Lauren Bath is a co-founder of Phhnix, an international business that provides business coaching and events to business owners scaling purposeful businesses. Phhnix is on a mission to directly impact the self-worth and net worth of one million entrepreneurs and business owners through inspiration, education, and community by 2026. For more details and insights into the brand, visit their website.
Here we sit down with Lauren, to learn a bit more about her journey as a female entrepreneur.
Q. What inspired you to become an entrepreneur?
Lauren: I believe that all humans are born entrepreneurial and my earliest forays into small business started when I was 8 years old, canvassing the neighborhood and selling potpourri bags. From promising beginnings, my creative spirit soon fizzled as I conformed to societal norms and pursued a career through school and university. Luckily, a chance moment in time saw me able to start again at age 33 when I became Australia’s First Professional Instagrammer and started my own business.
Q. How did you get started?
Lauren: In early 2013 I quit my job as a chef to explore monetizing my large social media following on Instagram. I was very fortunate to be a pioneer in that space in Australia and forged ahead of other influencers, working with some 250 brands over an 8-year career. The only inspiration at the time, I’m ashamed to admit, was that I wanted to get paid to travel. Through travel and entrepreneurship I finally learned how important it is to give back and my new business, Phhnix, works with entrepreneurial people to empower them to have awesome businesses AND lives they love. Too many people believe that success equals sacrifice, but I am proof that you can have it all. Business, family, money, and happiness. (Although I had some tough years before I learned this lesson.) My two business partners are Georgia Rickard, ex magazine editor, and Kait Rich, international mindset coach. Together we are specialists in brand, sales and mindset, strategic planning, social media, and scale.
Q. What was your biggest startup challenge? What steps did you take to overcome it? What did you learn?
Lauren: The first seven years of being a business owner were the hardest years of my life. I was limited by my own beliefs and stories about success and business – that you need to sacrifice everything, that to be successful means hard work, that if you want something done right you have to do it yourself etc etc etc. I exchanged my time for money at increasingly insane levels, because of money and scarcity stories. I was triggered and devastated when I was passed over for jobs, my nervous system was a mess, I was anxious and overwhelmed and on the verge of a breakdown. I started to overcome my stories through working with coaches, starting a healing journey, and resetting my limiting beliefs. Through all of that, of which a whole book wouldn’t begin to cover all that happened, I was spat out the other side a lot more humble and kind and curious and open. And I learned that we can be, do and have whatever we’re dreaming of (words from a current coach, very fitting) as long as we’re prepared to keep showing up for ourselves.
Q. What is the most memorable thing you’ve done since you started your business?
Lauren: Too many things to count from my travel influencer days – visited Antarctica, shot the northern lights, spent a night alone at a James Bond museum in the Swiss Alps, mustered a dog sledding team in Quebec Canada, I did it all! But I’d say that nothing trumps my decision, with my biz partners, last year to take our highly successful seven-figure pandemic pivot business (events and coaching around social media and working in travel) and burn it to the ground to focus on the thing we’re truly passionate about, Phhnix. The purpose of Phhnix is to inspire and guide people to be the change they want to see in the world. All three of us care deeply about the world and its many problems, and we know that business owners have more capacity to make a difference when they finally understand that the world is abundant and humans are born to thrive. So we teach the hard skills, and work on the mindset, to create limitless business owners that care. This year we started from scratch and are on track for another seven-figure year, making a major impact on the people in our sphere. This always reminds me of the quote – “The easiest thing I ever did was earn a million dollars. The hardest thing I ever did, and it took years, was believing I was capable of earning a million dollars.” – Les Brown
Q. What is one book you recommend, and why?
Lauren: I have way too many, but I’d say ‘The Untethered Soul’ by Michael Singer is number one. There are amazing business books out there that teach you literally everything you need to know to have a successful business. But until you’re ready to comfort your own limiting beliefs, there’s always going to be a ceiling on your success. The Untethered Soul explains human consciousness in a way that is poignant and beautiful.
Q. What are your top 3 favourite online apps, tools or resources and what do you love about them?
Google Calendar – I’m a vigilant time blocker. If it’s not on the calendar, it’s not getting done.
Zoom – Literally how we run our business.
Asana – Or any task management tool. It’s amazing how many applications it has. We use Asana for business systems, host bare-bones SOPs, and keep on top of our strategic priorities as a business.
Q. In terms of legacy, what is the mark you’d like to leave on the world?
Lauren: I want to leave the world better than what I found it. For a long time, I believed that I would end up working in animal conservation, but a chance experience in Zimbabwe finally flicked the switch for me that the world can’t change until people change. Until we realise that we are perfect and abundant and connected. Until we can accept others and understand that we are all products of our own pain, but all share the same desire for love and acceptance exactly as we are. From working as an ‘influencer’ talking about the topics I cared about, I leveled up to move into coaching so that I could have MORE impact and create MORE change for people that are in a position to do amazing things around the world.
Q. In one sentence, what’s the best advice you’d give to someone just starting out on their entrepreneurial journey?
Lauren: Get a coach! haha. I’d still be working 90+ hours a week chasing the next thing with zero self-awareness if I didn’t start working with coaches. And we still put out money where our mouth is. Phhnix works with three different coaches, and I have a mindset coach too.
To keep up to date with Lauren and her journey, connect with her on Instagram.