Curious about how a serendipitous encounter at a wedding can shape your career trajectory? Meet Laurissa Hollis, the new VP of Sales at Blackpearl Group, who journeyed from the US to New Zealand, embracing opportunities from Warner Music to groundbreaking roles in SaaS.
Laurissa's story is a testament to the power of passion, resilience, and the right support system. She shares her experiences and insights into the dynamic, innovative environment at Blackpearl, a company known for its early public listing. We also uncover her profound belief in balancing truth, forgiveness, and love as key principles in both leadership and personal growth.
Explore how Laurissa aligns her passion for coaching with her leadership style, fostering a culture that blends family-like support with high-performance sports team dynamics. Learn why clear reporting and analysis are vital in sales, and how nurturing personal development goes beyond just hitting numbers. Laurissa opens up about the struggles of maintaining discipline and the importance of a resilient mindset, driven by her personal faith. This episode is a must-listen for anyone eager to understand how to cultivate a winning mentality and thrive in both professional and personal realms.
You can connect with Laurissa here and also check out Blackpearl.
Curious about how a serendipitous encounter at a wedding can shape your career trajectory? Meet Laurissa Hollis, the new VP of Sales at Blackpearl Group, who journeyed from the US to New Zealand, embracing opportunities from Warner Music to groundbreaking roles in SaaS.
Laurissa's story is a testament to the power of passion, resilience, and the right support system. She shares her experiences and insights into the dynamic, innovative environment at Blackpearl, a company known for its early public listing. We also uncover her profound belief in balancing truth, forgiveness, and love as key principles in both leadership and personal growth.
Explore how Laurissa aligns her passion for coaching with her leadership style, fostering a culture that blends family-like support with high-performance sports team dynamics. Learn why clear reporting and analysis are vital in sales, and how nurturing personal development goes beyond just hitting numbers. Laurissa opens up about the struggles of maintaining discipline and the importance of a resilient mindset, driven by her personal faith. This episode is a must-listen for anyone eager to understand how to cultivate a winning mentality and thrive in both professional and personal realms.
You can connect with Laurissa here and also check out Blackpearl.
When it comes to my team from a business level, I definitely don't let underperformance slide. What is your blocker? And typically it's a mental thing or it's a small process thing, and so I find no problem insurmountable. I typically will go, I'm going to coach you and coach you, and coach you, and some people get coached until they're like, yeah, this isn't me.
Speaker 2:Larissa is a new VP of sales at the Black Pearl Group.
Speaker 1:You fell over. Okay, brush it off, move on. I think that there's a point where we need to stop saying oh, I'm hurting and say I was hurt, this is what I'm doing about it. I just am a firm believer that anybody can do it with the right coaching and tools, and I've been able to work through that.
Speaker 2:Hey everybody, it's Greg Sheehan. Welcome to my podcast, where you will hear from a range of guests, including those from the startup world and those that have had incredibly interesting lives and some stories to tell. I would really appreciate it if you could hit the follow button and share this amongst your friends, but, as you know, time is limited, so let's get on with it and hear from our next guest. I want to tell you a little bit about desk work. Desk work is your offshoring option. If you want to save around 50% of your total headcount cost for equivalent talent across accounting, marketing, sales, your operations or your admin, then check out Deskwork. Honestly, if I was looking to start an accounting firm again, it would be a no-brainer for me to use Deskwork. I've used offshoring teams before in the past. I got past my skepticism on being able to do it and it was so phenomenally successful. Go have a look at desk-workco backslash, greg, and book yourself a free discovery call to learn more about it. Better still, mention my name and get yourself some discounts. Check it out.
Speaker 2:Now back to the show. My guest today is Larissa Hollis. Larissa is a new VP of sales at the Black Pearl Group. Welcome to the podcast, larissa.
Speaker 1:Thank you for having me, greg, good to be here.
Speaker 2:It is such a delight, and we were just comparing weather stories. I'm in Sydney as we speak and it's cold and rainy, and Larissa is in Auckland and it's cold and rainy. So we've got that in common. Larissa, I always sort of start these podcasts. The way humans like to connect, we want to know a little bit about the person we're talking to. So give us a little bit of your background. Where did you grow up? How did you ultimately get to be here in New Zealand, because we can all hear that American accent.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, look, I've got Peter Jackson to thank for my arrival in New Zealand. I grew up in Washington DC and then moved to Indianapolis and that's where I went to university. And then I got the opportunity to teach overseas, and one of the many different countries was New Zealand. Never heard of New Zealand, didn't even know it existed, and then Lord of the Rings came out and I thought where is this place? And then it just all was serendipitous and then came to New Zealand, met my Kiwi husband at a wedding three weeks in.
Speaker 2:It's always a wedding right Like it's always it's always a wedding. It's the best because you know somebody's already pre-vetted them, you.
Speaker 1:It's always a wedding. It's the best because you know somebody's already pre-vetted them. You know they're going to pay $100 a head on that person, so they must be relative quality. That's true, and then yeah, so 19 years ago I moved over to New Zealand to be with him with just two suitcases and one was just filled with shoes and handbags. So I was a young woman and ready for a new adventure. So yeah, I've been here ever since.
Speaker 2:And then got started into the sort of world of sales.
Speaker 1:That's right. Well, I kind of started out at a record label, Warner Music. Yeah, you've got some big brands.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you're a CV, thank you. I've been really lucky. I started out there and started working in kind of digital media, kind of a coordinator job, and I'm just one of these people that is hungry and capable and I love to work hard and drive results. And so, right place, right time, I moved into MediaWorks and did digital sales there and then eventually have done all of kind of the different media marketing, primarily working with media agencies. So I'd say for the last 15 years I've worked supplier side, so it's Stuff and Bravo. And then most recently I was the head of client at Archipro.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that was, I guess, your introduction into SaaS.
Speaker 1:That's right. Yeah, it's a hybrid SaaS model. It has a lot of kind of media play elements and moving towards SaaS, and when I left there in January, I knew that I wanted to find a role that was very true SAS and what could I do to kind of do something really different? And I found Black Pearl. Well, actually, it found me and I'm so thankful for it because it's just this amazing rocket ship of innovation and intensity and camaraderie and I'm just, and I'm just thrilled to be here.
Speaker 2:And what I love about Black Pearl is the company has decided to take a listing pretty early in its life and we've got some, but very few numbers of people or companies that have done that, one being Xero. So Xero did a listing and few people actually even know this or remember this. Xero listed with something like $3,000 or $5,000 a month in revenue. So Black Pearl is taking this journey too. So what's it been like the first you know what? Five or six weeks in now?
Speaker 1:Yeah, five weeks in, yeah, just finishing my fifth week. It's been absolutely incredible. The team here you know, when you interview at a company and they kind of say, oh, it's going to be like this, and they kind of paint this beautiful picture. And then you get there and you go, oh, this isn't what I signed up for Not quite what I thought it was.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I can say it has been consistently exactly what they told me, which is the people are there for each other.
Speaker 1:As the head of sales the VP of sales I know that I'm responsible for a lot, but I know every single department is there to help us achieve our goals and other roles that I've been in in sales. You are responsible and to blame for everything, so it's really nice to have this sense of camaraderie and everyone's trying to work together to find a way to do it. We're currently hunting down $10 million ARR and on track to do that and I don't want to set my sights there because I know that there's huge potential, because we listed in the New Zealand Stock Exchange, because as a data company, you need to be trusted, you need to be really, really transparent, and no other tech company in this kind of field is doing that. So we wanted to set ourselves apart and it's opened a lot of doors and going into the States, it's just been an amazing result and I feel like we've only just scratched the surface. So you know we're hunting 10 million ARR, but pretty soon it'll be a hundred million.
Speaker 2:That's so cool. It's actually going to be so cool to watch Black Pearl as it grows. So what does Black Pearl do?
Speaker 1:So Black Pearl exists to help businesses grow, which you know it sounds a bit fluffy but it's really not. They put data in the hands of the owners of those sites so that they can analyze who's visiting their site and then take action and based on the user experience or kind of market to those audiences. The thing for me is I really want to make a positive impact. One of my favorite people in this industry is Nicola Taylor from Taxi and she has a saying no dancing llamas. I don't know if I'm allowed to say this but I can say anything on this podcast.
Speaker 1:I absolutely love it because she says you know, we don't want to just create something that doesn't have a purpose. It's about doing something that has purpose. And I met her before I started at Black Pearl and that's definitely what I'm looking for Something that's actually going to create a serious positive impact to somebody's bottom line. And I've seen Black Pearl do that. I mean, their customer retention rate is 97%, which is just unheard of, like the customer service, the smarts that they bring. It's just amazing.
Speaker 1:And so who is the customer for Black Pearl, like typically, yeah, so typically, black Pearl has really been servicing small to medium businesses. So you own your website. You might have 10,000 visitors a month, so our job is to resolve that data for you and identify who's visiting your site so that you can then retarget them with marketing or change your user experience or identify who your audience is. As we grow, the interest has also grown and so we're getting some major enterprise clients, particularly in America, around media marketing, data, analytics, and so we're kind of moving into more enterprise solutions as well. So we kind of run that full gamut where we can help a small mom and pop with their website and then we can also help bigger clients and then they can kind of be an agent for us as well.
Speaker 2:Obviously, the company is going into the US. You having a background you know being born there, raised there, going to college there that must help.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that definitely helps. It's quite interesting, having lived in New Zealand now half my life, obviously still American, sound American it's been so nice. I love the Kiwis, don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the Kiwis, but working with Americans again has just been such a laugh. It's just been like cause I'm always told I'm quite full noise, I'm chill, but I have a lot of energy and the Kiwi way is just this beautifully, like a little bit more laid back. So, meeting some of my staff that are in America and they're like hey, and it's like, yeah, you know, there's that amazing energy and even the clients as well. It's really nice to work with them and kind of have even just that human touch point. Or like, oh yeah, you're in Colorado and you went to this concert and we talked about different spots that we go to and, yeah, it's good.
Speaker 2:It's funny. I've got a son who is in Melbourne and he is in sales and, being a Kiwi born and raised in New Zealand he said to me the interesting thing about being a Kiwi is he felt like he was too big, sometimes he was too much, he was too too overt, too loud in a room and he can't be loud. But in Australia he feels like he fits in and I think the US and Australia are kind of more similar.
Speaker 1:There's something in our Kiwi psyche where we're like, hey, buddy, not too Totally, don't go too big. It's funny my husband and I often we have these kind of discussions analyzing things like this, and we say Australia is more like an America, whereas New Zealand's more like a UK. Stiff upper lip, and you'd be a little bit stoic and it's been a really cool learning for me, like I've had to kind of tone down my big white smile. I kind of Kiwi smile a little bit more, except when I'm talking to Americans I get the big smile again.
Speaker 2:It's so funny, isn't it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's been quite an interesting ride.
Speaker 2:It's so funny, just culturally, how we go. And what about sales? Like sales is one of these areas that doesn't have a great rap right, Particularly in places like New Zealand or maybe even in Australia, definitely in the UK.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I know the person who introduced us was saying you need to talk to Larissa about her view on sales. She's just got kind of a refreshing view, so thank you. Well, look, I shout out, jodie.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thanks, jodie. I think sales often, like in my history, kind of felt like this a key word Ooh, you're a salesperson, yeah, but I take it from a different approach, which is just around I help solve people's problems and so that's why, like I was saying with Black Pearl, it's really important to me that whatever I'm working on actually can deliver a tangible solution to your business. Otherwise, I don't really want to align my life mission with that. So I look to really understand what clients need and then drive a solution for them.
Speaker 1:I don't really like kind of just selling things just in kind of different like boxes. I like to partner with them and really kind of be a part of their business. So it feels like I work with a thousand businesses. I'm part of a thousand businesses rather than you know, I just work for Black Pearl. So it's really important to me to deliver them something that is going to solve a problem for them and make their lives easier. Otherwise, I'm open to saying bye, we're not the right thing for you, because I think it's really important to be authentic and honest and align with them.
Speaker 2:And what strikes me about Black Pearl is that it is a rocket ship already and therefore is likely to continue to be a rocket ship, which means that your role is going to change dramatically. It's going to be a scaling role where you go from a certain size team to whatever that is now to being something very different in a short space of time. How do you feel about that?
Speaker 1:I'm in my wheelhouse. It's exactly what I was looking for Because, like I said, I love to work hard. There's something that, at the end of the day, if you've given it everything, you've got and you just feel so good, and I love that feeling. I don't like to shirk responsibilities and when I was looking for a company, I wanted to find a kind of a startup company, but some place that had really good foundations, that we have learned kind of this is what works and this is kind of what our rhythm is. But they need somebody to come in and exponentially grow.
Speaker 1:So I would come in and, yeah, I'm looking to kind of like spark it up. I'm not trying to completely change everything, but how can I amplify exponentially all this great work that we've done? And I feel really, really confident doing that. I think if I worked for companies where I feel like there's a bit of it's not consistent with what they don't consistently know what they want or what they want to do, and so I found trouble kind of navigating where to put my energy, because it couldn't make its mind up, stability and kind of cadence, and I found that that got a bit repetitive and bored. So this is this perfect mix of I create foundations and I create templates for a really good foundation, and then I help grow the company.
Speaker 2:How would you describe your sales leadership style? Are you sort of a I mean, at the end of the day you got to hit numbers right, and particularly in a listed environment? Are you somebody who's kind of very hands-on or are you kind of getting out of the way? Are people like how would you describe that?
Speaker 1:I guess it really depends on the person or the situation. My typical thought is, when we hire adults and professionals, I expect them to do what they're hired to do. However, if I need to get my hands dirty and get in and just get side by side with them, how can I help them out? But I think when it comes to me as a leader, I first try to understand the person. What drives you? I think you know any success is like 80% psychology, 80%, 20% kind of skills. So what is your state of mind? Do you believe that you can do it? How can you drive that kind of positive state of mind, trying to create a winner's mentality, this kind of robust character where you're giving it everything you got. You're never just relying on your last best score. It's like how can I just do better? Cool, I did that. How can I do better? And it's not this rat race to try to grow for the sake of growing. It's like you're always competing with yourself. I did that, Cool. How can I do better there? So I really try to understand what motivates people. I really focus on them growing.
Speaker 1:I think in sales you always focus on this is the number. This is the number that you have to hit. But I also think that people don't just come just for the number. It's like how else can I grow, how can I become more valuable as a person? And I will always try to identify what that is in each person.
Speaker 1:In saying that, I think I focus first to understand the person, but also the numbers are really foundational. I think I get into the team and figure out a rhythm for reporting and analysis so that just becomes as habitual. They know their numbers like this, and then my job is to guide and coach and upskill them to how they can create more influence, how they can better understand clients, how they can connect more with the decision maker, how they can convert a sale on the spot, how they can convert a sale on the spot, how they can continue that ongoing relationship, that cyclical relationship, so that they can continue to go cool. I use that as my model. I'm going to get more, I'm going to get more, I'm going to get more.
Speaker 2:And if you were to describe both your sales ethos and the culture that you like to build, would you say you are more of you know. On the continuum, you've sort of got some people who are more we're all family versus actually no, we're a high performing sports team. Which one? I get the sense, I know which one. This is for you. Which one do you think you are?
Speaker 1:Oh, I mean my family and I play a lot of sports.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I would say really definitely, definitely hybrid. This is a nice mix.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would say really definitely a hybrid. I mean, I definitely would say it is like a family. I think that we all bring something different to the table. So my job is to go how can I make your strength, your superpower, and how can I let your kind of areas of development either get up to a base level or just get by? And I think that if something's not going right, we need to flag it with each other.
Speaker 1:I see myself as more of a servant leader. I think one of my most favorite things when I started leading teams about six years ago was I just get such a kick out of seeing other people thrive. I get such a kick out of seeing them win and grow and kind of go. Oh, thank you for telling me, and for me it just feels like this one little thing I said in a passing conversation or in a one-on-one and they tell me about the impact that's made to them and how it's kind of made them more efficient or more confident. And I think that you feel so much more confident and you get this great momentum when you have that self-belief and confidence.
Speaker 2:I guess the thing is, though, the reason why I ask the question is because we all want to be connected from a family point of view. We want to feel loved, we want to feel part of something. We want to feel yeah, this deep level of connection. Yet we're hired to do a job, and if we miss our sales numbers, you know we don't let members of our family go because they didn't hit a sales number right. So there is a difference.
Speaker 2:This is a high performing team and there are people in the team who keep dropping the ball, who fail to get that puck down the other end, right? So that's kind of a different psychology, right? So you must play that balance nicely.
Speaker 1:Oh, I definitely do. I mean, you should just ask my husband if he doesn't do the chores. No, I'm kidding.
Speaker 2:Hope he's listening. He will be listening. He will be listening.
Speaker 1:I guess the reason I say family is because I just don't give up on people unless they give up on themselves. So if you want to move out of my house, you move out of my house, but I'm going to work really hard to go. I believe in you and I know that you can do this. You just maybe don't know how to do it yet, so let's work together to figure it out. In my family, we all bring something to the table. The kids get paid their pocket money because they participate in the house chores.
Speaker 1:We all participate in making this our home, and I think that you got to keep your room tidy, you got to take out the trash, all those things, and I think, when it comes to my team from a business level, I definitely don't let underperformance slide. What is your blocker? And typically it's a mental thing or it's a small process thing, and so I find no problem insurmountable. I typically will go, I'm going to coach you and coach you, and coach you, and some people get coached until they're like, yeah, this isn't me, and then they go. Okay, cool, they've chosen to leave.
Speaker 2:But I just am a firm believer that anybody can do it with the right coaching and tools and I've been able to work through that do you think that that psychology and I think it's a really refreshing psychology and you and I kind of talked a little bit off air about this do you think that that psychology is something that's commonplace across New Zealand, that psychology around play to win, play hard, but fair, but fair, and even at a global level we've kind of got this victim mentality. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, the victim mentality. I think we've never been more emotionally vulnerable, emotionally open in any part of society than it feels like today. If you are on meds and you have a counselor and all of that, it's kind of this badge of honor.
Speaker 2:You get extra points yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I understand people have needs and I'm not trying to bag anybody that needs that support, but it feels so commonplace and it's like you get this kind of extra credit if you kind of talk about your problems in that way. So we're emotionally vulnerable but at the same time, if you look at any report, we're also some of the most unhappy people in society and I think that there has a lot to do with the fact that people aren't taking ownership of their feelings. I think that I was actually just watching doing a Tony Robbins course. I love him, he's amazing but he says life isn't what happens to you, life is happening for you. So what are you going to make of it? And I feel like a lot of people just kind of go, I'm on the treadmill and it's just kind of all happening to me, but it's like no, take the bull by the horns and go after it.
Speaker 1:I also think that there's something to be said for stoicism. You fell over, okay, brush it off, move on. I think that there's a point where we need to stop saying oh, I'm hurting and say I was hurt. This is what I'm doing about it With my teams. When they come to me with a problem, I listen and we brainstorm how to fix it, or I tell them forget about it. So the mantra is always fix it or forget about it, and that way we can kind of go I'm either doing something about it or it's not something that's a roadblock anymore, because I think that we can create all of these invisible barriers around what's stopping us from doing anything. But I guess my thought is anything is possible. I am unstoppable. The only thing that's stopping me is myself. So get out of my way mentally and take control.
Speaker 1:I think that a lot of people go oh, I've tried to do everything. It's like dieting, for example. Have you stayed away from those treats? Did you order the fries? Are you getting a good night's sleep? Are you getting fresh air and water? And you know, are you really thinking about it like that or are you just kind of going oh, actually, to be honest, I'm a little bit too lazy to really get into it and I kind of don't want to deal with the pain. But I always say pressure makes a diamond. You only get the toothpaste out when you squeeze it right, and I think that we need to put ourselves under pressure. You know, you grow muscles by lifting iron. I think some people just need to harden up, god I love it Honestly.
Speaker 2:It's probably not going to go down, well, no this is controversial, but this is exactly what we should be talking about, because we are all unhappy. As a general rule, people are unhappy and they are as you said. They're more vulnerable than ever. You know, there's that expression that if you think you can, you are right, and if you think you can't, you are also right.
Speaker 1:Totally.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Completely, completely, and I think about, I do feel for people that are going through problems and can't get out of their way, but I'm quite fortunate because I have faith in Jesus, I'm a Christian, and so I see Jesus as an example, and he definitely led the way for truth, but also forgiveness and love, and there's this beautiful mix. You know, like I said, leaders that I aspire to be like. There's this beautiful mix. You know, like I said, leaders that I aspire to be like. I look at him and go how can I be honest and loving but also guide them along the way?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Leaders have followers.
Speaker 2:Right. Leaders have followers, so be a leader. If you want to be a leader, make sure you've got followers.
Speaker 1:Exactly, but also I think I've heard this before that the truth is not trendy, and I think I've heard this before that the truth is not trendy and I think a lot of people are changing the way they feel about certain things because of what the current culture is saying, and it's like, I think, that there's always been a place for taking ownership of yourself and what are you in control of? You can't control what happens to you, but you can control how you react, and I try to think about it from that point of view.
Speaker 2:Hey, just let me pause you there for a second and tell you about some help that's available for startup founders. One of the biggest reasons startups fail is that the founders give up. They just burn out through struggling with aligning all of their people to what it is they're trying to do. It doesn't have to be like that, though. Jess Dahlberg is an expert in startup performance and she works to align your team to the performance you need so that you, as founders, can get on and scale with confidence. Simply head to jessdahlbergcom backslash scale up. That's jess dalberg. D-a-h-l-b-e-r-gcom backslash scale up. Use promo code scale up 2024 and start removing those headaches. Let's get back to the show. It's so true, and we were talking offline about some of the sort of, I guess, issues of our time around gender yeah, and let's go there.
Speaker 2:You know like it's a controversial thing. As is probably clear, I'm a male, I identify as a male. I am also part of that category of society that has the highest suicide rate in the world. Clearly, you know, men are, as a general rule, are finding it really really tough. Yet we've also got a lot of male bashing. That goes on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I'm glad that you brought this up because it's something that I'm really passionate about. I have two boys One is 13 and one is 10. And I'm married to a man that I love dearly, and I feel like I'm living in a culture now where they've got to apologize for their gender and the color of their skin when having done nothing, and I think that I want to do absolutely everything I can to. This isn't me protecting anybody, but it is about creating, I guess, equity. I'm not saying equal outcome, I'm saying equal opportunity for everybody.
Speaker 1:I think that I'm living in a culture where it's okay to bash white males and it bothers me. I've been in an office where it was International Women have the life that I have, but I also feel sometimes marginalized by an international woman's day. Is there an international man's day? No, and society would say, oh well, every day is international man's day, and I would completely disagree. I think that a lot of men are not able to do men in business events or men in media or things like that, and I feel like I want to live in a world where it doesn't matter the color of your skin, it doesn't matter your sexual orientation, it doesn't matter your gender, anything like that. It's just about people that want to do good, that have similar interests, and I just think that we label things too much and is not helping anything. Martin Luther King said I judge people by the content, of the character, and that's how I approach things. I mean, I see everybody as a soul. We're all souls. Let's just love each other that way. Goodbye.
Speaker 2:It's so cool. It's actually really refreshing to talk to you about that and you know you've got two daughters. I think a lot of men are afraid, I think a lot of men.
Speaker 1:They don't want to say hey, that's not fair, because I think that they're worried about getting pushed down further, like, oh, you've had it for so long. Well, I think my job is to support men as well, and I think that men are wonderful and women are wonderful, and we all bring something different to the table and let's celebrate that. The future is not female. The future is human Well, hopefully, human, not AI. The future is human, and it's like we're all in this together, and how can we work cohesively rather than against each other?
Speaker 2:I couldn't agree more. I've got two daughters, you've got two sons. I've also got a son. I could not want success for my daughters more. I want them to be in a world that is truly equal and to do that, I don't want to get them bashing the males. I want them to be seeing the benefit and the joy of being all they can be, in exactly the same way as I was with my son. You know, there shouldn't be a difference there. There really shouldn't be.
Speaker 1:For sure, and I think when I look at women in general that I've worked with you know, they talk about the pay gap as an example. Well, I don't feel like I've ever experienced that. I'm not saying whether or not it's real, that's not. I haven't feel like I've ever experienced that. I'm not saying whether or not it's real, that's not. I haven't studied it enough.
Speaker 1:But one of the things that I am very conscious of is that women are the ones that are least likely to ask for the pay rise. That's right. So, rather than going establishing mandates around equality just because she's a woman, she should be paid at the same level. I think it should be paid at the same level. I think it should be based on what is the output and the experience. So what I would love, and what I do encourage women to do, is, well, ask for it. If the guys are going to ask for it, you ask for it. So anytime I go into negotiation, I ask for it, I go full in, I'm going to go big, I'm just going to give it a go, and it's always worked out in my favor, and I think some people are too afraid to ask for it. So if I was going to kind of single out women. My job would be to coach them and encourage them to take what's theirs and do it based on your experience and make a business case for it.
Speaker 2:I could not agree more. I have this conversation a lot with the three kids. My son if he's got two of the 10 requirements that a job needs, he thinks he's got what it takes. The two daughters would say if I haven't got 10 out of 10, they won't go for it. They all have a very strong female role model in their mom. She's outstanding. Their grandmother, her mother, is an outstanding female role model and yet they still have that psychology. They've grown up in the same family. So whether that's kind of an example of what it's like in society I don't know. But we have to encourage women to go. Go for it, you know, just go for it in the same way a male would.
Speaker 1:I do think I have seen a couple more companies in my job search earlier this year. I have seen them say they've put in some stats Women are sometimes more likely or some people that wouldn't fit the typical mold are sometimes more likely. And we encourage you to try and I think that that's a nice initiative of companies to just remind people like give it a go, you never know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's so true. Just a little bit about you. So you are in an area that is quite tough, like sales and that whole, you know, customer experience. It's a tough area.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:What has been probably the toughest part of your career to date. If you look back and you think, gee, that was a really tough time in my career, but I learned a lot. What might that have been?
Speaker 1:When I was at Stuff and I was the National Sales Director of the agency team, I was there in lockdown during COVID and obviously and I was working on the Ministry of Health campaign, so I just remember the intensity of having to stay across all of their comms. I was working probably 12 hours a day. I was running the team. I was trying to keep my family spirits high.
Speaker 2:Functioning.
Speaker 1:Functioning and I found that that probably was the hardest time because not only are you hit with the intensity and craziness of work, but it was just dialed up that much more because of the intensity and craziness. At home Usually you can kind of cope because work might be crazy, but personal life is pretty balanced. So it wasn't even just my personal life or my work life, it was the entire community just went a bit kind of bonkers, so kind of navigating through. That was probably the hardest from an exhaustion point of view, from an uncertainty and trying to navigate through. But here's the thing I love a challenge when you're in it you're just like but here's the thing I love a challenge when you're in it, you're just like oh so hard, and then you get out of it and you're stronger and you're smarter.
Speaker 1:So I always see these opportunities, these tests, as my testimony, this mess as my message I get really excited as an opportunity to learn. I may not like it while I'm in it, but I come out of it and go. That was great. I've had jobs that are challenging, I've had bosses that are challenging and you kind of go okay, cool, what can I learn in it?
Speaker 1:And I think, as I get older, I also am learning to recognize in the moment, in the middle of that pain and pressure to go okay, this is intense. You know, in the middle of that pain and pressure to go okay, this is intense, but I'm going to get through it and I'm going to make my way and become stronger, off the back of it, I pray, I get up and I take breaks. I work from home and so I might dust a windowsill just to not think about something for a minute. But I think it's really important in those times of pressure to stop and recognize where you're at and really just take a moment to remind yourself to breathe, rather than just try to bulldoze through, because often solution will come to you when you take a step away, and sometimes the solution just solves itself in some problems if you just leave it for a minute.
Speaker 2:You strike me as somebody who, when you get to the end of your life, is not going to regret giving it all on the field, right To your family, to your career, to everything that you're doing. You're really pushing the boat out and you're doing things that are, yeah, you're not going to sit there at the end of your sort of mortal life and go, oh I wish I had done this, I wish I'd done that. You're getting out there and you're doing it right, which is an attitudinal thing.
Speaker 1:Thank you, Greg, Thank you for recognizing that, and I think it's just a habit. Energy is a habit and I want to try everything. I want to enjoy everything and I want to live life to the fullest. I don't want to, at the end of my day, go I didn't do enough and sometimes it works against me. My husband's like you don't need to do all of those things, but I do. I give it everything I got and gosh. I've definitely improved over the years. I've just started exercising, so I'm about two months into exercising. I was on a mom to run challenge and I had to run about 6k a week. I've never run before. I hate running. And one girl invited me to this group and I was like, oh no, I'm not going to do this, I was just going to ghost it. And then they added me and I went from kind of going, oh I just do not like you guys to. I won the gold medal.
Speaker 2:Well done, that's awesome, oh, that's awesome. It's not not the Olympic gold medal, but it's still a gold medal yeah, not based on performance, I'll have you know.
Speaker 1:It's just based on grit to actually complete every single week.
Speaker 2:So it's so interesting, isn't it running? Because I was going to ask you the question about how you recharge because you're in a. You know you're a busy person, so are you finding an outlet through running? Now that you've got past that mindset of I don't like running?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean I still kind of wonder whether I do like running or not. But I've found that I went from hating it to I've now used it when I'm feeling overwhelmed or just kind of just feeling a little bit down or something. I'll go for a run and I go from really flat to like yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm ready to. I've also one of my little secret sauce tips is the 5 am club. It has changed my life. I get up really early and I remember I was in a Duncan Garner was talking to us when I was at MediaWorks and he was going you get there earlier than everybody, you work harder than everybody and that's how you succeed. And I was like, okay, how do you do that? And I don't know why, that just popped up in me, but it's reminding me of how I'm living my life now, which is I get up at 5am before anybody else, and lately it's been 4.30 because my staff are in America so I've got to get onto client calls.
Speaker 1:But I get up really early. I have my time to strengthen myself. I will lift weights and do squats and I sweat and I am just in beast mode and sometimes it's just so hard. But I've tackled it and it's like not only am I physiologically feeling better, but mentally it's like I've accomplished something. I've accomplished something today.
Speaker 1:I have a cold shower after I've a. I'm very blessed to have a sauna at my house. I've splurged on that and so I have a sauna to kind of detox and pray, and then I have a cold shower afterwards and I'm like ready and raring to go, and some people are only just kind of wiping the sleep out of their eyes. So I think it's something that I've had to do, because I was trying to squeeze all that in when everybody else was up and it didn't work for me. And, as a woman who wants to be a mother, an amazing mother and a great businesswoman, I've got to find a way to make it work for me, and the only person that's going to do that is mewoman. I've got to find a way to make it work for me, and the only person that's going to do that is me. And I've got to carve out extra time. And that's cool. I go to bed at a reasonable hour. I don't watch screens at night on the weeknights, so yeah.
Speaker 2:It's interesting talking about running, because I think most people don't like running. I would say it's the most commonly hated form of exercise. For most people is running, and the kind of the hot tip I would give because I'm no great runner but I do see the benefits to me physiologically and mentally of when I run is just slow down. We just run too fast. Whatever the paces that you do, we just run a little bit too fast. So just take even 30 seconds a kilometer off. It's a phenomenal change to how far you can run, how good you feel you know, just run a little bit slower.
Speaker 1:I love that advice, greg. I think my Instagram algorithm has been feeding me all these run things. It's like I basically tell everybody I'm basically an athlete?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're identifying as a runner now.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm basically an athlete, but I love this reel that it said when you don't feel like running, you need to do these three things One, put on your running clothes. Two, go running for five minutes and if at the end of five minutes you don't feel like running, stop. If at the end of five minutes you keep going, go. And so there've been some days where I'm like just five, just give it five minutes and then, by five minutes I'm like woo, ready to go. I've got a really good book. I typically listen to books to kind of like learn. I've had some really good ones about being relentless and that's just really motivated me to just never give up and keep on running and just sweat through it.
Speaker 2:And make that first kilometer your slowest, go slow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's really good. I've really tried to outdo myself. I think sometimes it is just like slow down and just enjoy the run.
Speaker 2:And you touched on like listening to books and things. Final question like what do you, you know, listen to, read, consume as a way of learning and being inspired? What kind of things do you touch on?
Speaker 1:I do lots of different things. So, like I was saying before, I'm a Christian. So I read the Bible quite regularly. They call it your daily bread and I'm only recently returned to faith in the last few years, and I find there is something that has been so fulfilling about reading the Bible. There's like this sense of peace and completeness in me when I do that. So I have devotionals regularly.
Speaker 1:I also listen to podcasts around. You know different books, like deep dives into the book of Mark, for example. There's another one called Messenger X. There's a pastor called John Bevere. I listen to him and it's interesting. A lot of them.
Speaker 1:I find it talks a lot about mental state. There's so many things applicable to my business life that I think it just really feeds me in a more kind of a secular sense. I love Tony Robbins. He is just like the man I feel like he gets into my head and he just powers me up. Love him. And I'm always constantly listening or looking at YouTube videos around business efficiency state of mind. I'm reading a book called Winning the War in your Mind yeah, so I don't want to sound like I'm like oh, I'm always listening to scholarly things. It's definitely not that I love some good funky chill tunes as well. But yeah, I just find whatever I'm in the mood for, just something to kind of feed me. If I feel like I want to have a bit of self-help, I do that. If I'm like I'm tired of self-help, I just want to breathe and enjoy and just sing really loud.
Speaker 2:Larissa, it has been such a joy chatting to you today. I'm so impressed by you. You are a very good sales leader and I think you know there's been some ideas and thoughts and tips just around approaching sales. But we've also kind of covered some slightly controversial kind of topics as well and that's been refreshing and I think there's a lot of people out there that would find this really really refreshing. I'll make sure there's ways that people can connect both with you and Black Pearl in the show notes when we publish this. So really want to thank you for your time today. It has been, you know, it's been a real joy.
Speaker 1:Oh, thank you so much for having me, greg. It's been an absolute pleasure and I appreciate you pulling out a lot of honest answers from me, and I would love to connect with anybody that wants to talk more.
Speaker 2:Fantastic. Thank you so much. Hey, don't forget to check out Deskwork, the team behind you, being able to build high-performing offshore teams for your startups and SMEs. It's deskworkco. Backslash, greg, and go and save yourself some hard-earned money.