Rose: Welcome to today's episode of I'm Fine, but I am joined by the very special Joanne Ritchie, welcome.

Jo Ritchie: Hello, thank you so much.

Rose: So Joe, please tell our listeners who you are and what you do.

Jo Ritchie: So I'm Jo and I am one of Rose's franchisees at Baby Beats. So I run Baby Beats classes, I do mindful movers classes, and because of my previous experience, which I'm sure we'll talk about later, I've started an inclusive send mindful movers class as well.

Rose: Yeah, you are plowing through, aren't you? So what I really wanted to talk to you today about your journey is where you started, because what were you doing a year ago?

Jo Ritchie: So a year ago I was an assistant head a special school for autistic children, and day looked so different. ⁓ I obviously working in the office sometimes and doing senior leadership work and being other tr other people's classes, supporting other teachers, a lot of writing, ⁓ running a school, ⁓ all the background that you have to do when you're SLT. ⁓

Rose: You've just listened to I'm Fine But. If you're unsure about business or what really matters to you right now, why not take our free Core Values course? It's linked in the show notes and it's a brilliant place to begin. Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode and you can follow us online at all your favourite social media platforms at BabyBeat UK. Until next time, I'm Rose and I'm fine but honestly...

Jo Ritchie: ⁓ and then I'd teach a couple of days a week as well. so it was a big full-on role, and the two days a week I was teaching in ⁓ with the children with the highest needs that we had in our school. they were all boys, all older, young adults really, and ⁓ they had very high support needs. ⁓ So it was a job balancing the the two different roles.

Rose: We're all just figuring it out.

Jo Ritchie: And of course, even the days that you're in the classroom, you don't you're not assistant head just on the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. You continue being the assistant head on the Thursday, Friday while you're also teaching. And so ⁓ it is quite a difficult role to keep balancing.

Rose: Yes, it's almost like two different jobs that you simultaneously doing at the same time.

Jo Ritchie: Yeah. It it is. It is definitely like two different jobs. And I think when when you are senior leadership in a school, you you wear so many different hats you're talking to so many different people all of the time. ⁓ especially with the type of role that I was doing at that school, I was talking to all of the teachers, we had a very, very ⁓ big of teaching assistants, which of course were the backbone of the school. so all the management of them. ⁓ and and also then dealing with a lot of parents. ⁓ obviously the parents are having to deal with such big things at home at the ⁓ as well, for their young people, talking social services a lot, talking to inclusion teams, ⁓ talking to support. there is a lot to that role ⁓ and a lot organisation, lot of planning, So yeah, I think all of those experiences have transferred really well into the role that I'm doing now. ⁓ and and I am learning from them. It is slightly different. ⁓ yes, all of those experiences, and I think that's the same for everybody, isn't it? We're we're we're the parts of all of our different experiences, ⁓ it's not the same these days, is it? You know, when our parents were in workforce, they started a company and they'd work at that company. for thirty, forty, fifty years and and and retire. And and that's just not the way we work anymore, is it? And we all have lots of different experiences along the way and that makes us who we are.

Rose: Yeah, there's a lot of different building blocks, isn't there, that builds us up to, you know, all these different life experiences that we're gonna have. So can you talk to me a little bit about this role that you did have that you were doing before? What effects did that have on you personally?

Jo Ritchie: Mm-hmm. Well, I think I'd need I've been a teacher for 25 years and I think teaching has changed so much. And I was at a point of complete overwhelm. the stress that I was feeling, ⁓ it was the type of stress that I couldn't get rid of. a couple of weeks holiday or even in the summer holidays, ⁓ I going back to work still feeling totally overwhelmed and not being able to manage that stress. I tried and how I've got with you, Rose is I try to manage that stress by doing loads of exercise. So ⁓ I was lucky enough that there was a big virgin gym around at the corner from my work. so I used to spend all my time in there. I'd ⁓ get up really early in the morning, make sure I I did a class. I became a bit addicted to cycle power. I'd spend a lot of time sitting in the sauna, ⁓ that was a way that sort of managed ⁓ try and manage my stress. ⁓ but that wasn't working either. ⁓

Rose: Thank

Jo Ritchie: And I I I was at the point of complete o overwhelm and I and I just could not do the job any longer. And and that was absolutely devastating to me. And of course, I've had time now to have a real reflect of what happened, how did I get to this point? Because I loved being a teacher. And I was definitely one of those teachers that it w it was my whole personality. it's it is really hard to step away from that role. And and why did I get to that point of overwhelm? And I think it was lack of agency. I think as a teacher and even as a member of SLT, where teachers think you are setting the policy, that that's not what's happening. isn't the flexibility within teaching now to do what you think is right and ⁓ you think is right for the students. I did lots of work with the ⁓ different and ⁓ sometimes was so exciting. ⁓ ⁓ I did lots of work with phonics and adapting it, ready for our autistic children, and that could be such an exciting project to do. But then I couldn't quite get it right for how I wanted it to be, and it had to be done in a certain way. And is just so difficult. teaching how ⁓ the in schools now, ⁓ I can see that they're just not right for so many students. And ⁓ I think as a teacher who really cares, and all teachers care, of course, just couldn't get past that any longer. And that contributed to such an overwhelm. And think people as well think that teaching's a really flexible job. It is not flexible at all. ⁓ You go, ⁓ I'm just going to nip out to my child's performance or ⁓ it's my child's sports day. Can can it can I go and do that? And or or my child really needs my support in this. I'm just going to take the afternoon.

Rose: that.

Jo Ritchie: It it it's just not possible. You can't do that. There's there's no flexibility at all in teaching. it's the relentlessness of it. As a full time teacher, it is absolutely relentless and the wheel doesn't stop turning ⁓ you end up working huge hours. ⁓ it's not even the hours because in this job, I'm you know, in my work, in my business now, I still work ⁓ many hours, but I don't feel the same. because I care about it so much. Well not that I didn't care about that. It it it's different. And I can't I can't quite put my finger on it. But now I get all the fantastic bits of teaching, all the fabulous bits of teaching, and I feel great.

Rose: And I think that's a really strong point, isn't it? We talk a lot like within BabyBeats about core values and your core values have to meet whatever job you're doing. And I think if your core values as a teacher was all about bringing education in and making it fun and delivering it in a way that is ⁓ understand, ⁓ then that's taken away from you, that is where sometimes that disconnect comes in. ⁓ And you've got, obviously, you're still getting to do the nice fun teaching part now, but without this sort of really strict policies that you were putting in place before. So talk to me a little bit about how you then started looking for something else.

Jo Ritchie: I Yeah, so I started looking around and I looked at many, many different franchises. and there was for all of the others, there was always something stopping me. ⁓ with one particular franchise, I actually got quite far down the process. ⁓ ⁓ when I finally phoned them and said I'm going with baby beads, they were like, ⁓ gosh, I'm but thought we'd got further down the process than that. but there was always something that didn't quite feel quite right. so ⁓ I just couldn't take that final leap and go, yes, this is the this is the franchise I'd like to be with. but then when I came across Baby Beats, it just completely all fell into place. ⁓ felt the as you talked about the values and the culture that we all have in Baby Beats matched my own. That was brilliant. the flexibility in Baby Beats as well, and the ⁓ the amount of support you get, ⁓ that means everything.

Rose: Yeah.

Jo Ritchie: And also, there isn't a you have to have the lesson look exactly like this. And here are all your lesson plans, Joe, and you have got to make it look exactly like that. And this is the script, and these are the things that you have to say. I always have the same the the same process, and the class always looks the same in in a lot of ways. ⁓ I can man I can change that to the The children that I'm working with, or to the mums that I'm working with, and that means a lot as well, and it it fits in with your core my core values a lot more. So, know, being able to say, ⁓ your communication style is through Macathon and with symbols and with mindful movers and baby beats. I can go, right? Here you are, guys. I can I can do that for you, and I have that flexibility, and also thinking on with my business brain as up which I'm learning to do with my business brain. I'm still not very good at that yet. I'm learning. There's so many different revenue streams with baby beats as well. I can have my mindful movers, my baby beats, my functional foundations, I can go into nurseries, I can go into schools, I can go into care homes, I I can do seated exercise. There's just so much that I can do. I don't think other franchisers have that flexibility.

Rose: Yeah. Yeah, market has changed massively and I think within business we've always got to be adaptable and if we're not, I think that's when we really, you know, sort of hit a brick wall of not being able to adapt to what's happening in the economy. So what got you looking at franchise in the first place? Because you've gone from full-time employment, was that your first call to go straight to franchise? Or did you look at other employment first?

Jo Ritchie: No. Yes. ⁓ definitely not. Looked at lots of other employment first. I actually was offered a job, a couple of headship jobs and a deputy head job as well. and I looked round them and they didn't make my heart sing. If you're going to take a big job like that, you need to feel so excited about it ⁓ and go around and think, yes, this is what I want, and really feel like you're grasping something and feeling like especially in the beginning you've got to be really excited about it and and I wasn't feeling about feeling like that about it and I could see that very quickly I would get to that point of overwhelm again and the amount of stress and it was making me really ill and I thought I can't do this anymore. Just changing schools isn't gonna make make a difference. I've really noticed that the effect on my family for me ⁓ feeling healthier and happier has has been ⁓ unbelievable. And I you think you're managing the stress, as and especially as a mum, you think you're managing the stress and making it look like it's not happening to the outside world. And I think the vast majority of the time you are. ⁓ whole household just feels lighter ⁓ the relationship with my husband is so much better. And he seems so much happier. ⁓ 'Cause I think he's seeing I'm happier and that makes just everything in the whole house feel better. So definitely not going down that route of just changing schools and on, just thinking it ⁓ a different setting will make all the difference. ⁓ was completely the right decision. ⁓ there's moments, of course, things haven't gone quite so well, and contract I thought I was gonna get, I didn't get, or ⁓ only four people turned up to my class today. That, you know, you have the moments that those down moments, and you have those moments where you think, ⁓ why don't I just accept that job? It would be so much easier if I accepted that job. And I I actually verbalised that the other day to my husband, and he went, No, you wouldn't. You wouldn't, it wouldn't be easier, you wouldn't be happier, it would be dreadful. And I was like, Yeah, you you're right. You can't you can't think like that. I've I'm I've committed to this now.

Rose: This it.

Jo Ritchie: I'm working hard at it and it will work and it will be brilliant. It just takes the work, doesn't it?

Rose: Yeah. It does, and I think you are in a really sort of, think what I call kind of like the danger stage, like the vulnerable stage. So what we tend to see with people when they come from employment into a franchise or into sort of building their own business is once you've made that decision that you are gonna do something else, it becomes very exciting and it becomes almost like an acceptance of this, I'm gonna get really excited, I'm gonna throw myself into it. And that is such an exciting stage.

Jo Ritchie: Mm. Mm-hmm. Yes.

Rose: And then once you get to the point of launch, that reality for the first sort of six to eight months of up and down, like a roller coaster, some days, yes, I've got this, I'm gonna do this. Other days, oh my gosh, what have I done? Like, what a decision I've made. Am I gonna be able to make this work?

Jo Ritchie: Mm-hmm. Yes. And it and it can be and it can be within the hour. It can be with the within the hour, can't it, Rose? I I at the beginning of the day yesterday, I some I hadn't had many people in class. I was feeling a bit vulnerable about it. Then I had some lovely feedback from a nursery that they'd put on a Google review for me. Then I'd had some lovely contracts, ⁓ I've I've got an appointment to go and meet a with a nursery and that's looking really positive and like that's going to go ahead. And then a school phoned me. So it it you can be right down here and then right back up there again within an hour. It's but I think I recognize that within myself. And I think it I am that type of person that has very high highs and very low lows. I I I've learnt that I'm that I need to regulate myself more learn how to regulate my emotions more to be able to keep on that even keel and to be okay. And being okay is fine. I don't need to be supremely happy. I just need to be okay. And we need to go along at this level. I think that's ⁓ I think having your own business, you learn so much more about yourself as well, don't you?

Rose: You do, like, you learn exactly how you work. You learn so many different things about yourself that you didn't know before.

Jo Ritchie: I I think I I learned more about my emotions. I I know that I'm a high and low person now. And I think I knew it before, but I'm really recognising it now. and I've learned well with work I am an ⁓ all or a nothing person. So if I get up in the and get on, the day is so productive and so much gets done. However, if I get up and think, ⁓ I'll have a lazy breakfast and ⁓ I'll go for a walk. gosh, it's got to 11 o'clock and I haven't done anything yet. And so I've learned as well how to manage my time a lot better. so I'm not working days ⁓ I start at six o'clock in the morning and and at 10 o'clock at night it's just much better to do a bits every single day. ⁓ so I've learnt about managing my time a lot better. I've learnt about my emotions a lot better. yeah. So I I think it ⁓ it's a j it's a roller coaster, isn't it, having your own business?

Rose: It is, and I think especially in the early few months and even in the first few years, you have to constantly be your own cheerleader and got a really amazing supportive husband as well. And it's having those people who are backing you when you have those wobbly days where you're like, ⁓ gosh, I've got to get this contract. And I think for me, the highs ⁓

Jo Ritchie: No. Yes.

Rose: knowing that I've brought that income in at the end. And it's getting to that point where I'm going, know I can do this. I do know I can do this. I've just got to, you know, as Erin says, pull my big girl pants on and go out there and do it. And having the self drive to do that as well.

Jo Ritchie: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yes. Yes. Mm mm. And I and I say isn't my problem. And I've learnt that. Motivation isn't my problem. My problem can be at times consistency ⁓ not being that all or nothing type of person. so I've I've got to be careful with that. ⁓ And learned as well, and I knew already from being a teacher, I am so self critical. and I and I can't do that to myself. ⁓ I've I've to celebrate the wins as well, because I think you get that thing and you have a little bit of a win, but then it's always on to the next one and the next one and the next one. But I think it is important to have a little time to go. Actually that was reflect on it and just have a little moment to go. No, that was a big win. That was great. And then move on.

Rose: Yeah. think that's an entrepreneurial trait as well, that you are hard on yourself and that you want the next thing. are critical of yourself because you want to drive yourself forward. If you didn't have those traits, don't think that you would, ⁓ we've ⁓ varieties different personalities. ⁓ And you don't have that drive, if you don't have that criticism of yourself, it can become just something that muddles in the background. ⁓

Jo Ritchie: Mm. Yeah. Yes.

Rose: And to be something that pushes you forward and that ⁓ it you cup and it fills your core values. And if it's not hitting your core values, well, what are my core values? How do I need to fulfill them in order to get job satisfaction from it?

Jo Ritchie: ⁓ I think I think I've really been clear about what my core values are now ⁓ community, ⁓ that's what's so great about Baby Beats as well, is that ⁓ that community and being there to support other people and especially other mums has been the the core of my business. ⁓ So you look at the reviews I have had on on Google, it it is really great to see. ⁓ One had even written, Joe has built a culture of inclusivity. ⁓ And ⁓ that really means a lot. And that's exactly what I want baby beats to be. It's a place for everybody. ⁓ one of my mums on the ⁓ walk the other day said to one of the other mums who is ⁓ about whether she wanted to come to a baby beats class or not. And this mum said, ⁓ it's fine, you can turn up as a hot mess ⁓ and be accepted. That's all you need. Just turn up. Turn up as a hot mess and she'll look after you. And I was like, ⁓ And that's what we need. We I I need a space for mums.

Rose: Yeah, you definitely do. That's the culture that it's for everybody and every woman, no matter where they are within their journey, that they've got a space. So do you ever look back and sort of look at where you are now and think, I had no idea 12 months ago that this is what I would be doing.

Jo Ritchie: Definitely. I'm still at that point where it doesn't quite feel real. Does that make any sense? ⁓ I've I've got this business and and and I and there's so much work got to do on it still, and I've got very clear goals in mind, and I and they are monetary goals as well ⁓ as building a community. and because I'm I'm I'm not

Rose: Okay. Yeah, yeah.

Jo Ritchie: I don't feel I'm quite on that journey yet. I don't necessarily feel I've I can look back. Get ask me that in another year. I think in another year I I can go, I can't believe I've got this far.

Rose: Yeah. Okay. And I think a lot of people shy away from that. They shy away from having the monetary goals. It's something that we talk about money mindset quite a lot that it's great to have the community core values and the aspects of what we want to bring and that we want to make sure every woman feels inclusive. But actually part of running a business is wanting to build an income, wanting to have...

Jo Ritchie: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Rose: that freedom and flexibility and the compromise of it as well because you you can work every hour under the sun or you can go well actually this is the income I want to hit and these are the days and times of the week that I actually want to to be working.

Jo Ritchie: We've we've done a lot of work about that at Baby Beats, haven't we, within our training and we've had discussions about money mindset. but I think because of before I was a teacher, I spent a couple of years working as a recruitment consultant ⁓ a year working for Yellow Pages. ⁓ of course, back in the 90s, as recruitment consultant, it was all about ⁓ money. I can remember ⁓ the David say, bless him. I wonder where he is now. I do wonder. ⁓ he ⁓ built this amazing recruitment consultancy. It was brilliant. ⁓ he said to me once, Joe, what do we do here? And I said, Well, I I get business and I find the candidates and I put the two together and I make sure people have a job. No, no, he kept saying, What do we do? And it went on and on for ages. I was like, I don't know. And he said, Joe, we make money. Your job is to make money. And I was like, Okay, so I have had that experiences before, and Yellow Pages was all about money, and ⁓ and back in the again, it was the ⁓ end of the 90s, and it was sell, sell, sell, those really hard sells and and and I've and I've so I've been used to having that sort of money mindset, and and money does drive me, and I'm and I'm okay about that. However, I've also found that ⁓ ⁓ those bigger jobs. ⁓ deputy head, I was earning a ⁓ was a big school and I was earning, you know, a a very good income. and if you ask teachers in general, money is never the problem. It's not the money. I was paid well. And stepping back from ⁓ big salary and and of the things that come with it and the nice holidays and the nice cars, ⁓ I I thought that I'd I'd find that harder, but I haven't. So maybe I'm not as money mo motivated motivated as I thought I was. we haven't got our big fancy sailing holiday this year ⁓ it hasn't bothered me.

Rose: yeah. And I think you get to a point where there is more important things when you weigh up the stress sometimes ⁓ of you were doing before compared to actually having, you know, the life that you want to live. ⁓ And, know, we've done it our whole family, there's five of us, we all live off, the income that I bring in, my husband now works for the company. He's gone from having his, you know, his full.

Jo Ritchie: Mm.

Rose: full-time job, his full income to going, okay, well, I'm gonna now take that away. But actually the things I'm gonna benefit for are that he picks the kids up from school and yeah, he's not earning what he was earning before, but he's actually getting so much more from it than he was with just getting a paycheck, but actually traveling two hours a day in a hot car.

Jo Ritchie: It's fun. ⁓ Mm. It ⁓ and it makes so I think we think we're money motivated, but maybe I'm not. I d I d It's nice to have those nice things, but when you're so stressed, you spend money on things just to make yourself feel better. And that and that doesn't work, does it? And that's not making anybody better and feel better about themselves. so yeah, maybe I think I'm money motivated, but maybe I'm not as much as I think I am.

Rose: Yeah. So if we've got someone Joe who's listening, who's thinking, you maybe they're a teacher, maybe they are at a point that you were at a year ago, and they're thinking, I could possibly run a business. I think I might want to dabble in that. Have you got one bit of advice that you can give to them from, you know, your experience of the last six months?

Jo Ritchie: Yeah. I say just do it. Take that step. Because I think when we're teachers in schools, you become very institutionalized. You think that there's you don't have any transferable skills. You think, ⁓ I what what else can I do out there? There's there's nothing else out there for me to do. but that's not true. You've got so many transferable skills. ⁓ going to be having a strategy meeting. After the my yeah, my talk with you. And a lot of that is what I used to do. I used to action plan. All of the teachers out there are making action plans and they're sticking to their action plan. I know how to do that, and so do they. And that's what you need to do for your business. You've got the confidence. You know how to talk to people. You can build relationships with people quickly and easily. All of those skills are what you need in business. So you're far more powerful than you think you are. You can do this, but

Rose: Yeah, that's such an important message because you you know so much as well about sort of the inclusivity space and about dealing with children with additional needs far more than I know. You've got such an amazing skill set, which is such an asset to your business. I think you're completely right as a teacher, you we speak to so many people that it is just taking that first step and going, can do something else. ⁓ You know, ⁓

Jo Ritchie: Mm. Yep.

Rose: definitely go and follow Joe online and see all this, the great content that you put out there because it just shows that you don't have to just stick within that box that you feel like you've trained in and you've done for your adult life.

Jo Ritchie: Mm-hmm. Yeah, there's a lovely mum out there. She's I think she's called herself the Patchwork Teacher. I've been following her on social media. And again, she's another teacher that's left and is building her own business. she's it's great following her because there's we've even connected a couple of times ⁓ because we're we're finding the same thing. There is stuff out there. You can do it, you can break away. You've got ⁓ loads skills, you've got loads of knowledge. ⁓ You As a teacher, I think you think everybody else has the same skill set. You think everybody else knows what you know. And it turns out it it's it's not true. They don't.

Rose: And that's something that you've got to always remember, don't you? That what's in your brain is completely different to what's in somebody else's brain. ⁓ And if got someone listening, Joe, who is maybe looking at coming on board with Baby Beats, ⁓ can you them any sort of advice that you've had? know, what is it that you, obviously, you're on the early stages with us, but you know, they were sort of on the fence, is there anything that you would say to them?

Jo Ritchie: Yes. Say really sit and make a plan. So before you so have those conversations with Rose, listen to what Rose is saying, and then work backwards and think, right, what do I want my life to look like? And what do I want my family's life to look like? And what would I need to do to make that happen? So that's what I did. And I sat and I made a plan to start with. And then as I started putting those numbers together, I thought, this is possible, and I can do this. ⁓ ⁓ and as teachers, we're we're so good at being able to switch between different things and change our brains. And as you said right at the beginning of our chat, used to having so many different roles as teachers all at the same time. ⁓ we're so used to being different things to different people. ⁓ that's what we need to do as a business and what you do as a business leader at Baby Beats. So can mix it up as well, you know. So make a plan. Think what do I want my business my life to look like? What classes will I have to do to be able to do that? What contracts do I think I need to do to do that? What sort of price do you think I'd be able to charge? Make all of that sort of plan first. Think, okay, how many days supply might I have to do? What other extra income streams might I need for a little bit until my business is up and running well? at it and think, can I do that? Is that possible? The answer is yes. Yes, you can.

Rose: And I think that's key, Jo, with what you've just said as well, is that business, whatever business that is, whether that is a franchise or it's an independent, it takes time to build up. You never walk into a business. You know, it used to be that it was three years when you would actually start to break even, which nowadays I think, you know, we want things so quickly, don't we? We want things within like, I want Amazon to arrive tomorrow. I want that thing to come so quick that actually going back and thinking that the three-year mark,

Jo Ritchie: Yeah.

Rose: is when people would just breaking even. And if they got to three years and they were not breaking even, it's not a viable business. Now, we kind of get to almost like a few months and we want, you we wanna be like, oh, we wanna be in a lot of profit. We want to be in a lot of profit. Whereas actually, things have got to build really consistently and organically to be sustainable. Anything that skyrockets really quickly.

Jo Ritchie: Mm.

Rose: I mean, there is stuff that skyrocketed really quickly, but it doesn't always last long term. So it's building those relationships, building the contracts, building things up nice and steadily. So it is sustainable over a long period of time.

Jo Ritchie: Definitely, definitely. And we've talked about those highs and lows, haven't we? ⁓ ⁓ So if you you can deal with those highs and lows, if you think you can make it work, just go for it. ⁓ I was chatting somebody at the gym the other day and she said, ⁓ Joe, ⁓ now you've been employed. You're never going back. ⁓ And she she's She is absolutely right. I don't think I'm anymore.

Rose: You were, no, and this is what I've said so many times. I can never see a way of being employed like this. There's no chance.

Jo Ritchie: Mm-hmm.

Rose: So Joe, tell our listeners if they want to find you online, where can they find you?

Jo Ritchie: They need to go to Baby Beats website. So go to www.babybeats.co.uk, scroll down a little bit, and then you'll see me in a little circle. Click on there and you come straight on through to me.

Rose: Perfect. And what about your Instagram handle? Where were there?

Jo Ritchie: ⁓ yes, that's really good. It's South Baby Beats.

Rose: ⁓ go and connect with her, go and the amazing work she is doing. She also runs free events as well, so free walks. So if you just want to find a little bit of community, there is so much going on. And if you're just not sure about what's right for you, reach out to Jo and she will have a lovely chat with you, find out what you need and point you in the right direction.

Jo Ritchie: Definitely. Thank you.

Rose: Well, Jo, thank you so much for joining us today.

Jo Ritchie: Thank very much.