and freedom for anyone that works with me. So even though our team now we have maybe five or six, uh, Australian staff. They still work from home and even when I first hired, um, you know, more Australians as well with, I thought that we're going to hang out more and we're going to meet up and collaborate. But I'm like, Oh my God, by the time we drive to each other and then we chit chat about how things going, it's, we're so unproductive. So we, I actually really prefer online. And so with online, obviously all we have is a laptop. So what do we need? We'd need softwares. We need infrastructure in terms of how do we communicate what are the protocols. So, you know, without project management tool such as Asana or we currently use notion, uh,

Luke:

just started using notion. Yeah, it's good. Yes.

Linh:

So you have a tool that can allow you to create tasks assigned to the right person. You can even. Put the deadline in and you know with with team members working different time out a different time zone They can work on it when you're asleep. So it's really clear there the office for us used to be slack But now it's Google chats. So it's almost like a mimic of whatever you have in person You just have to make sure you have it online You know when people are starting out, you know You would probably tell them what time you work how you should communicate with blood when you should have that online as well What time is my, uh, working hours? Uh, and the thing is, you need to actually explain for them to be more over communicating than under. Just because, because you're online, they might be working, um, but they need to tell you that they're working. So it's not just, Hi, good morning, I'm here, and then disappear for the whole time. We always encourage them to go, remember we don't know what you're really doing. So try to be as more communicative so we try to communicate as much as possible. So, for example, So before work, we get everyone to fill out what, um, so you know, with Google chats, you can do automations where it pops up and go. So we actually have an automation that says, what are you grateful for today and what are the three impactful tasks that you're going to work on? And even though we've got like 20 admin team, meaning the team that works internally, we have about 80 virtual staff that work for clients. Um, who I manage is usually the main staff and everyone would enter already and say, I'm grateful that I spent quality time with my husband. You know, whatever else that's happening in their personal life and then they share the impact with us. So everyone in other departments can also see that as well, right? So

Luke:

this is on the Google

Linh:

chats, but you can use that on Slack. So every tool has an automation integration. All right, whether it's Zapier or make it integrates there. So, um, one thing that I've learned in the last few years is not just about getting people to do more work for you to automate. I mean to scale your business. It's like how can you? Softwares and tools, automate things, so even a VA would have better time working for you. you. know Back then I wasn't very aware with the whole software thing, so just because I had a cheaper labor, I used to get him to, every time my email I would cc him so he could copy and paste the messages onto the CRM system.

Recording 17:

Yeah

Linh:

And it was years later that when I hired someone that knew more than me, said, Why are you doing that? You can just integrate it and every email would just go straight in there. And so that's what we with clients, we're always asking them, you know, what tools are you using? How are you using it? Surprisingly, a lot of people still using Excel, um, and you know, the software's out talking to each other. So if you can do a bit of that. And then getting your team to communicate in a, in a, in a structured way. So at the end of the day, when someone's new to working with you as well, uh, you want them to also go, what did I achieve? What about my, some of my challenges? And so you want to kind of keep a pulse on how they're going and what's happening and obviously having more one on one coaching calls with them to understand, um, how well they went and then giving them feedback as much as possible at the beginning. But later on, they should. Start to be working like clockwork. Uh, one of the other cool thing that I get the team to do is I have a notion spreadsheet has everyone's name on there. And I actually, cause I love reflection personally. I reflect daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, because when you reflect, it allows you to really think, what did I actually achieve and what problems that I face, what kind of was the theme for this month or how am I going to. Make a better intention next month. When you, even though you think it's taking time away, it's actually so good because sometimes. depression and anxiety comes because you just feel like I'm not getting there. You're so focused on the goal that is so far away. But when you start to write it down, you're like, Oh my God, I did so much progress, right? And so I was like, okay, I love doing this. I've been doing it for years. I need my team members to do this. So it's compulsory and they lose points if they don't fill out the weekly report where it says, you know, rating one to five. Why, uh, what did you achieve? What are you planning to do? What did you learn last week? What's your challenge? What's your intention? I literally duplicated everything I wanted to do. Um, and I hold them accountable when they're missing the column of challenge. I'm like, really? There's no challenge. Like think, you know, cause if you don't think you're just going to go by day and really not. fixing the things that's really happening. You're just going with the flow and and it's also about how do you get your team members to get to know each other to, uh, to really almost get inside the heads of each other so that we can work well as a team.

Luke:

Yeah, fantastic. So you mentioned you were a single mother at the time. Um, I think it's a very difficult situation. I think a lot of people will kind of just kind of put their hands up and say, you know, this is, this is too hard to deal with. How did you kind of find the motivation to be able to move forward?

Linh:

Well, I think my style is just jump in and then go, Oh, I didn't realize it's hard. Look, I grew up with a quite dysfunctional. Um, upbringing, my parents forced me to work at the age of 10. I was sewing from home till I was like teenager. It was forced work as in, I had to go to, uh, go to school, come home and so for them, cause they had a, uh, sewing business at home and, you know, typical kind of. Self employed they don't have any work life balance. It was like 7 a. m Wake up work till 12 the longer you work the more they think they were gonna make Because you get paid for what you kind of produce Weekends it was like every other day. There was no weekend. And then so I really I really felt that I was unloved. I felt, you know, imagine being a child and all that pressure and anxiety of like endless work. I still have nightmares to this day. I, I have a nightmare that I'm still sewing and I wake up like panicking, um, and so I was resisting my parents. I'm like, this is not right. Like I need my life. And so that's when we started to create this big tension with my parents were fighting all the time. I ended up running away and ended up, um, Choosing the wrong path. I mean I dated lots of people that were not good for me But I didn't know any better because I was almost so gullible and I was also acting out You know, it's almost like someone who's hurt just wants to rebel and just don't care, you know And so I end up not really listening to any of the things my parents said so some of the things they said I don't agree, but some of the things I said, which is hey, I don't think this person is good for you I didn't care because I didn't no longer trust Their advice so I ended up Um, being a, I dated someone and then when we said we're going to have a kid, I'm like, yeah, why not? You know, let's just have a kid. And I, and I told my parents, I said, guess what? I'm pregnant. Like I was, you know, it wasn't that we were friendly and they're like, you know, you're having a baby. Like, as in, no, you should not have a baby. I said, it's not that hard. They're like, I just was very oblivious. I just thought it's a baby. You just have it. They're cute. That's the only thing that I could think of. Um, and so when I had a child, I was like, oh my God, this is actually one of the, one early decision where you kind of have to live with it for years, you know, sometimes you could make a decision to, you know, drink alcohol or get drunk. It kind of happens once this is kind of forever. So the learning curve for me was just that I put myself in there and I had no idea what to expect. Uh, so I quickly had to learn to time manage. I didn't want to disappoint myself where, cause I felt like I failed. Like I had a lot of pride where I was like, mom, I'm going to prove to you that I could have a baby and the guy that I'm dating is going to be amazing to me. And when it didn't work out, I was like, and there was telling me like, I don't want you to be this. who's going to be on Centrelink and, you know, have no career because you're just stuck being a mother. So I decided that no, like I've already failed once. I'm not going to fail again. And so I put myself through uni and I only took six months off. So I was kind of like pregnant at uni. Imagine this 19 year old and then kind of like took a few semesters off. to have a baby and then came back and then I graduated, uh, with a distinction in international business. And so one of the things that I learned early on is that you never know what you're capable of unless your back is against the wall. When, uh, my family also disowned me because they were so angry and so embarrassed being Asian. They were like, you've embarrassed us like it wasn't about. Are you okay? How are you going to handle it? It was like, get out of here. You're embarrassing us. And what are people going to say about you? And so when you realize that you can't depend on anyone but yourself, then you just had to get out. I was suicidal at the time as well, because when you don't have parents, your exes or your partner at the time was abusive. So we had, Um, yeah, we have incidents where he's physically abused me. Um, and I remember telling my, luckily I had beautiful kind of parent, like the, the guy's parents were nice and supportive and called my parents and said, Hey, your daughter really needs help. And she, um, you know, she's even thinking about suiciding. My parents said she got herself there, she can get herself out and they hung up. And I was, it's like, you just have all these thoughts in your mind about like, it's easier if you go. But then the blessing is that because I have a child here, I can't, who's going to take care of him? And so I kind of had to, you know, stick around and, and overcome it. And so I just, I think I was just focusing on day by day, trying to finish my uni, got a job. And when my son was, um, at, I can't remember, five, six years old or something like that. And I was, I remember going to a job. I said, I turned around to my son. I said, son. One day we're gonna be able to travel around the world and mommy's gonna start her own business I'm gonna make you so proud, you know I just I think one thing that got me through everything is I've always been a dreamer I've always visualized and imagined because

Recording 17:

yeah

Linh:

when you don't really have anything in your reality The only thing is you can go into your headspace and just imagine and so yeah I just learnt to time manage and

Luke:

such an inspirational story and I think So many entrepreneurs have a similar kind of story about kind of the school of hard knocks, right? So I've seen her in a way where I think my parents both had, uh, I feel like I did grow up in a kind of household that lacked love. And it's because my parents had a hard childhood themselves, right? So I don't blame them for that, but that. Led me to be quite an angry young man. I

Linh:

was so angry too. I was so

Luke:

angry. And I didn't listen to anybody. And that led to just so much, um, so many issues, you know, like so much alcohol abuse, drug abuse. I have a similar situation where when I was, um, yeah, 20, I got somebody pregnant from a one night stand. Oh! I didn't know that. Absolutely. Yeah. Everything's fantastic now and we've managed to make it work, but, um. So you

Linh:

end up having a baby then?

Luke:

Yeah, absolutely. That's my oldest son, Cooper. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, um, yeah, he's 13 now. So, so everything ended well and we've got a good relationship and we managed that well. But at the time, um, yeah, the, the, the same. I mean, my, my mental health went down and I was just so, So angry at the world, and I think it took me to kind of hit that rock bottom to kind of Rise up and try to change the world.

Recording 17:

Yeah, and

Luke:

I think a lot of my motivation Was to kind of prove to the world that I can do this that I am capable that I am worthy And and now I'm at the point where I've I've kind of you know reached a level of success and don't get me wrong I'm not you know up here or anything But I've reached a level of success that I never thought I'd reach and I'm I'm kind of looking at The next stage of my life and, and, and where I want to go. That's right.

Linh:

And it took me longer than just that story. Like I ended up after, you know, having a baby and, and I still dated and made lots of bad choices. It wasn't until I was just around the time to 2009, 2010, when I first started my business was the first time I looked at myself and realized that I had a problem because I just went out of, came out of another different relationship, which was also abusive. Um, and. For the first time I said, Oh my God, maybe I was a common denominator. You know, maybe I was the one that had no idea who I am. I could not be alone. I was always needing a relationship and let's work on myself. And you know, I cried out, cried out to God and I wasn't even religious at the time. And that's when I felt as if I hit my rock bottom and I feel like there's a pattern in life I've noticed is that until the day you really hit your rock bottom and you surrender and you're like. No, it's it takes more than me. It's like I have to realize that you have to humble yourself to the point that I can't do this on my own. I need help and somehow God or the universe hears that and then not that he comes down from the sky and goes here I'll save you. It's that there's a shift in your, the way you see things. And then all of a sudden I was, I got introduced to Oprah's gratitude practice and I started writing my gratitude. I found a life coaching course. I learned it because I thought maybe I could be a life coach and make money only to realize that I need to fix my life before I go to coach someone else. So I learned a lot for that, but that's when I discovered Tony Robbins did so much personal development and I'm still continuing on that journey now. But during that time that I started working on myself was when everything shifted, I. I wanted to date next and then I got married in eight months after I kind of had my rock bottom. Uh, I, I call that more rock bottom than the rock bottom of having a child because when you have a child and you still think you can do it and you still think that after I date him, I'll date someone else. And it's all you, you, you think you know everything, but it's only until rock bottom is when like you literally think. Like I can't help myself was when I feel my life really shifted because even the suicidal thing I felt like oh I'm like, I won't suicide anymore. I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna do that. So I was still the fixer Whereas when I surrendered to God to go I can't do this help it It's worked out and I think what that's that's really helped me to develop a new philosophy in life where it's like You don't have to control everything Lynn the more you surrender the more So, things will come and the more you can stop trying to have things work in your timing, you got to wait for God's timing,

Recording 17:

right?

Linh:

And then I, you know, five, four or five years ago, I discovered Christianity and I kind of got, I delve into that side of thing. And so it's really made me a lot more happier. And the person you see now with this work life balance and happy, truly happy is because of my faith.

Luke:

That's awesome. So. How do you, how do you think of kind of those hard times now? I mean, in some ways I reflect back, a lot of those hard times have kind of built who I am today.

Linh:

Yeah. So the other thing I learned in my Christian faith is that God cares more about your character than your comfort. Um, so everything, we're put, we're put in this earth temporarily to actually build ourself. And the only way that we build our character is through going challenges, you know, people like us, we kind of. put ourselves in bad situations in the past, so we had to go through challenges and learn. I've seen friends who grew up avoiding all the challenges, did all the right things, said yes to their parents, and never, you know, done anything bad. They still face challenges later on. So we'll all eventually face challenges. Whether that challenge came in the form of they couldn't get pregnant, or um, you know, they end up divorcing later on, even after dating someone for a really long time, they go through Separation and so I'm like, you know what? None of us on this earth can avoid Challenges we either do it earlier and put ourself in there. Yeah, we do it later Yeah, so the beauty thing is once you've done it and you learned from it.

Recording 17:

Yeah,

Linh:

I Know knock on wood. I have not faced any major challenges that I'm Um, you know, like that's unbearable anymore

Luke:

challenges lead to growth. And I think going through that in an earlier kind of stage of your life means that you can start that growth trajectory and mindset and all of that stuff a lot earlier.

Linh:

Yeah. And maybe it's not that I don't have any more challenges. It's just that I've embraced it now, you know, even in business, it never gets easier. I was talking to a friend the other day cause he's starting out and he was stressing out about like. How am I going to make money and this and that? And I said, that will always be a problem. So welcome to the Australian world. You'll just have a, you know, more. You'll be able to deal

Luke:

with it better. Yeah, that's it. You just

Linh:

know from the past, uh, history that you've overcome it, you know, you'll be able to overcome it again. And you kind of start to enjoy the journey a bit more because like, Oh, who can I become because of all this?

Luke:

Yeah.

Linh:

Yeah.

Luke:

Something else that inspired me when I was kind of doing a bit of prep for the episode is, is the social impact. So I didn't, and that's something I'm looking to make a shift in my own business because, because my business personally. Has always just been about, you know, me, me, me, um, I want to be rich, I want to make money. And as I can feel that as I grow, kind of going away and I'm looking to the next stage of my life, that's something that I'm very interested in. So talk about the journey of, um, you know, how you made the decision.

Linh:

So look, at first I started the business cause I wanted to be there for my son. And it wasn't this online opportunity. And I also assumed that people I was working with, um, in the Philippines or elsewhere, I just, cause I used to, I was born in Vietnam, so I knew what life was like in Vietnam, but to be honest, I was very oblivious. I was just imagining that all in a high rise building and didn't think too much. I knew they were making less money than they would be able to. But I was not that connected to, to them. But it wasn't until I went to the Philippines and I saw the country with my own eyes, seeing that the staff, even though I'm paying him way more than he would normally get paid over there, and even in similar jobs, he was actually splitting his income with his parents, his sick relative or whatever else, because that's just what the culture is like in Asia. And he also lived in provinces where He didn't have hot water and I was like, Oh my God, wow. And I said, and then the infrastructure in the Philippines was so bad that it takes three hours to get to work and three hours back. And I'm like, they are all moms and dads who can't even be there for their child because of work, because of trying to make a living. And so that was when I felt really connected to the business itself. I'm like, my business is actually. Making a change, you know, there's, it's, you know, taking away the need to travel, the, the pollution, people are getting to be there with their family and earning a better living. And so that was something that I fell in love with. But then along the way, early on, actually, it was, I think it was 2013, um, one of my staff member, the one that I said had no cold water and I stayed at his house, he actually had a cousin who was a gangster, bad boy who turned, uh, He also discovered Jesus and found his faith and he started to volunteer and help people around, um, the Philippines. But because he's just a volunteer, he doesn't really have resources to buy them anything. And so we just started off as just donating 100, 200 here and there, but then we just consistently do that. And then so over the years we just continue to increase what we can give to them and then, uh, the good thing about partnering with these volunteers is that they know what's going on in, in, in certain places. So typhoon might come or there's, there's some sort of, um, you know, issues there. They were like, Hey, can we please use this fund for this? And we're like, perfect. And because they're not an organization such as like maybe we'll vision, whatever else, who's at a proper. Which, whatever money you give, it doesn't necessarily go directly because they have a business to run. You've got to pay the staff and all that stuff and you never know how it's run. Whereas, every dollar I give them, I can literally see We're building houses, we're like building solar panels, you know, we're digging holes and making water. Uh, and then so sometime, um, when we're over in the Philippines, we'll go and So the niche that he covers is actually people living in the high mountains where it's inaccessible to most government. Help us because the only way to get up is climb the one time that I came up there It took me four hours to climb and we thought we're gonna die There was no way down and I'm talking about it's not like it's a path where you can walk on the walking path It's literally raw as anything, you know, and we ran out of water We had to start drinking water from the ground. And so these are the people that live up there They're I guess the indigenous of the Philippines. They don't the kids have never had a bath. They only Bath in the, in the river. Yeah. And so we, so I think that's all of that really helped me to feel really connected. So we're not a charity, we're still a business, but we run it like a nonprofit. We kind of do always donate money to charity. We say that we donate 10 percent of profit to charity, but even if, you know, we make business decisions to reinvest in the business, we still make sure we allocate money to the business, uh, to the. Because that's the reason why a lot of our staff members want to work with us. They're like, you're so different. You're not here just for making money. You're here, you're making me feel like I have a purpose. I'm not just a VA, or I'm not just a staff member, by me working, we're all part of a bigger mission, so I think for you, it's about finding something closer to your heart, not just like, oh, you know, let's just do, you know, I don't know, like whatever bit, whatever's happening because of someone else's, Yeah. It's like finding something that's more connected to yourself.

Luke:

And that's kind of what I've been trying to figure out, um, I'm looking a lot into kind of mental health and stuff like that and whether I can somehow connect with the institution around that.

Linh:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. And I think once you embed it into the business, I feel like everyone around you would benefit from it because. You feel good that you're yeah, you're part of something bigger than just money because money Yeah, it's just you think when you make money you'll be so happy forever, but it's literally so temporary and then the gulp is moving That's exactly

Luke:

the space that I'm in right now You know, you find a bit of money and you go this isn't all it cracked up to be

Linh:

Yeah, and

Luke:

it sounds like you're also saying That, yeah, you're in it and you're helping people, but it's also benefited your business as well.

Linh:

Um,

Luke:

by, by staff morale and all that kind of stuff. Yeah,

Linh:

exactly

Luke:

that. That's awesome. Cool. Um, I wanted to shift a bit to your, to your podcast. Just out of personal interest. Yeah. So you do a couple of podcasts now?

Linh:

Yeah, so I didn't originally start, uh, podcasting typically like everyone else where You have a podcast show and you just start doing podcasts. I had a YouTube channel first. And so I was making content, teaching people how to start a business or start an outsourcing business. And then I would then also have some episodes where I interview people and, you know, put them on my YouTube channel. Um, and so, yeah, it was called the kind boss podcast actually, because I'm like, I don't even want to I only want to talk to employers or business owners that were kind, you know, like good people. And so, yeah, if you're here because you're kind, you know, um, But yeah, and it was just over zoom and at first I was nervous. Because even though you're doing the interviewing and you don't have to do much answers, but you're just like, what if I screw up, you know, and what if I forget what question it is? And so like anything, sometimes people look at me and they're like, oh yeah, you're made for it because you're just brave and you're confident. No, I was shy. I was, when I was growing up, I was You know, the teacher was complaining that she's so shy, she needs to put her hands up, you know, at the teacher, teacher interview. And I was so frustrated with myself. I knew I could do it, but I could never do it. And so it was kind of my mission from high school to like, overcome my shyness. And so everything I did was just to overcome it. Not that I was confident. And I started doing podcasts or videos. It was the other way around. And so, um, podcasting, I would say I already tried to do videos many years ago. I started doing videos back in two. You know how I told you I, I met a, my husband and, and my life changed. Guess where he met me?

Recording 17:

On YouTube? Yeah. Okay. Podcast on YouTube. Wow.

Linh:

So YouTube, uh, you know, it's, it's video based so people could see you. Feel you and feel like they know you right and so he only saw two videos that I made That then he invited me for a business meeting. He wanted to build a website and then the rest is history We got married in eight months But that's the power of doing videos and doing content, but I stopped multiple times over the years I was like, oh, you know like just I don't know what to say And you know if you shoot a video, but it takes you like 20 takes and then takes you two hours It's really like You know, not encouraging, right? But the beautiful thing about podcasts, which I encourage people, if you're starting out in content, is that podcasting allows you to transition slowly. You just have to turn up because the other thing, when people starting out, is they're like, what do I look like? I don't like how I sound. I don't like how I look. It's just all these other things. And so. It's about practicing a lot of youtubers actually say do your first 100 videos first or 100 episodes and Don't care about it. Like just do it. Yeah, because it takes practice and so When you do a podcast you you're forced to find guests and and you commit to a certain routine Like it's a fortnightly or monthly or weekly So it means that you have to turn up when you're doing videos and making content on your own You can make your own decision. I don't want to shoot today. Oh, I'll just Disappear for two months and I'll come back next time. No one cares. But when people do podcasts, I guess the audience expects it to be a show.

Luke:

Well, I think that's about kind of achieving anything in my life. Anyway, you've got to build in that accountability, right? So let's say if I, I'm very passionate about endurance sports. If I just said to myself, I'm going to do a marathon and there's no accountability and I'll potentially just drop out of my training two weeks in because nobody will ever know. But if I publicly say. Hey, I'm gonna, I've just signed up to an Ironman in December. There's no way I'm not doing that because I've got that level of accountability. People know, you know, I think it's the same thing with podcasting.

Linh:

And the thing about podcasts is it's quite simple. You just have to make sure you find guests. At first you were like, Oh my God, how, what guests can I find? But eventually it's, it's not that hard. Or you ask the guests. Who do you know that has a great story that can be on my show? Uh, and then you turn up, you ask some, you might only talk like five sentences because you're asking the question. The whole time it's the guest that's answering. You're getting free mentoring.

Luke:

You learn so much. Right now I'm getting free mentoring.

Linh:

You learn so much. And then it's an opportunity to also connect really deeply. So I've created friendship out of. Yes, you know, and if you don't, if you don't, you do, whatever you do, you do it really intentionally. You get so much value of it. If you do podcasts just so that you could tick the box and then be famous or something, it's so different to hang on. I'm actually having a conversation and meeting a real person here. Let's, you know, I want to know them and I'm listening to this, whatever they're saying and after outside of it, like I want to. You know, continue to be in touch or add value. And, and so, yeah. And then, so that's where you get a lot of value from the podcast. So yeah, at the moment, my YouTube channel channel, Lynn Pedetti, I interview Christian, I guess, successful people because I'm quite passionate about faith and success.

Luke:

So it's so cool to hear you kind of speak about. Because from the outside in you're you are very inspiring and to see all your podcast show and you look like, you know You know, I'm worrying the world like you said, it's so cool to hear that how shy you were to start with so one of the biggest things that I got get out of a entrepreneurs organization is In business, I thought I was so defective because I had all these issues and anxieties and I don't know, yeah, and I don't know how to do anything like I'm a, I'm a fraud, I'm a shame and sitting in a room with a bunch of other entrepreneurs and you realize everybody has the same insecurities. You're not the only one that feels like they're drowning constantly. Yeah. So that's kind of the most value. Yeah, it's

Linh:

so interesting. I've, I've tried to ask some friends who have really successful business. But they still think that no, I don't think I'm big enough or successful enough to share anything who would listen to me. I'm like, Oh

Recording 17:

my God,

Luke:

everybody don't realize

Linh:

that people are really forgiving and they even just admire the fact that you put yourself out there and help you, you know? So,

Luke:

yeah, so, so that's what I'm leaning into. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I want to get out of this podcast. A big part of it was connection, um, but I want to lean to kind of. Bring on inspiring people and, and, and kind of taking the sting out of, because a lot of people I think are too scared to kind of take anything on because they do think that they don't have the ability and I'm the only one that feels nervous and all of that kind of thing. So to hear about people that are doing awesome things and having that level of vulnerability, I think it's really valuable.

Linh:

You'll win in multiple ways. You'll find connection. You might even develop the skill set. Interviewing, hosting that you're like, this is what I want to do for a living. I literally became that. I was like, Oh my God, I love interviewing so much. I want to be the Asian Oprah. That's what I said to myself. I think you're on your way. So that's why I became the host of the EO business podcast because it was like, Oh, that's what I want to do anyway. It's, it becomes like second nature, but it was not like that before. So you never know who you really are. I literally thought when I was starting out in business, I was actually good in the back end. I was good at team building, doing operations, because that's all I know. But then when I had the opportunity to step in the front and had my team working on the back, I was like, you just take care of it. I'd rather be out and about talking to people and doing front facing. And that's my complete new love. And so whenever I hear entrepreneurs, they go, that's not me. You know, that's not my strength or anything. I'm like, yeah, you know, question mark.

Luke:

I think that's the journey. A lot of entrepreneurs go on and I was definitely similar. And I think it's, I told myself that, you know, I'm not that leader. I'm not that inspiring people. I didn't do company meetings or anything like that because I was too nervous. Um, but then the, the, I think the most rewarding thing I get out of business now is kind of mentoring other people and trying to bring them up. So,

Linh:

uh, I just heard a recent quote from Myron Golden. He's a YouTuber. Um, he said that when we have a physical issue, like for example, our hands are broken or something's happened and we go and fix it when we think things in our head, that's Sabotaging ourselves like, you know, okay. Yeah, I need more clients, but I I'm too shy. I am a shy person I can't do this yet. We just accept it. We don't fix try to fix it So what he's saying is that you know Your mental challenge is something that you should also fix just like if you have a physical challenge you go and learn something you go and ask someone about how they did it and then you try to

Luke:

Yeah. I think it's also important to try to figure out, um, and you were saying this about podcasting little steps that you can take. Cause I think somebody sees something that they're like, there's no way I can achieve that. And they don't even start. But if you can break it down into little steps. Um, yeah, I think it makes

Linh:

everything

Luke:

a lot easier. Yeah. Thanks for coming on the show.

Linh:

Thank you. That was a blast. We had, we covered a lot of content. Hopefully the audience enjoyed that. That

Luke:

was awesome. So much fun. Thank you. Cool.