Creating a Successful Business that Aligns with Your Values with Kellie Wilkie

I love hearing the

stories, the back stories,

the highs and lows from

incredible women who have

built their own businesses.

And today I have the absolute

joy of sharing with you

a conversation with the

incredible Kelly Wilkie.

I met Kelly, uh, a few

months ago and was super

impressed with her journey.

She runs a business that

is coming up to 25 years.

She has a team.

She has twin boys, and

she's also traveled the

world for 10 years with

the Australian rowing team.

In terms of how she's built

her business, her vision, how

she's hung onto her boundaries

and her values, and the way

in which she's structured her

business to both facilitate

the life that she lives

and the business that she's

building is a true example of

business and life by design.

please enjoy this episode

as I chat to understand

a little bit more about

Kelly, her business, where

it started, where it's

going, and how she's juggled

all the things, enjoy.

Now there are some business

women that you meet that blow

your way, and my guest today

is one of those Kellie Wilkey.

I had the pleasure

of meeting Kellie for

the very first time.

Actually towards the

end of last year.

We were both, uh, speakers

at an event we'd been asked

to speak at this event.

You know when you go into

the room sometime and you

gravitate to someone, and

then you start chatting and

the more you're chatting,

you've got more questions,

and the more questions

you have, the deeper the

answers go, and you just,

you almost want a notebook

to write down those lessons.

This was my conversation

with Kellie.

Any of you that follow

my blogs, my newsletters,

follow me on LinkedIn.

You might as we talk today,

go, oh, that's the person

she was talking about.

and I reached out to Kellie

and I went, please come on.

I wanna have a conversation

with you about what it means

to be a woman in business.

I really wanna share with

our audience some of the

stuff that you've learned.

some of the things that

you might do differently

in hindsight, some of those

lessons, et cetera, because

as more and more women are

entering into entrepreneurial

landscapes doing their own

thing, which is awesome, at

the same time, there is so

much that we need to learn.

Now, to give you a little bit

of background, Kellie's been

running our own business for

around 25 years, and it's not

little, it's not small fry.

We're talking employees

of 24, I think 25 people.

she's also a mom of twin boys.

the conversation that we

started on was, understanding

her, work that she did with

the Australian rowing team.

Apparently, you know, she

shared with me offline that

this was 10 years of working

with the Australian Australian

Rowing team, and she still

finds time to give back, to

show up, to share, to turn up.

So thank you, Kellie.

Welcome.

Thank you for letting me.

Just put you on the hot seats.

it's such a pleasure

to have you here.

thank you very

much for having me, Janine.

It was really, you know,

fortuitous to meet, um, at

that conference last year and,

um, you're absolutely right.

And you start talking to

someone and you really hit

it off and you have great

conversation, be kept, lots

of values in common, you could

just keep chatting all day.

So it's a real pleasure

to come and have a

chat on your podcast.

So let's delve in.

Let's, let's start with

letting people know a

little bit about you.

So, so you have your

own business talk to us,

share with us what does

that business look like?

Who do you serve?

and what are you doing

right now with it?

Yeah.

So my business is called

Body System and it's a

physiotherapy and exercise

physiology, clinic

in Hobart, Tasmania.

And, um, we have 16

practitioners and between

six and eight administrative

staff at any one time.

And so we provide

physiotherapy, consultations

and exercise physiology

consultations, to clients.

But also on top of that we

have a rehabilitation gym

where we prescribe exercise

and supervise exercise

to follow people's rehab.

All the way through.

And so we've got various

different practitioners

within the practice.

So I'm a sports and

exercise physiotherapist

and, particularly have

a special interest in

the athlete, spine.

So particularly low back pain.

And we've got five

sports physiotherapists.

We have musculoskeletal

physiotherapists, we have

hand physiotherapists, and

we do, we have a bracing

and casting service too.

So we're a one stop shop.

We have one clinic location.

a lot of, uh, medical

practices these days spread

themselves around different

suburbs, but what we try

and be is a, a gold standard

service where people will

travel to see us and be able

to, access all of their needs,

you know, under the one roof.

And what does make this

business really different

is that we see people

over much longer than

average treatment times.

So we'll see a new patient

over an hour, and we'll see

a reassessment over half an

hour, which is fairly unheard

of in the medical world, and

there's a reason for that.

Number one, we

can provide gold.

Standard, service to

our patients when we're

servicing them in that way.

But also what it means is

our physiotherapists and our

exercise physiologists have

time to do their paperwork,

their communication with

referrers, everything within

work hours so that they're

not taking that home.

This practice is very much

set up to be able to look

after staff health and

happiness first and foremost.

That's why I set it up for

my, myself in the first place.

And, if we can all be happy

and healthy and functioning

as a team that's continually

curious and continually trying

to help each other be better,

then you're in this lovely

flourishing environment where

you enjoy coming to work.

You are not overworked, you

don't work on weekends, and

you don't work late at night,

and therefore you can provide

the best services to patients.

So it's quite a unique.

Healthcare facility.

But um, yeah, it's something

that I'm really proud of

that's been, yeah, next

year in April it will be 25

years of business, which,

um, as we know, It's no

mean feat to start it in a

small business by yourself

and get to that point.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Now you mentioned in

there that you've set this

up in the way that you wanted

business to work for you.

And you know, already

there's a little gem, right?

Because, I'm working with

so many incredible women who

have left corporate, many of

them who are setting up their

own businesses, and before

we know it, they've built the

very thing that they left.

They've built the very.

Thing that they

wanted to not have.

And it's almost like there's

this conditioning around how

we should run our businesses.

Can you tell me a little bit

more, if you can remember

when you first started and

you were really clear about

what you wanted and what you

didn't want any challenges

along the way, like even the,

that concept of we do it for

an hour, not half an hour.

So what I'm hearing is this

constant challenging norm

and rethinking about it and

even going, I don't care.

I'm gonna do it in my way.

I'd love to hear your

thoughts on that.

Yeah.

So a lot of you that have

been to physiotherapists in

the past would realize that

the medical, profession in

general, whether they're

physiotherapists, osteopaths,

chiropractors, gps have

become really high turnover.

Businesses and you don't

get a lot of time to

actually sit and tell

your story with the person

that's looking after you.

And, um, I couldn't study

physiotherapy in Tasmania.

When I finished year 12.

I wanted to become a

physiotherapist, so I

went to Adelaide to study.

I did really well.

I induced the whole

university, so loved

what I was doing.

Spent lots of time studying.

Came back to my first

job and I got a job

in private practice.

It's quite hard to get a

job in private practice

as a new grad, but I had

done well and I went into

a practice that was very

high turnover and I burnt

out within about 18 months.

So seeing lots of people

all day, every day, having

patients pushed into your

lunch hour, staying back

late at night, taking

mountains of paperwork

home after 18 months.

I just went, yeah,

actually that's not for me.

Like if this is physio,

I love studying it, but

it's actually not for me.

And I gave up the profession

altogether, so I was never

gonna be a physio again.

And my dad was actually

running a business in the

construction industry at the

time, and his business was

growing and he wanted a pa

and he said, well, why don't

you come and work with me?

and I really didn't go

and work for him to learn

how to run a business,

but that's inadvertently

when I look back.

You know, that's what I did.

I was actually in a really

great, well-functioning

business, learning how to

run a business, and really it

was just a time filler until

I decided whether I wanted

to go back to physiotherapy.

What happened over that time

is, um, I was a competitive

swimmer and my swimming

club had said, why don't you

actually just come down and,

see a couple of swimmers

a few times a week and

see if you still like it.

And so I did and I went, you

know, maybe this could be

done differently if I had

more time to be able to see

someone, and to be able to

apply my knowledge and be

able to look at not just,

what's in front of me, but

all the contributing factors.

The health and wellbeing

of the person in front of

me and had time to really

drill down into helping them

perform, not just helping

them get better from injury.

maybe I might like

this a bit better.

And so I actually rang every

physiotherapy practice in

Hobart saying, would you

employ me to see people

over longer treatment

time even pay me less?

I just wanna see if I

still want to do this, and

no one would employ me.

So that's why I started

my own business.

And so I found a little room

in the Hobart CBD that was

just me and a receptionist,

and I thought I was the

only person in the world

that wanted to run physio

and medicine like that.

And, um, my dad helped me put

together a business plan to

say, you still actually have

to make money doing this, so

if you are gonna see people

over a longer time, you

need to charge more for it.

I'm like, I don't

know anything.

I'm a new graduate.

And fortuitously, I

actually had a really

experienced physio ring

up and say, I've always

wanted to work like that.

Give me a job, and I was

like, I know nothing.

You don't wanna come

and work with me?

He said, no, no.

I will mentor you.

To be a great physio if

you give me a job where

I can be a great physio.

And so within a couple

of months of starting my

business, I had an experienced

physio that moved in with me.

And since then, more and

more it was never meant

to be a massive business,

but since then, more and

more people have wanted

to work in the same way.

I've had a business partner

come and go around when I

had children 18 years ago.

Go.

and I've also got a current

business partner that's been

with me for the last 10 years.

And every single time there's

those transitions have

happened to have people buy

in and out of the business.

I've made sure that I've got

a water tight shareholders

agreement that basically says

these are the things that

can't change 'cause these

are why I set up my business.

'cause it would be

very easy to see more

people per hour put.

Profit before people, not

provide great services.

And yes, your business needs

to be profitable and yes, you

can still run a profitable

business if you set it up in

the right way, but it's very,

very easy for these things to

change over time if you don't

stay the course and make sure

that you stay really true to.

The business values

that you first set

the business up with.

So that's been challenging.

So you've hit the nail on

the head there, Janine.

It's really challenging

because it's really

easy for those things to

morph and get out of hand

really, really easily.

But then all you

end up doing is.

Burning out your staff,

having higher staff

turnover, retraining

costs so much money.

You are better off to look

after your fabulous people

and grow as a team together.

and yeah, the, building

blocks for that are making

sure that you look after

your staff as well as you

possibly can so that they

can provide great services to

patients just like you have.

there's just so much

in there that you've shared.

starting back with, that

willingness to learn how to

run a business, I. Number

one, the second piece

around the curiosity around

doing things differently.

And what I love about

what you shared there,

Kellie, is, you know, a

couple of times you said,

I didn't know how to do it.

I didn't know how to do it.

I didn't know how to do it.

But it actually doesn't

matter sometimes that it's

more you identify that

something had to change

and you were going to do it

and maybe the, the naivety.

From a business perspective

is actually what enabled that

idea to get planted and grow.

I think all of us can take,

particularly in this current

climate that we're in right

now, you know, there is so

much opportunity, I think, and

it's having that curiosity to

identify that opportunity and.

We might not know the

answers, but just, go for it.

I call it like

experimentation.

I'm all about experimentation

then, the piece about

seeking, like having a mentor.

we can get mentors, but it's

that willingness to listen.

It's that willingness to

learn and then you know,

your peace on your passion

around people before profit.

You were almost

before your time.

Like if you think about

where conversations about

businesses are going now, 25

years ago, I can't imagine

many businesses were talking

people before profit.

And yet it's gonna be

interesting isn't it, over

the next few years 'cause

it sort of went profit,

people before profit.

And now we'll see what

happens in the back of

what's going on economically

and the boundaries

you put around that.

and congratulations.

Congratulations for

what you've achieved.

As you said, 25 years.

There's so many businesses

that fail, in such a short

time, but you are here

and you're not only here.

You're doing the thing that

you love according to your

values, and it's growing

and continuing to grow.

what do you think when you

reflect on those 25 years,

what have you learned

about yourself, Kellie?

I've learned

that I actually really

do have very strong

values, and they're around

honesty, integrity team.

Kindness and really

looking after people.

And I get that from my

parents, my dad and my mom.

And my first business

mentor was my dad.

And I was lucky enough

to access his accountant.

He bought his first business

when we as children all

went off to uni, which

is pretty gutsy actually.

So as an adult, I got to.

See what he did to actually,

you know, go into a business

and make it flourish.

so I had access to a

really good accountant

at that stage as well.

And what we did, my dad as my

business mentor and myself and

my accountant, is we just sat

down really regularly and we

made sure that we discussed

all elements of the business.

They made sure I was

paying myself first.

I wasn't.

making $20,000 and putting

it all back into my

business, they made sure

I was paying myself first.

They made sure I had

money for growth.

They made sure I knew

where I was going.

They made sure I had a plan.

But every single time they

would sit down and they

would go, you know, you

could be making more money

if you do it the other way.

And I was like, guess

I could, but I saved

money because I haven't

got a high turnover in.

Staff.

And so it is really easy to

see an hourly rate and go, you

could see three people an hour

and you could make more money.

Yes, we charge more for

longer treatment times, but

it's, you want people to

access your service as well.

You're actually really making

sure you've got a bit of staff

downtime built into that.

And, um, they would remind

me, but then they would also

congratulate me for sticking

to my guns, knowing what my

values were and how I wasn't

actually gonna change it.

And so in terms of.

Profit in the business, it

probably grew a lot slower

than other businesses

might, if that makes sense.

But it also gave me a

chance to make sure the

business wasn't growing

too quickly in terms of

putting administrative

procedures in place.

making sure whenever a

problem came up, you know.

First time someone's

going on maternity leave,

how do I manage that?

What does that look like?

How can I make sure

they're looked after?

How can I make sure

I'm looked after?

How can I make sure my

client's looked after?

I better write a policy for

that, so I know how to do that

next time, once I've tested

it, I better change that.

So when you start your own

business, you know you are

not in a big corporate world

with a whole heap of policies

and procedures behind you.

You have none of them.

Um, but actually one of

the things that my dad

taught me is make sure you

do all of those things as

you go so that you've got

things to lean back on.

And then when you have enough

profit to employ someone

in a management position,

you've already got the script

for how you want it to run.

that's allowed me to have

a lot more freedom to be

able to, since I've had

children only be in my

business three days a week.

And be at home two days

a week, probably doing

a whole heap of business

in the background when

they're at school or

childcare or, or whatever.

But also when they

were little, have more

time with them at home.

Um, it's allowed me when

my children were in primary

school to travel with the

Australian Rowing team for

10 years because I had, I.

Policies and procedures set

up in the background where

everyone would be able to

go to those things first

before being on the phone

and asking me, and me trying

to troubleshoot things

from, you know, Europe when

you were there for six to

eight weeks of the year.

So, I had great business

mentors, but they really

respected my values and

the way that I wanted

to set things up.

what I learned about myself

is they were unwavering.

I was sort of lucky that

I learned a lesson about

burnout really early in my

professional career because I

was never gonna go back there.

'cause I knew what it felt

like and I knew I didn't

want to be in that space.

that sort of, I.

Held my values too,

if that makes sense.

And, um, and certainly, Yeah.

they come from the way I

was, brought up, the service

that I wanna provide, all

of those sorts of things.

I'm certainly not saying

that, you know, I made

silly decisions where my

business wasn't profitable.

You just making decisions

where maybe you were slightly

less profitable in some ways

and you gained efficiencies

in other ways over time.

And having.

Sort of the broad ability to

have a look at all of that

rather than just what's here

and now is sometimes hard.

You've gotta step out of what

you're doing and to be able to

look at the bigger picture, to

figure out why you're making

these decisions and be able

to justify 'em all the time.

and I love what

you're talking about there

in terms of, it's almost

like a little bit of.

The, I call it the commercial

patients, like so many

people are rushing and

rushing and rushing ahead to

either make or grow quickly.

And there's very few

businesses, successful

businesses that are

actually made overnight.

you know, most people take a

little bit of time and there's

the occasional unicorn,

which we all look up to.

but the reality is that

for many of us, it's about

actually working out what

is the right move at the

right time that's going to

enable that bit of growth.

And the other piece that

you talked about was

the, the patience around.

Actually, I don't necessarily

want to make that decision

because we're not ready for

that next period of growth,

which is the business smarts.

Right.

And I see, both sides of the

spectrum in other people where

they're moving so quickly

that all those foundations

and the policies, et cetera,

aren't happening and their

businesses fall apart.

And then on the other side,

the fear, the procrastination

that stops 'em from doing it.

But, but this self-awareness

that you've got, Kellie of.

those decisions that you

made, and I've got a very

good friend of mine, Chris

Power, she talks about these

inflection points in your

business where at every single

point it feels to me like

you've been very considered

in your decision making.

I just wanna go back as

well, 'cause we, as we

tend to do as moms, right?

we jump over the fact that

you've been in business for 25

years, you've got twin boys.

How old are you boys?

they're about

to turn 19, So, they're

starting university study.

Yeah.

Yep.

Mm-hmm.

so six years in your

business, five years maybe.

'cause there's pregnancy

before that, right?

Correct., you've got the two

boys or you got more children?

No, two boys.

That's all.

Yep.

Mm-hmm.

not only were you

starting a business and in

that early phase of business.

You then went through

pregnancy and then

you had the beautiful

surprise of twin boys.

Though it probably wasn't

a surprise, but suddenly,

you know, not only were you

new mom running a business,

you were a mom of two little

people running a business.

how did you cope through that?

I was literally talking

on a podcast this morning.

I was, I was reflecting,

you talked about burnout

and I was going, oh my

God, if I look back, there

was definitely a moment in

time where I must have been

on the brink of juggling.

I had three children under

seven at the time, and it

was the start of my business.

I was like, I actually dunno

how I got through that.

So you had team and clients

that were relying on.

Yeah.

Well, firstly, I've

always prided myself

on Having exceptional

administrative staff.

So exceptional front of house

staff, exceptional people that

can actually just make the

place run if I'm not here.

And what had happened

before I had twins is I

was traveling with the

Australian Junior Swim team.

So I was only going away for

two or three weeks at a time,

but that's when I started

going, when I'm not here.

I don't wanna be on the end

of emails and I don't wanna

be on the end of phone calls.

So before I became pregnant,

I was having these little

mini trips away all the time,

and recognizing that the

business needed to run really,

really well without me there.

And so we needed policies

around everything that we did

from opening up the business.

And I've read, you know,

books about franchises

that had, you know, they

have policies right down

to exactly what you do when

you first walk in the door.

The first person walks in

the door of the business

each day, and it seems really

pedantic, but actually.

If everyone follows the same

procedure, whether you're,

you know, one admin staff or

another that comes in in the

morning and everything is done

and your business is presented

in a really, great way, it

gives you the confidence

that when you go away, that

your business is being, it's

reflecting your values and

your service in the way that

you want it to, otherwise

it's too stressful to go away.

So that's probably

the first part of it.

the second part of it is that

I knew I wanted to become

a sports physiotherapist,

when I gave up.

Swimming competitively.

And I had this dream

that I wanted to go to

the Olympic Games and I

didn't really realize how

hard it was to get there.

Not many females, um, not

many physiotherapists get

to go to the Olympic games.

so I was really on

this sports journey and

wanted to become a sports

physiotherapist to be able

to give myself an opportunity

to do that at some stage.

And so I started

my Master of Sports

Physiotherapy while I was.

in the infancy of my

bi of that business.

So I was like six years

down the track from starting

the business of course.

so I was studying as well

as traveling with swimming,

but had, you know, no

children at that time.

And I thought, you know

what, if I have a baby over

this period of time, I'm

gonna be at home a lot and

I'm gonna be able to finish

off my sports masters.

Like, you know, that's

how naive you are

before you have a child.

Right.

And then I got

pregnant with twins.

Now, you know, we took

those twins to Melbourne as

nine months old for a two

week lecture block and, you

know, crazy, crazy time.

But, I had a husband

that also ran a business.

Okay.

So he also had lots

of challenges with

having, you know, twins

come into his life.

But the one thing running

a business affords

you is flexibility.

If you have a business that's

set up really, really well

with the right people around

you, you have flexibility.

So over that time of being

pregnant and finishing off

my masters, Jason worked a

little bit less to allow me to

be able to get to that point.

I wanted to spend time and

obviously you, you have to

spend more time with your

children once you have

them because you are the

person that can feed them.

And so I wanted

more time to myself.

after that period.

And, and he worked

more at that time.

So we've always had the

thought process that if

you're both working flat out

all the time, that's when

things are gonna fall apart.

So when one of you needs more

support, the other works less.

And so when my boys were

two is when I was asked

to travel with rowing

for the first time.

And, um, I can hear probably

lots of you going, Oh.

my God, like, how do you

actually go away once you've

got, you know, two, two year

olds, if that makes sense.

And, um, I had been

working with rowers

and swimmers in Hobart.

I was thinking I'd just start

traveling with swimming again

when the boys got a bit older.

But rowing came and said,

okay, we've got this,

this trip coming up.

It's Junior World

Championships and non

Olympic World Championships.

So the senior boats don't

go to world championships

Beijing Olympic year.

It's a two and a half week

trip to reckon you can do it.

My first thought was.

How can I do that with

two, two year olds?

And I came home and

spoke to my husband.

He was like, if you don't say

yes, they won't ask you again.

Like, is this

your opportunity?

You know, there's more elite

rowers and swimmers in Hobart.

Is this your opportunity to

go into Olympic based sport?

And I was like, Yeah,

probably is it.

He is like, well there's never

a great time for it, so I'm

gonna wind my hours back.

So he put more management

in place in his

business and he worked.

25 hours a week

in his business.

over the period that I started

working with Australian

Rowing and running my own

business, when I'd go away,

he'd drop his hours down to

15 hours a week, and do a

lot of management from home.

And, yeah, so essentially

year with Rowing Australia

to Europe, and then to an

international competition,

starting with their

junior teams and under 23

teams and senior teams.

Yeah.

I was.

Fortunate enough to

be asked to go to the

London Olympic Games with

the Australian Rowing

team, which was amazing.

then after that, I was

asked to be the lead physio

for Australian rowing for

the whole Rio Olympiad.

So traveling a lot around

Australia, looking after

our best rowers, making

sure our physios placed

right around Australia.

Were looking after our rowers

really well, and, my husband

went well while this is here.

This is great.

Really, really happy

to support you.

but there needs to

be an end point.

We can't do this forever.

And so we really went right

af after two Olympic games.

That's it.

I will work less while my kids

go through high school and

my husband will work more.

And so that's how we,

we've juggled it that you

both can't be going flat

out all the time, but

also that, you don't want.

To remember those years

as a child with your

mum being away a lot.

So we made sure we planned

things like every second year.

Jason and the kids came

away with me and lived with

the Australian Row team.

They got to go to

two Olympic games.

We made sure they had

positive experiences to

remember, you know, we really

saved our pennies to be

able to make sure that they

didn't remember mum being.

Away they remember these

amazing experiences that they

wouldn't have got otherwise.

So, we really had, a

challenging period of time

over that time to balance what

was going on with all of us.

But you just have to

act as a team, right.

And, um, make sure that you

can pull it off together and,

I'm working a bit less, my

husband's working more, that's

affording me great flexibility

to see my kids, you know,

through a later, later stage

of high school into the

university studies, which has

been an absolute pleasure.

Well, as you said

there, it's giving you

the business, gave you the

flexibility and the choice

to be able to determine what

are the right frameworks for

your family and your team.

talk to me about the Olympics.

I know you talked about

that being a dream.

so we've just come out of

an Olympics and watched so

many incredible, you just

watch, I watch in awe.

And you know, I say to my

kids, you know, you don't

get there just by going, oh,

well, I'll go to the Olympics.

It doesn't happen

without effort.

What did you learn, from

being at the Olympics?

Yeah, I think,

the journey to get there

and following the athletes

all the way through, to

the Pinnacle event is.

The bit that's the

most interesting.

So when you're at the

Olympic Games as a

physiotherapist, you don't

see much of the competition.

You, you're in the background

and you're supporting

the athletes, and you're

supporting the coaches.

but the journey to get

there is the bit, that

I've enjoyed the most and

probably that I've learned

the most lessons out of.

And what I would say is.

When you're dealing with

people that are striving to

be on the Olympic team or

that get onto the Olympic

team when you're overseas,

while they're preparing to

do that, they're striving

to be the absolute best

versions of themselves, both

physically and and mentally.

And so what you become

involved with is not just

treating injuries, but

actually working with

coaches to accelerate

human performance.

And so you are constantly

making sure that you're

communicating in the right

way to not, put fear into

athletes to be able to give

them support, to be able to

be appropriate in your role.

but also on top of that,

you're actually breaking

down strengths and weaknesses

physically of the athletes

that you are working with.

Or a combined effect, say

maybe if you're out on the

water with a rowing coach

and looking how they can

make that boat go faster,

and you are looking at the

very small gains in human

performance now, You look

at something like that

and go, that's fabulous.

You know, I've helped

people row backwards as

fast as they possibly can.

And is that as important

as helping someone to

get off the toilet and be

able to be independent in

their life, in their home?

Nowhere near as important,

but those lessons that you

learn about human performance

and how to get the best

out of human performance

from a strength point of

view, a flexibility point

of view, a movement control

point of view, they are.

Really squishing, all of your

knowledge out of you making

you perform at the absolute

best that you possibly can,

making you think at this much

higher level all the time

about how can we do better

than the rest of the world?

How can we, you know, it's

this curiosity constantly

of pushing you to be the

best version of Yourself,

you can be as a practitioner

in performance health,

that you bring all of those

learnings back to your

environment to, number one,

educate all of the other

people that work with you.

But then number two, for your

everyday patients to benefit

from, because you know, the

Olympic Games is the pinnacle

in terms of human performance.

But actually all of those

learnings I can apply to

every single person that

works through my clinic do

probably actually have a

greater impact in their life.

Yeah.

Wow.

and one of the things I

remember you saying when

we were talking last about.

You know, those athletes

don't get there on their own.

And this concept of, when

we are in business, we can

have the learning, we can

have the vision, we can

have our values, we can

have our team, but nobody

can achieve whatever.

Peak performance, pinnacle

of their performance is for

each of them on our own.

and obviously I think you

see it that firsthand when

it comes to athletes because

it's not just you as the

physio that's contributing to

that performance, but there's

other parts of that team.

And equally there's

the athlete themselves.

And I'd love you to share the

story, which literally just

I wrote about on LinkedIn.

Around one of those female

athletes that you were looking

after and, the awareness

that she had in terms of how

to get to that next level.

And from your perspective,

I'm curious about what you

took out of that, that you

take into everyday life.

Mm. So the story that

Janine is referring to is

a really lovely one, and we

had an athlete who won a gold

medal in the Rio Olympics.

Her name was Kim Brennan,

and actually her name was Kim

Crow before she got married

at the London Olympics.

And.

In London, she won a bronze

medal in the, in the single,

and she won a silver medal

in the double, and it's quite

unusual to race in two races.

She's very talented.

She's a really,

really hard worker.

but she wanted a gold medal.

So for her, she hadn't

achieved that in London.

She wanted to

achieve that in Rio.

And so she had committed to

rowing the single skull, um,

for four years to be able

to try and get a gold medal

at the Rio Olympic game.

She was based in Canberra

and I was based in Hobart,

but I would go into

Canberra for training camps.

And I came in for training

camp one day and I sat

down with her and we'd been

talking about some back

pain that she'd had and how

we were gonna manage that.

She said, right when you are

working with the Men's Going

Program, and they're mainly

based in Hobart, before we

would go overseas, um, you're

doing this trunk conditioning

program with them and, you're

doing, all of this work to

make their abdominals as

strong as they possibly can.

She said, do you

realize that my race is

longer than their race?

So they're in a quad.

They've got four people

rowing two kilometers.

I'm in a single, I've got one

person rowing two kilometers,

and I'm a female that don't

have as much muscle mass.

So their race is over

and done within about 200

strokes, but mine could

be 250 or 300 strokes,

and so it lasts longer.

My trunk and my abdominals

need to be stronger.

My capacity needs

to be bigger.

I've already talked to my

coach about the fact that

I need to train more on the

water than what they do.

But for you, I need

you to make me more

physically prepared

to be able to do that.

And I hadn't really

thought about that before.

And she really had thought

about exactly what her

needs were, to be able to

get to where she needed to.

Not just from a, when I get

back pain, this is what needs

to happen, but also this

is how I need to perform.

And so we put a trunk

program together for her,

um, that involved some

endurance trunk work,

some strength trunk work.

Worked with her strength

and conditioning coach.

Worked with her coach, we

had to periodize it into her

program so she could do it

when she wasn't fatigued, or

we didn't want to do her to do

it before she went out of the

water and fatigued her trunk

so that she got back pain

when she was on the water.

So we put this whole program

together with how we were

going to stage this, and then

I would have to leave and

come back to Hobart and she

would have physiotherapists

in Canberra looking after her.

So we needed to make sure

that everyone was on board and

everyone understood the why.

So they'd keep supporting

her to do this.

And, Then when we got

overseas, she was like,

you know, I've done it.

Like I'm good.

And we had like a lead in to

the Rio Olympics for about

six weeks with the team.

I'm, I'm here, I've got this.

She was like, but you

know, I can't always

apply it in the boat.

And you know, my coach says

that we go out on the water

and sometimes my trunk

doesn't look that strong,

but when I'm doing the

exercise in the gym, it does.

And so we had this

sort of just general

conversation 'cause you're

living with the athletes

overseas at this stage.

And the men's coach that I'd

been working really closely

with from Tasmania said, well.

Why don't, whenever one of my

rowers has got a niggly back

or, or can't row, rather than

us just going and sitting

on the rowing curve, why

don't you jump in elbow.

We know how to use it.

We do it from the moment

we push off the pontoon.

And so that's what we did

when we were overseas.

Whenever they had someone

that had, you know, a cold and

couldn't do a session or had

a niggly back and couldn't do

a session, she would jump in.

And it was pretty unheard

of for the girls to jump in

with the boys because they're

producing so much power.

But she learned how to

apply that force, which

was really, really lovely.

And there's so many beautiful

things that come out of

that aren't there about not

just physiotherapy and human

performance, but team the

learning for me was how to

get her to a point where she

could win a gold medal and she

did in Rio, which was amazing.

And it was really lovely

to see that journey.

But the other part for

me was when I'm at home

in my business, I am the

leader of that business.

When I was working with,

um, Australia's best

rowers and the Australian

rowing team, I wasn't the

leader in that domain.

So it was making sure

that you knew how to be

a really good team member

in that environment.

And not overstepping

your mark.

Mark, even though

you've got leadership.

Skills, leaning into them

occasionally, but also

trying to do that would've

been disruptive because

there was already a plan.

So knowing your role in team,

knowing when asked to push a

little bit harder, but also

when, there is team management

there already and you might

have the skills to be able

to contribute there to go no.

my place in team is here and

this is what I need to do

and this is what, how I need

to be the best version of

myself and my place in team.

that's actually pretty

hard when you've got

great leadership ability.

But you know, what I say

to the people that work

with me at the moment

is not everyone can be a

leader at the same time.

Like we all have to

be a cohesive team.

And sometimes I drop

back into a team role.

Other times I'm more

in a leadership role.

But over there I really needed

to know where my place was.

Otherwise I could

have been really

disruptive, if that makes

sense.

Hmm.

Oh, I could keep talking

to you for hours 'cause

there's so much wisdom in

your story and your learning.

I. For me, what I've

heard is, I love your

messaging around running.

Our own business actually

has the opportunity to

give us flexibility and

choice if we choose to.

And the link from there

therefore, is a, you do have

a choice as to the decisions

around which you're gonna

build your business, which

you very clearly did in

terms of putting your values.

front, left, and center.

and they have guided every

decision that you've made,

right down to actually

then setting up the head

stuff, the policies and the

procedures to enable that

vision to come to life.

and as a result of that,

that's then unlocked more

opportunity for your business.

And this last piece that

I've you know, what I take

out from what you've said.

is understanding your role,

understanding your role, what

is needed at that moment in

time, and understanding that

your role doesn't operate in

silo, but actually you are

always part of a team and

learning how to operate within

that team and around that

team and lean into that team.

and overarching all of

this is, this taking

ownership of your dreams?

which Kim did, the athletes do

as you shared at the Olympics.

But also you've done this

and you're doing it for

both your clients, your

customers, and also your team.

as we wrap up, Kellie.

' cause I'm sure there's people

listening to this that are

either where you were a few

years ago or they've got

dreams within their business.

They may even be, you know,

so part of my work is I see so

many women that have created

something and as opposed to

it bringing them the very why

that they set out, it's almost

become shackles around their

ankles or it's negatively

impacting their lifestyle.

what would be some of your

key messages to those?

People that may be

listening, going, yeah,

I've set off with that.

I've got the vision and dah

la la but I feel constrained.

cause this is what's

inspiring about your story.

You've got a business, it's

established, it's growing.

You've fulfilled this

dream of being part

of the Olympic team.

You're a mom.

This beautiful

flexibility that you have.

And I agree with you

totally in terms of.

Sometimes we can't

all be on at the same

speed all the time.

what would you say to anyone

listening, going, yes, I

want, how, what, what would

be your, your message to them?

Yeah, I learned a

lesson really relatively

early in my business journey.

And, um, it was when, so my

first business was just called

Kellie Wilke physiotherapist.

And then when I realized

people wanted to work

in the same way as me,

it became Kellie Wilke.

And associates, and

then it became, alright,

there's five of us now we

really need to brand this.

And so I engaged the services

of a branding company and

I met this wonderful woman

called Heather Rose, who's

also a Tasmanian author, and

she had a branding company

at the time, and she wanted

to learn about my values,

my beliefs, my journey, what

my business needed was all

about before she helped me.

Rebrand my business and she

had a marketing business at

the time and that's where the

name Body System came from.

So, you know, that was a

creation of, of her marketing

business at the time.

But she listened to my

story and she said, gosh,

you've got so much going on.

She said, can I give

you a bit of advice?

And because this was

just, you know, when I was

having children and when

I. Studying and I had so

many different things going

on and she said, I've got

lots of things going on.

I'm an author, I've got

a company, I'm a mom.

She said, if I can give

you one bit of advice,

this is a bit of advice

that I would give you.

You can only do one

of those elements.

Well, at the time she said,

what I like to think of is

putting a literal hat on.

When I'm sitting at work

in my marketing business,

I'm not, oh my God, I've

had a good idea of my novel

and writing it over there.

I put my business hat on

and I'm in business, and

I'm there for all the

people in my business.

I'm not closing my door and

trying to do other work.

I am there for that, and

then when I get home, I

take my business hat off.

I put my mom hat on, and if

you answer that business phone

call with your mom hat on, you

will not be the best version

of yourself and your kids will

go psycho in the background.

We all know that as soon as

you put your, you know, pick

up the telephone when your

children are young and you

don't have a good conversation

anyway, so put your mom hat

on when you go in the door.

And then when you're doing

your sports related stuff on,

try and have your sports hat

on and not be running your

business at the same time.

And that was some advice

So eight years into running

my business and when I had

toddlers as children it was

a fabulous piece of advice.

Heather actually went

on to nominate me for a

young Tasmanian, Telstra

Businesswoman Award.

So we got to know each

other really well through

that awards process,

which was really fabulous.

And that's actually when

I got invited, to become

a member of Women of the

Women's Chiefs Association.

That, we have

met through, but.

That bit of advice.

I still hold really dear

to me that you can only do

one thing well at a time.

And when you try to juggle

three at once, you'll never

make the right decisions.

And so now I do things like

I walk to work, so I've got

time between I. Home and work

to be able to turn the work

brain off, make the couple

of phone calls on my way home

before I walk through the

door and everyone's there

waiting for you and, and

wanting to debrief their day.

And so yeah, trying to wear

one hat as a time as a female

business owner, whether

that's mom or business or

whatever else you've got

going on in your life.

And.

Often we've got business

but also a profession.

That's why we started our

business in the first place.

So there's an element of

working in the business

and on the business.

I try and do one of those

things at the time and do

it really, really well.

That's one of the rules

that I've stuck to and, and

really has resonated well

with me for many, many years.

'cause I still

talk about it now.

And, um, yeah, it was

a lesson I learned, but

really, really early on in

running my own business.

And I, and I think it really

has made a massive impact

on how I've been able to.

Achieve some success in

lots of different areas.

What a wonderful place

to end this conversation.

just the visual of

that one hat at a time.

Again, it's that

intentionality isn't it,

of making sure that you are

intentionally focusing on

whatever hat you've got on

versus letting it slide off

to the side and poking some

stuff in through the side.

and you know, the

results are there.

Kellie.

Uh, you are a remarkable

businesswoman.

you are.

Smart sharing.

You live and breathe the

concept of connection

and collaboration.

And I just wanna thank you for

allowing me to reach out, uh,

without really understanding

what I wanted to talk about.

You're like, yeah, sure.

And just knowing that

there's so many gems

of fabulousness in here

that are going to help.

So many people.

your work is important

and, uh, people can

find you on LinkedIn.

I will put your details

in there for anyone

that's interested.

Make sure to check out

Kellie's details in the

show notes it's so been so

fabulous to have you, Kellie.

Thanks for joining us.

Thank you

very much Janine.

It's been a fabulous, you

know, it's been really

fabulous to share some

of those stories and um,

yeah, hard to believe.

25 years has nearly gone by.

Congratulations.

Awesome achievement.