Baking Core Values into your Business with Rebekah McCutcheon of Fit Test Australia

We're back from Christmas with a proper guest – Rebecca McCutcheon is the Managing Director of Fit Test Australia (FTA), a company that specialises in respiratory safety.

We dcusses her business's growth and how vital it is to learn from mistakes, uphold strong values, and maintain authenticity in both personal and business branding.

FTA have a mission to enhance people's health, and have just added new services such as spirometry, audiometry, and ear fit testing.

Bek emphasises the importance of ongoing employee development, adherence to core company values, and overcoming obstacles in business.

If you want to connect up with her – jump on her website – Fit Test Australia or reach out to her on LinkedIn.

Transcript

[00:00:00] Martin: Do you prefer being called Bek?

[00:00:02] Rebekah: Great. I think, yeah, 

[00:00:04] Martin: definitely. I didn't want to feel like, yeah, I'm like, Rebekah, in case it feels like weird to you or. 

[00:00:09] Rebekah: I think when I try to stay really professional, I'm always like Rebecca, Rebecca, Rebecca. And then people will just be like, Oh, Bec. And I'm like, Whoa, that just really casual’d things right up.

[00:00:18] But then I think I'm glad they did it because that's probably what I would have wanted to do.

[00:00:23] Martin: And, you know, it’s a really interesting thing, since I moved to Aus, previously in the UK everybody called me Martin. I was Martin. I'm Martin. 

[00:00:34] Rebekah: Are you Marty now? 

[00:00:36] Martin: Yeah. But previous to that, it was only family that would say “Oh, hi, Marty.”

[00:00:42] And, it's just completely changed. And now I, you know, I met somebody for like the very first time or a second time. And it's, they've just go straight in. 

[00:00:52] Rebekah: Straight into the nickname. 

[00:00:54] Martin: Alright, cool. 

[00:00:56] Rebekah: We're ruthless. 

[00:00:57] Martin: We're best mates now, clearly. 

[00:00:59] Rebekah: I think that's what makes Australians so great, in my opinion, it's just like You, growing up, it is, it's like only your dearest and dearest are going to use these pet names and then all of a sudden a random's calling you that and you're like, whoa, hold up.

[00:01:14] Martin: I love that. I do. I think that's great. We'll do, we'll just go straight into the show just for a minute. Beautiful. This is the Level Up Podcast.

[00:01:29] I'm your host, Martin Sully, a brand strategist, designer, and founder of Snapper Studio. And I'm on a mission to help you gain clarity and confidence in your brand. I'll arm you with bite sized tips and introduce you to friends of the show who are taking their brand to the next level. Uh, welcome back. Uh, this is.

[00:01:59] First, first guest of the 2024 and yeah, we're just, yeah, going straight in. Um, so it's, yeah, the 10th of Jan today and there's no baby. My wife said to me yesterday, she was like, Oh, if you, if my waters break halfway through, are you going to just, yeah, like, can I come down and tell you my, yeah, I suppose we'll just cut it, cut it here.

[00:02:24] Um, so yeah, what have I been up to? Oh, Jesus, just been, yeah, hectic. But anyway, how was Christmas for you, Bec? 

[00:02:32] Rebekah: Um, it was great, actually. It was one week off and back in Newcastle here. Oh, cool. Yeah, spending time with family and friends. I loved it. Yeah, 

[00:02:41] Martin: amazing. Yeah. So for those of you that don't know Bec or Rebecca, um, I stumbled across her from a post where she was kind of delving into her, um, yeah, like learnings and things from, you know, being brought up in a Novocastrian household back in the eighties.

[00:03:02] So obviously quite similar age by the sounds of it. And your dad's preachings like, yeah, your word, your word is your bond or, you know, if you're going to do a good job, do it, do it properly. 

[00:03:15] Rebekah: 100%. I was raised with a million of those preachings. 

[00:03:18] Martin: Do you, do you stick into them? 

[00:03:23] Rebekah: Definitely. I think if you are trying to, as a person, even create any kind of personal success or even a business success, you need strong values and foundations to draw from.

[00:03:35] Martin: Yeah. Yeah. I think, um, yeah, when we speak about values and bits and pieces quite a lot, um, on the show, but yeah, it's, um, it's interesting how it kind of points you in the right direction and, you know, helps you out. 

[00:03:48] Rebekah: It does. You don't realise, um, how many times that dad either has a saying or a quote that you got drummed into you that's normal for you but you say it sometimes and people are like, oh wow, that was so profound.

[00:04:02] And you're like, that's, that's just how I was raised. So yeah, it 

[00:04:08] Martin: can be interesting. Uh, yeah, so, yeah, you can't kind of, yeah, reach any of those, um, yeah, that kind of success without having those fundamental, fundamental values in, in place. Um, so let's tell, tell me a bit more about yourself. 

[00:04:28] Rebekah: Um, um, yeah, I guess I am Rebecca McCutcheon by name.

[00:04:33] Um, I run a business called Fit Test Australia and it was kind of by accident that I am in the business that I am, not so much the business I am, but to where I am with it today. Um, started out being a sole trader and thinking that, um, as a sole trader, it was just always going to be myself running around doing my little thing.

[00:04:55] And, um, you don't see the growth that you potentially could, could reach and you don't realize your own potential. Um, and it's, yeah, you kind of have to stop back at times and look at yourself and go, wow, I've come a long way and I've still got a long way to go. 

[00:05:09] Martin: Yeah. Yeah. So how many, how many people are working with you?

[00:05:12] Um, it would 

[00:05:13] Rebekah: be eight now. Oh wow. That would probably be including me. Yeah. Still working in the business instead of on it a lot of the time. 

[00:05:21] Martin: Yeah, but I don't, I feel like that's just something that is inevitable and just like incredibly hard to escape. Yeah. Um, you're either relied on to be like the front of all knowledge around the particular industry and You know, for the other people when they need to problem solve, um, I've got this thing happened.

[00:05:43] How do I fix it? You end up just jumping in and pitching, especially if people get ill and you've got training booked or whatever it is that you have to kind of pitch in and go, all right, I can cover it. 

[00:05:56] Rebekah: Roll up the sleeves and get involved. That's 

[00:05:59] Martin: fun as well. I love it. Yeah, that's good. I mean, that's, that's part of it, isn't it?

[00:06:04] Rebekah: It is. Um, it keeps you, it keeps you grounded, I think, as well. If you think that you're a bit past being on the front line, it's like, Nope, I'm back here more often than I expected. 

[00:06:15] Martin: Yeah. So, Fair Taste Australia. It's your business, isn't it? So, and obviously, I saw I, because I was doing a bit of research right on your blog that, um, one of the things you try and cover is what is a fit test and obviously a lot of people that will be listening will be going, huh?

[00:06:33] What? What? That doesn't mean anything to them. It doesn't. Yeah, let's go. 

[00:06:38] Rebekah: I'm going to say, um, wearing my work shirt around a lot of time, people would look at me and be like, Oh no, I haven't gone to the gym lately or, Oh, don't look at me. No, you know, I'm not dieting at the moment and I'm unfit. And I think, what?

[00:06:53] And then I realized they're mistaking the business of a fit test with actual fitness. 

[00:06:58] Martin: So you're not doing a beep test. No. 

[00:07:01] Rebekah: And I've got nothing to do with fitness. Um, it's definitely all about respiratory safety and, and someone's level of protection wearing that respiratory device. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:07:12] Martin: That's funny.

[00:07:12] So going back to the first kind of conversations we had, obviously I said, uh, my wife's in healthcare and. She's working across COVID wards, um, and respiratory masks have become like the thing, the norm, um, day to day. Um, still occasionally they, you know, she has to put, put masks on and, um, go into different wards that have got COVID on.

[00:07:37] And at the start of all that, you're fit tested for a mask that is suitable for your face and that fits and doesn't obviously let COVID through. Um, so there's, that's kind of where we started the conversation, uh, it was kind of funny how things kind of. Uh, happen, I guess. 

[00:07:57] Rebekah: Definitely was. You actually thanked me for probably testing your, your wife, which I had to look into it a bit more and realise it wasn't actually me, but, um, it's very close enough.

[00:08:09] And we did, we did do a lot of training for hospitals back, um, when COVID first spiked because they hadn't implemented that in house and they needed help with that. And that was something that we specialised in were able to, to help with. That's awesome. 

[00:08:23] Martin: Yeah. That's really cool. Um, yeah, also going back to that first post that I kind of found, I found it through a guy called, I don't know if you know, Matthew Taylor.

[00:08:34] Do you know Matthew Taylor? So I've known Matt. For, uh, probably four or five years now and he regularly comes, I organize a, like a networking event locally. I love that. Um, and he comes along most, most sort of months, um, just to come and say, Hey, catch up. So yeah, he, he's a, he's a good friend, um, which is, so that's quite funny in itself.

[00:08:58] Newcastle is quite small. It 

[00:09:00] Rebekah: is. Um, he, he is. He used to work for one of my business mentors and that's how I know Matt. So my business mentor was like, Matt, he's great at HR and I've got to put you in touch with Matt. So that's what happened. And he's lovely and he's very good at what he 

[00:09:17] Martin: does. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:09:18] He's great. That's funny. Um, so yeah. And then going back to that post, you mentioned other people were discrediting and defaming. You or the business, um, you don't have to go into it if you don't want to, but I'd love to, yeah, dive a little bit into that and obviously that's a problem that you kind of came across.

[00:09:39] Rebekah: Yeah, definitely. Um, I don't want to shy away from this one. It would be easy to do that, but, um, yeah, what I did, I made a mistake, which I like actually regret that it, the mistake was grabbing a blog, running it through AI. Um, and I got called out publicly and defamed and discredited as a result of that action that I took.

[00:10:03] Um, which it was a really great opportunity to stop and say, okay, this has happened. Yeah. Um, how can I take this and what can I do from this moment? Put a stake in the ground and go, how am I going to do better? Yeah. Um, it definitely didn't align with my values as a person, so it was a good wake up call as well.

[00:10:22] Yeah. And just kind of realise, how am I going to take this and turn it around and make it a strength now and move forward and learn from that mistake. 

[00:10:30] Martin: So what did you end up doing with the blog post? Did you take it down or was it just completely? Yeah, I did. I took it down. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's an interesting, isn't it?

[00:10:38] I mean like, uh. Yeah, I think those, those little things where you go, Oh, I've made a mistake. Um, yeah. 

[00:10:47] Rebekah: It's hard to admit, but I feel like completely owning it and being honest about it, whether or not whoever may have saw the discredit and defaming could have been like, wow, that really takes away from the person we thought Rebecca was.

[00:11:02] I feel like, um, having the opportunity to be really honest about it makes me feel like. Um, I get to show my audience and my customers and clients and colleagues that, um, no one's above a mistake. But at the same time, if you don't own it, um, you don't really get to show that you are as honest as you are trying to portray yourself as.

[00:11:25] Yeah. 

[00:11:25] Martin: And I think, yeah, that authenticity and, you know, um, you know, being, being yourself. Uh, it's so important, especially like, cause you're building both simultaneously a personal brand and a, and a actual business brand as well. You

[00:11:42] Rebekah: don't realize that at the time. Yeah. Yeah. You think you're just building a business and you realize, well, I am the business and as it grows, I'm growing.

[00:11:51] Martin: There's so many learning opportunities for, you know, for the problems and mistakes. It's never 

[00:11:56] Rebekah: ending Martin. You can do it better. 

[00:11:58] Martin: 100%. Yeah, I like, I just had a conversation the other day with a friend of mine who's in SEO and I. I said to him and I'm like, you know, uh, he happily just gave me a couple of little tips on my website.

[00:12:12] And I was like, cool. Thanks, man. That's been really helpful. And then like the next day I was like looking over some of the statistics and bits and pieces and I had to reach out to him and say, like, yeah, I'm actually ranking for a keyword now, which I've never done before. Ranking number one. I was like, something I actually wanted to be ranking for.

[00:12:31] And I was like, it's just like. A little bit of advice, but like, that's just me doing a little bit of extra learning, like through somebody else, obviously. Yeah. I was just like, Oh, okay. That's how it all works. That 

[00:12:46] Rebekah: makes sense. It's true. It's, uh, I think not being shy to ask for help or, or to, and always being open to learn.

[00:12:53] Yeah. Especially in the, in the face of mistakes. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it just helps you grow. Yeah. Completely. 

[00:12:59] Martin: Yeah. Agreed. I have a, uh, like a small pile of books that I want to read, um, just sat on my desk that I'm just like, I'm going to get to it at some point, but they're all like really relevant to branding and brand strategy, um, and the kind of psychology of, um, influencing people's decisions.

[00:13:17] And that's, and I'm always very careful to say that I don't want to influence people in like a really manipulative way. And they come from a place of collaboration and doing better. And because I think that is a really key distinction that we're not just, we're not just there just to make money from people and that we want to actually help people and improve people's lives.

[00:13:40] Rebekah: I definitely will agree with that. I think that when you make that the point of everything that you do, then the success grows around that, that 

[00:13:50] Martin: fundamental, you know, the end of the day conversations that we have and people, you know, day to day conversations, that's a big thing that's going to, yeah, just help and just see people as people.

[00:14:04] Um, Humane. Yeah. Human connection is, uh, just, yeah. Changed, changed my view of things over the last sort of four or five years or so. Yeah, 

[00:14:16] Rebekah: I think, um, it's in a work setting or a professional setting. It's so easy to literally dehumanize the people that you're either competing with or working to try and win their business.

[00:14:28] And you have to still remember that we are all people at the end of the day. And how do I, like you say in your branding, um, how do I humanize myself and them and, and be able to reach them in that better capacity? Yeah, 

[00:14:42] Martin: absolutely. Yeah, that's interesting. So going into more of like the human side of things again for you, obviously you're working with respiratory problems and not specifically on the health side of things, but trying to help prevent some of the things.

[00:14:57] And there was a recently, it was a big announcement about engineered stone and how we can, it's going to be banned. I think that's right. Yeah, that's correct. Um, so yeah, engineered stone here in Australia has been banned and. It's got links to things like silicosis and other, I'm guessing, other lung problems 

[00:15:18] Rebekah: as well.

[00:15:18] Oh, definitely. It's the beginning of a lot of, a lot of, and even potentially death. Yeah. Is the cause of those health implications. 

[00:15:27] Martin: So, obviously that's a really result for the people who are working with the industry. But, on the flip side of that, it's obviously There's going to be an impact on your business because you're not fitting masks for people working in this engineered stone industry anymore.

[00:15:45] Definitely. It's an interesting one. So it's kind of way up because yeah, this is a really positive result because at the end of the day, it's, you know, it's got, it, you know, it can only be positive, but at the flip side, there's obviously an impact on your business. Yep. 

[00:16:02] Rebekah: Yeah. The way, back to how I would see this, um, change is, again, it's definitely positive.

[00:16:10] I hope that it doesn't stop there with eliminating worksite occupational hazards that could be, um, better controlled or even eliminated as a better practice. Um, and then again, you could look at it from my business perspective and be like, well, we're going to take a hit of a client that we once had that's now going to be taken away.

[00:16:29] But, um, when I do stop and think about times like this, I love to remember why I'm doing this. And that's not to, to gain monetary value, which again, it's great to do that as a result of your hard work. But, um, For me personally, I'm, I'm that passionate about someone's actual health that it means. If, if this is going to result and save lives, then, um, that's the best outcome in my mind.

[00:16:56] And it's like, you, you just got to change the business and grow with it and adapt. 

[00:17:01] Martin: By the looks of it, you are. Looking at doing that, obviously you've got something new on the cards and you've just released a new, uh, 

[00:17:08] Rebekah: service. Yeah, we've actually released, um, a few new services. They're kind of a comp, they complement the existing.

[00:17:15] Obviously, respiratory is our core business and the one which I am the most passionate about, um, and obviously probably the most skilled in. Um, spirometry, audiometry and ear fit testing are the three new ones that we're going to bring in for 2024. 

[00:17:30] Martin: You'll have to, um, go, I have no idea what spirometry is.

[00:17:36] Rebekah: It's, to be honest, the first few times that I had to say that word, I was kind of tripping on it. And I was like, I can't trip on the words. They're literally going to be part of my business. So spirometry is. Um, it's a baseline level assessment of someone's lung capacity. So if they're going into a, a new career path or an occupation where, um, there could be impacts to health in a negative way due to airborne contamination and hazards, um, you just get that check to go in and go, are they okay?

[00:18:08] Um, have they got great lungs and is there an existing lung issue that we can pick up on and market on that person? So, 

[00:18:16] Martin: you would be working with, you know, mines, that sort of thing? Yep. 

[00:18:19] Rebekah: Mines, tunnellers. Tunnellers are a huge one that we work with. And I think that, um, with COVID happening and the respiratory awareness growing, I think people really only see it as like a healthcare thing, which it was always, um, for me, mining and civil and construction.

[00:18:36] Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:18:37] Martin: Yeah. Yeah. And I suppose, yeah, all those construction industries and actually thinking about it. One of my recent clients, they have been building Western Sydney Airport, obviously that's a big one. Um, actually, you know, ginormous, like it's not going to be finished till like 2060, I think it's the last part of it.

[00:18:56] No way, how do you know that? It's like nearly 40 years away. Wow. Until they properly finish it. And I think the first part is going to be finished in, like, 2026. And there's going to be a year of testing after that. So, like, flights going in, making sure that all the conveyors and everything, like, everything works.

[00:19:17] And before they start actually using, you know, using people so that, rather than say people, using, you know, test people. Ha ha ha! Um, so that'll be a really interesting one. But, yeah, those, I went up there for a, I was there for like two hours, if that, um, just in and around the dust and the, you know, all the steel works being installed and, you know, um, uh, sandstone being cut and put into place.

[00:19:49] Those things you just think, Oh, that's just like their regular day to day and they're just, they've got hard hats on. That's literally it. I'm like, Hmm, it doesn't seem quite right. I'm sure if it's in, you know, part of their, I'm sure they've done a lot of, you know, health and safety checks and have everything in place to start with.

[00:20:10] Yeah. But yeah, it's an interesting 

[00:20:11] Rebekah: one. It is, it's, I used to work on the Western Sydney Air, um, Western Sydney Airport in the early earthworks doing the asbestos clearances and um, it's a big project and I did know 2026 was that date that they were hoping to kind of finish. Yeah. And get the ball rolling on that.

[00:20:28] I didn't know it was 2060 that, um, would be the final completion of that. 

[00:20:34] Martin: Because there's like five, five terminals or five stages. 

[00:20:37] Rebekah: Like, you kind of think, oh, are we going to be able to like, utilise this airport? Probably not in my lifetime. 

[00:20:41] Martin: No. No. I, um, to an extent, probably, but yeah, I, yeah, it's interesting, hey?

[00:20:49] Rebekah: I was going to say, to better, like, align with what you were just saying, it really is, um, Risk assessments do need to be done and I think there's still a long way to go with respiratory protection and like you said, you observe people cutting sandstone and sandstone still is huge, um, you know, product that has or product or I'm going to say material that has silica dust in it.

[00:21:12] So back to that banning of engineered stone, it doesn't stop there and it's like, let's, that's a great start. Yeah. How do we start to slowly move that forward amongst other occupations? 

[00:21:24] Martin: Yeah. That's really interesting. I think, um, yeah, and there must be, um, there must be tools in place to monitor air quality and things.

[00:21:34] There is. That's great. Actually, I was like, yeah, okay. Yep. There you go. That makes sense. Let's. Dive in a little bit more into like the business side of things, um, have you found that you've had to get to grips with like new things while you've, you know, and more roles than just being the managing director, obviously you said, um, jumping into like, you know, take over and do more things, but you, you know, a lot of people I find themselves like accountant, you know, marketing, like copyright, uh, like just that.

[00:22:06] It's, it's, it's literally everything, a photographer. A hundred percent. Especially in the early 

[00:22:12] Rebekah: days. It is, it's um, I would have to say in the beginning you don't properly understand the amount of roles you're going to take on when you start to either work for yourself or go into business. You, you think, oh, I'm going to do this, but doing that means exactly what you said.

[00:22:30] I'm now an accountant. I'm now a blogger, I'm now someone who has to like get good at web design and content and um, I've now got to do proposals and all these documents that you're like, I don't even know what they are. And a client might ask when you're like, yep, all right, I'll get that to you. And it's like, what is that?

[00:22:49] Martin: Writing a tender and yeah, the 

[00:22:51] Rebekah: tender as well, like just things that you don't even factor in. You just left kind of scratching your head to go, all right, I've just got to get this 

[00:23:00] Martin: done. And had you done any of those, like, obviously not, maybe not the bookkeeping and accounting, but like, had you done any of those things previous to that?

[00:23:07] No. 

[00:23:09] Rebekah: So it can be quite funny because I listened to one entrepreneur speak and their business grew so rapidly that when he was asked. Like, how were they coping with it, his definition or explanation was, it's like running and jumping off a cliff and building the landing on the way down. And it was so relatable because you're like, we are just, there's so much you're figuring out as you go.

[00:23:32] And then there's probably still a lot I need to learn. I think that you've got the fundamentals in place, but still people are using acronyms and words that I'm like, Oh, I've got to Google that. Yeah. What are 

[00:23:43] Martin: they saying? Yeah. Yeah. It's funny. It's funny. It's funny. Um, like. I'll ask you about your kind of branding journey and how you kind of came to all that side of things a bit later on.

[00:23:56] But it's funny how many times, um, and it's not often that a new company starts up and they go, okay, we've got all the money set aside and we're going to get all of this stuff done like right to begin with. Because actually, I've just finished off a brand recently. And by the time we've done like the website and everything, got photos done and got a copywriter involved and all these things, and this is even touching things like looking at all the legal side of things, like all up, we're probably the best part of I was trying to think probably about 20, 000 and that's probably at the low end for, you know, a lot of businesses.

[00:24:42] So it's unusual that somebody goes in right at the beginning and says, okay, I've got spare 20, 000 that they can just go straight into getting their branding done. So that's why a lot of people end up, yeah, kind of going in the, go in the quickest route they can to start getting something together to start actually making money.

[00:25:02] It's 

[00:25:02] Rebekah: true. It's like an expense you don't factor in that you really should. Yeah. Yeah. Because again, you're left with that brand and once it's established, it's, it becomes critical to like, how would you want to change it? What's the right change to reach your audience? But yeah, is brand recognition already established?

[00:25:22] How do we combat that? 

[00:25:23] Martin: That's the thing you gotta like, yeah, you gotta work to capture that and keep it. Uh, without doing any unforeseen damage or been, you know, seem to be imitating other brand. It's, um, yeah, it's interesting. You always got to keep your eye on it, um, because there's, there's always new competitors as well.

[00:25:44] Um, outlet could be, yeah, doing something you haven't seen yet that you go, Oh, actually doing something better than we do currently. How can we innovate and do, you know, what's the next thing? What's the next point we kind of, yeah, push towards and do we need a new website or whatever? It's um, yeah, it's a bit of a juggle.

[00:26:05] Rebekah: It is. It is something that you constantly, exactly like you said, you've got to, it's an active thing and as a business owner and someone who runs the business, it's like constantly actively managing. Um, all aspects, but like you said, branding is, it's so critical and you do have to keep an eye and stay innovative and relevant.

[00:26:26] Martin: Yeah. It can be stressful, hey? It 

[00:26:30] Rebekah: can keep you up at night, that's for sure. 

[00:26:35] Martin: So what's been the, yeah, I guess what's been the biggest challenge or the, yeah, to you over the last? four years or so? 

[00:26:43] Rebekah: Um, I would have to say scaling and scaling, uh, properly. I think it's easier to scale. It's not easy to scale. I don't know why I just said that.

[00:26:52] Like it can seem easy to scale with like, I'm going to hire new people. I'm going to do this and that, but to do it properly is actually really hard. Um, I think that's been a big challenge. And then trusting people with your brand, especially if you started out as a one man band, you're kind of like, ooh, is this person going to go out there and properly represent me and everything that I stand for?

[00:27:14] It's a lot. So I think that's a big challenge that I've had to face. 

[00:27:19] Martin: Yeah, absolutely. Oh, it's, um, yeah, it's really hard, hey? Mm hm. Um, yeah, knowing, knowing the right, um, you know, time to add people into the business and kind of let go. It's, yeah, it's wild. It is 

[00:27:38] Rebekah: wild. It's um, sometimes you know when someone's not the best fit, but you try to give chances and, and try to help them grow.

[00:27:48] And you do have to know when is the appropriate time to let some, some people go. And I think that's not a hard thing to do. Yeah. 

[00:27:56] Martin: I don't know if you've found this. I've found. A couple of times where people have, um, it's not what I've been hiring people when people have been approaching me to work with them and work as a kind of an external agency to help them either rebrand or become more integrated into the team.

[00:28:17] And then quite often that becomes like you, you know, doing weekly meetings or day to day meetings, just checking over the brand, keeping things ticking over. Uh, I found. That people kind of approach you to do those things and then, like, completely ghost you and you go, what happened? Um, and there's been just some sort of situations like that where you're like, oh, you know, this is all going brilliantly.

[00:28:42] And then all of a sudden, like, you get, you put the rug pulled from underneath your feet and nothing happens. I'm like, is that normal? So I, I, it's a question for you, like, have you found things like that where. Yeah, things have been kind of, yeah, mentioned or, yeah, you think 

[00:28:59] Rebekah: you, you think you've got it in the bag and it's a done deal and nothing eventuates from it and you do, you're left kind of going, um, did I lose to a competitor?

[00:29:09] Did I say something wrong? Did we misquote? Yeah. Um, yeah, you want to dissect it and figure it out, but sometimes you just have to learn to know that maybe the timing's not right for them and they don't have that courage to. Yeah. To let you know. Yeah. And just be clear with their communication that we'll come back to this later.

[00:29:29] Yeah. You just get ghosted. 

[00:29:30] Martin: Oh yeah. And I think that's, uh, one of the big, like the biggest things that I've, I've learned is just sometimes you actually just let go and go, okay, not everything is going to work out. Not everything is going to eventuate and, and go forward. Yeah. Um, sometimes you just go, oh, oh well, move on.

[00:29:49] Gotta move on. Move on to the next thing. 

[00:29:51] Rebekah: Definitely. Definitely. Always. Onwards and upwards. 

[00:29:54] Martin: How have you found it, um, hiring? new, um, yeah, more fit test consultants. And obviously, are you actively looking for more people, or is it just kind of when you get awarded a big contract or a 

[00:30:10] Rebekah: It can be a little bit of both.

[00:30:11] I think it's always good to, um, have an eye on who might be out there that may be a great fit and bring some value to your business. Yeah. Um, the other times it might be, yeah, we've just won, um, some work that I know that my current Um, team might not be able to fulfill due to personal commitments. Yeah.

[00:30:31] Um, yeah. So you're, you're constantly having to, yeah, go between those two and realize when's the right time to bring in new people and yeah, it's, it's not an easy juggle. 

[00:30:42] Martin: No, it's not. Um, one thing I really, really wanted to ask you about is, and I don't often because most people seem to, uh, most people that have come on have been.

[00:30:54] single or, you know, they've had two to three people. When you start getting a slightly bigger crew with you, how have you found like integrating like your, your core values or the business's core values and how do people kind of, yeah, take them on board themselves and, you know, use it as. It's part of the internal branding.

[00:31:14] Rebekah: I think that, that is a great question because I think it's something that we continually need to grow on and work on ourselves. I think in the beginning when you are just one person and you slowly bring these people in around you to help you do more and service the work that you're getting, um, you neglect that.

[00:31:34] That's the most honest answer I can give you. It's, and it's only when things slow down and you have a. It's a moment to reassess and say, Hey, why is the team not doing what I would expect? Or, um, you know, things aren't getting executed to the level you have to realize I've never properly communicated that we never did have those conversations.

[00:31:56] It's like they, they know quickly on entry. It's like, this is everything I stand for and how, what I believe in, but it's not consistently Um, drummed into them or reminded to them that these are our core values. So we don't pivot away from those. Yeah. 

[00:32:12] Martin: Oh, it's like, you know, I've, I've been in businesses of, you know, 2000 people.

[00:32:18] And like, when you get to those scales, you know, you get, you get like employee handbooks and you're like, even as an employee, you're like, I'm never going to read this 100 page document. 

[00:32:32] Rebekah: And you're like, they've got everything they need to know now to succeed in this business, but it's, it's overwhelming how they're supposed to do that.

[00:32:40] Martin: But if you've got, you know, if people have questions and this is why, you know, the necessity of having like weekly meetings or meetings with your staff just to go over, you know, what questions have you got that you can cover in a, in a quick session that isn't just like, Being like, read page 47 of the handbook, you'll find the answer 

[00:32:59] Rebekah: there.

[00:33:00] It's there for you to see. It really is, for me, it's kind of, um, I do like to ask my stuff, what's working, what isn't, um, where, you know, if something goes wrong. Hey, can we look at this? Could we have done better? Um, what maybe can we do to prevent this moving forward? And then maybe you're creating things as you go as well that you probably, I think you as a person, you think you've got a lot together, but your team really do get to bring in new perspectives that you probably never would have entertained those ideas or thoughts before.

[00:33:36] And you need that outside help to, to bring it to. to light, if that's the right way to say it? 

[00:33:42] Martin: Oh yeah, absolutely. Um, yeah. Um, I guess some of that kind of goes into the the, kind of the vision of, you know, the business going forward. Um, so actually that's one thing I pretty much ask everyone. Um, like what's the vision for FTA going forward?

[00:34:01] Oh, I 

[00:34:01] Rebekah: love this question. Um, I didn't have one for a long time because I guess I wasn't being asked, but as I get asked, I'm like, Oh my gosh, I really need to get an answer to this. And for me personally, it's when anybody thinks of respiratory protective equipment and fit testing, it's, they think of Fit Test Australia, FTA, like first and foremost as, as being that person to do it above and beyond anybody else.

[00:34:29] Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:34:30] Martin: It's interesting, isn't it? Like, it goes back again, like, to how we had. And the conversation of, you know, you don't necessarily go straight in with all your branding and think about like things like your vision or your mission statement, all the, you know, all the other various like, cause there's, there's probably about 15 different statements that kind of cover strategy, brand strategy.

[00:34:53] You're not normally asked about them until you get in either a few years or you're really, you know, you've got the money to kind of do it and somebody help you explore that stuff. Like most of the time it's just like, I'm, I'm going to run a business. I think in 

[00:35:10] Rebekah: the beginning, even if you were to do it, it would be done so poorly because you're just trying to find those like keywords, the buzzwords that are going to make people.

[00:35:20] Yeah. Attach credibility to you. But as you grow, I think, um, we don't have it on our website actually, and it is something that, um, I love reading people's visions and their mission statement and, um, the reason we don't have one on there, I think I'm constantly trying to figure out what is the one above everything else.

[00:35:41] Cause you have a few and you kind of go, what is the standout for me that I really want to like now display. Yeah. So that if you had one opportunity to look at us. Yeah. What does that, 

[00:35:53] Martin: what's being said? And that's interesting that you say you haven't got it on your website, because there's a, like there's a, there's a set of people in the kind of, obviously my industry that say, Oh, you should never tell people what your vision is, or you should never tell people what your mission is.

[00:36:07] And like, people like gatekeep this information. I'm like, I hate that. Like, I'm like, just be honest with people because that's the really interesting thing that people will look to you and say, okay, well, what are they trying to do? Like. Some of my favorite brands are things like Zeroco. You're absolutely like if you don't know if you'd know them.

[00:36:28] No, I actually don't. They do, um, single use, they're trying to eliminate single use plastic, clean up the oceans. Um, but they basically create, um, refillable pouches that you can get sent to your home and you fill up your own bottles and that sort of thing. And then you send those pouches back, they refill them and send like, so it's like a circular.

[00:36:50] Yeah. You know, household, uh, soap, that sort of thing, shampoos, conditioners, like, you name it. Toilet bleach. Yeah. Everything. Like, those ideas, and like, they're, like. Yeah, you can find out so much more information about these companies just by having a little bit more information on the website and they couldn't communicate exactly what they do without telling people.

[00:37:13] It's true. Like, that's it. Like, just tell people about what you're trying to do and where you're trying to go because people will like really get involved in it and just, yeah, I've become like massive fans or. Tell other people about your business, and that's what you're trying to do. I 

[00:37:33] Rebekah: can definitely understand the gatekeeping.

[00:37:35] Um, you kind of feel like, especially we're a niche service. Yeah. You feel like if you put too much out there, it's just left open. to be taken by competitors and, and to maybe for them to adopt and, and then compete on. So, but at the same time, I love that original originality and authenticity for people to be able to say, no, they're not shy in saying exactly what they expect.

[00:38:01] to be doing and let's watch them do it. Um, they're accountable now. Yeah. 

[00:38:06] Martin: And also, but also at the same time, if people have been coming on and stealing what you're doing, like you're still one step ahead of them because you're going on to the next point. And that's. Like, yeah, okay, you know, there are, there's always going to be somebody, I, I've had, um, I, I track, uh, on the, my website, how people kind of function across it and how they scroll and you know, which bits they highlight and I have literally got like, so recorded like footage of not everything they've done of where people have like copied the entire blog post and I'm like, If I just do a really quick search, I'm like, I'm sure I will just find this blog post somewhere else.

[00:38:47] I'm like, how do you, how do you, how do you stop that? And you're like, well, I'm just going to rewrite it or I'm just going to add some more information into it to make it. Better or just change it, you know, change the structure or 

[00:39:00] Rebekah: even just take it as a compliment that you're worth Replicating I guess.

[00:39:05] Yeah, it is one of those things. It's like you couldn't stop it. It's weird, eh? It is and I'm like guilty for actually doing it one time But it is that you did like for me you just go we are the industry leader when that's happening Um, we do have a competitor that's, um, branding and name is so alike to ours, but you got to stop and go like, I have to say that as a really big bonus that we're doing something right and we must be seen as an industry leader for that to happen.

[00:39:37] Um, and competition is great. It keeps us all on our toes and it keeps you evolving. It's the only way to look at it. Yeah. 

[00:39:46] Martin: Yeah, absolutely. Um, so. Absolutely. Absolutely. The last kind of questions, are there any? kind of new areas you want to move into or invest in? 

[00:39:58] Rebekah: Uh, definitely. I think at the moment, um, we are exploring a lot of options.

[00:40:02] There's so many opportunities available out there and, um, what is relevant to FTA and, and to myself, I think what is. Um, going to get, help us achieve our goals. So we do have things, um, in the pipeline and some that I can't disclose right now, which is exciting to say, to be able to answer that. But yeah, you, you kind of go, yeah, we're, we're definitely growing and evolving and, and want to explore more of our capabilities.

[00:40:31] Yeah. And bringing that in. I 

[00:40:32] Martin: wonder if you'll, uh, have any issues kind of integrating all the new various services or products and 

[00:40:40] Rebekah: I think it will be, like anything, there's always those growing pains, um, attached. Either you, even if you think you've executed something really well or implemented it properly, um, it's not until you properly start to service those, um, things that you're going to experience all the Everything that's going to go wrong.

[00:41:00] And that's, that's the hard part. It's like, you don't, on paper, everything looks great. And the actual day to day, it's like, it can be a disaster. And it's how do we move through this and wade our way past this disaster and make it, turn it into strength. Yeah. Less 

[00:41:17] Martin: disasters. Yeah. So. I want to actually go back as well.

[00:41:21] How did, how did the business come about? Was there a catalyst? Obviously it started in 2019 if 

[00:41:27] Rebekah: I'm Yeah it did, it started in 2019. I probably was more just like branding the business and registering it back then. I didn't properly start work until maybe 2020. Um, and it was me working as a hazardous materials consultant and working for an organisation that had such a range of services and like, fit testing was just one aspect of so many things that organisations offered.

[00:41:54] It was, no one specialised in it. Um, and I had had a fit test done and in that fit test, nothing was really explained. There was no education attached and for me personally, it was like, wow, I don't know. didn't really take my respiratory protection, um, seriously. And for me, it was like, once I got taught to do the service and the teaching was a bit poor and it was really on me to figure it out, how to do it properly so I wasn't embarrassed when things went wrong in my job.

[00:42:24] Um, I just was like, someone needs to do this and um, provide this service as a, a specialised service because it's not just this tiny little thing, it actually, it's people's health and um, You know what I mean? Attach so much pride to it and know that you can impact someone and, and maybe with a bit of education on how important that device is, could change them to wear it better and, and take that more seriously.

[00:42:48] And, and that's probably where it 

[00:42:50] Martin: started. And do you know what the, like your timing probably couldn't have been better with COVID, right? 

[00:42:56] Rebekah: I always get told this and. I'm going to say one of the biggest questions we always got asked was like, were you pre COVID or were you pop up during COVID? And we get the privilege of saying that we were pre COVID.

[00:43:09] Yeah, we're that budge. Yeah, we're such a budge of pride really, because I think, um, even though COVID hitting really did impact the business in the beginning, cause it took away the core business, it was adapting and seeing now we have a new opportunity and how we're going to. And, um, a lot of businesses have popped up, um, as a result of COVID and I think riding that wave and, um, that's, that's fine too, but you kind of go, we, we definitely love what we do and we did it regardless of the world.

[00:43:45] Circumstances at the time. 

[00:43:46] Martin: Yeah. It's really interesting. I had a, uh, a client that they, they did all the, um, COVID testing for the mines. They were doing, you know, two every day in, in, into the mine, out of the mine, you know, COVID tests. And they did something like 150, 000 tests a week or something. Like, but they were paid for every day.

[00:44:07] Test like a, you know, like 60 or something for each test, you know, times that by 150, 000 a week. You're like, Oh my God, 

[00:44:18] Rebekah: someone's making a killing. Like I actually wish we got into COVID testing to be honest. Um, some people that I've met that, um, saw the opportunity and jumped on that during the pandemic actually did really well for themselves and kind of set their business up to go on to do so much more now.

[00:44:37] Gave them that capital. Yeah. 

[00:44:39] Martin: Yeah. Interesting. I mean, I, yeah, I, I do get that. Um, they made, they made a lot of money from, from that side of things. But yeah, it's uh, it's interesting, hey? It is interesting, yeah. It'll be interesting, like, what's going to be the next thing that comes along, you know, because there's always something, you know, like going back 10, 15 years ago when my wife started working in health, um, there were things like swine flu around, bird flu, like.

[00:45:07] There's been all sorts. It's not like just, yeah, one thing that pops up every now 

[00:45:12] Rebekah: and again. A hundred percent. And that, I think that was one of the biggest obstacles we had to overcome when we started working with healthcare was healthcare really did see the services or it's just I was born for COVID and it's like, no, no, no, um, in Queensland they did fit testing for their healthcare workers back when they did have the SARS and Ebola outbreak, um, 12 

[00:45:35] Martin: years ago roughly.

[00:45:36] And that's the same as in the UK when my wife was there. Yeah. She got fit, fit tested for a mask, but these were the ones with the, um, the filters on the front. Yep. Yep. Is that it? Yeah, I'm guessing they still do them. Definitely. Preferred in, I think they're not. Not 

[00:45:52] Rebekah: so much in healthcare. Yeah. Might intimidate patients is probably the main reason.

[00:45:57] It's like Darth Vader's coming at me. I don't feel safe. Um, but it is one of those things that, um, for the healthcare side of it, I love that whole, no, this is just. It's better practice for respiratory protection when you are, and 95s have always been worn. Like I've spoken to um, anesthesists and surgeons that are at the top of their field that talk about wearing a mask in 1996 when they first started.

[00:46:24] And it's like, yeah, everyone wore them. Um, you probably just didn't wear that, have to wear them as much. And there was no focus on, is it appropriate for you and is it actually protecting you? 

[00:46:35] Martin: Yeah, I mean there's so many different various airborne viruses and you know, Oh, it doesn't stop. And other ones that just go, ah.

[00:46:42] Yeah. 

[00:46:42] Rebekah: There's a new variant apparently out now. It's like, oh, we don't need that 

[00:46:47] Martin: again. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think. By judging by emails and things, my wife is saying that the COVID's got really bad again. It 

[00:46:56] Rebekah: has. Yeah. I think it's called JN. 1 is what I heard the radio call it yesterday, which I was like, what?

[00:47:03] You know, we had Omnicrime and now we're going into like JN. 1, like numbering it. 

[00:47:08] Martin: Just call it ABCD. It'll just go through the alphabet. Yeah, 100 

[00:47:11] Rebekah: percent Over there, we're down to CD. 

[00:47:15] Martin: Um, how can people find out about, you know, you and do you want people to connect up to you? And I obviously, if then they're an appropriate industry, they might need respiratory things like yeah.

[00:47:28] Rebekah: Um, love LinkedIn. So I'm big on LinkedIn so you can reach me personally on that, but then we have our website and um, you can email us. They contact us through the website as well. Yeah, 

[00:47:40] Martin: cool. I'll put some of those bits and pieces in so people can find you and connect up to you and have conversations and yeah.

[00:47:46] That would be great. A little bit more about what are you doing? Yeah. Um, and before you go, is there like a, is there a, you know, a particular topic that you would want to find out about, about branding or, you know, a question you've got for me? 

[00:48:03] Rebekah: I definitely do. So I'm glad you asked that. You're like, hang on, let me go down my list.

[00:48:09] Exactly. It's longer than Santa's. Um, to short that answer and to not. Swampy with too many, um, questions, so it would be, how do you brand, um, a product or a service that people don't actually want? Like they're not buying it or using it because they want to, it's mainly they've been told or forced to, to actually engage in that product or service.

[00:48:33] Like how do you brand that? 

[00:48:35] Martin: Yeah, that's, yeah, that's, I don't think I've ever come across that question before. It's really interesting. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like, it's really simple for you to brand something that people do want and kind of position people, um, position the product in front of people. That's really simple, but if it's a product that nobody cares about or doesn't want to be involved in, I guess you.

[00:49:04] I guess that refining who that target market is, that would be like step one, because they're like for every kind of, you know, whether it's, if it's not a business to consume a product, like if it's not going to people, if it's going to a business, they'll have like knowledge of what that is. You've got to just then identify the, uh, the key people that you need to speak to be able to say, look, this is that outline the benefits of what that product is.

[00:49:35] Um, and I always say that you need like for, like to sell a product, you need like the functional benefit. What, what does it actually do? The emotional benefit of like, how does it make you feel after you've used it? And you know, a philosophical, you know, being, how does it, you know, what is it fulfilling in your life?

[00:49:53] Like bigger than that. If you can think about those three things and like, and outline those questions, then like. Yeah, you're going to be in a, going in that direction to, to kind of cover it. 

[00:50:08] Rebekah: It was, it's interesting because, um, obviously you're all about branding. Yeah. Um, I did take your quiz. Yeah, I saw, I saw.

[00:50:16] I was like, oh, I might get it. I actually was like, oh, I might get it. Oh, not many people do, but I'm going to smash this quiz. Here's my time to shine, like I thought I was going to kill it. Um, and as the questions popped up, I chose my answers. And at the end, I only got two out of 

[00:50:31] Martin: five. But do you know what the, I, I did say, and I was like, oh, she failed.

[00:50:36] No, she failed. No, I was like, oh, do you know, I'm going to get every. Like podcast guests to do this from now on, like it's a good little thing to do as well. Like a really good little exercise, but they're like, there's literally no wrong answer. Yeah. And on the, on the quiz, you can only select one that's right.

[00:50:57] So I was like. Okay. All right. Uh, but yeah, like one person got four out of five and I'm like, geez, they did well. I 

[00:51:04] Rebekah: honestly was like five out of five, here I come. So when I got the two, I was like, well, that humbled me right out. So I don't know anything about branding.

[00:51:14] Martin: Somebody failed on the donut question and they were like.

[00:51:17] really, they were not happy. They were like, how did I not get the donut one? I got everything else 

[00:51:23] Rebekah: right. Did I get it right? I'll have to have a look. I put happiness because like what donut doesn't make you happy? Yeah, I love it. Yeah. Crystal cream. There's a plug. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:51:38] Martin: You must have been, I. Um, you must have had a dough heads at some point in the junction in Newcastle, if you've been to Newcastle.

[00:51:45] Rebekah: My sister is, um, in Newcastle and she has taken me and I was like, Oh, okay. Like I was trying to be good and when we got there I was like, Oh my gosh, these doughnuts are amazing. Yeah. And I did buy a bunch. Yeah. They're more than I wanted to admit on doughnuts. 

[00:52:02] Martin: I was like, I'm guilty. You didn't eat them all yourself though, did you?

[00:52:04] No, I 

[00:52:05] Rebekah: didn't. I shared, because again, I love a Krispy Kreme and I definitely can polish off more than I'd be willing to. So. 

[00:52:14] Martin: Was it more than two out of five? 

[00:52:17] Rebekah: A hundred percent. It's more than two out of five. So. Great question. 

[00:52:25] Martin: Ah, that's brilliant. I love it. All right. That's amazing. I think we've probably covered more than, more than we expected.

[00:52:33] Rebekah: Thank you for having me on the Level Up, um, podcast, Martin. It's lovely to meet you and all that you're doing. 

[00:52:38] Martin: Thank you.