Rebecca (00:00.826)
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Champagne Lounge Podcast. Today I'm joined by the wonderful Deanne O'Toole. Welcome to the show Deanne.
De-Arne O'Toole (00:09.29)
Hi, I'm Ekran, thanks for having me.
Rebecca (00:11.61)
I'm excited to have this conversation with you because you are multi -talented and have multiple things on the go all at once, which I really want to dive into. But let's kick off by telling people where you're located in Australia and what you do right now for
De-Arne O'Toole (00:29.608)
Okay, so I'm down in the hinterlands of the Hunter Valley in the back of Brankston at a place called Stanhope. I'm a mortgage broker or a finance broker, so everything from home loans, asset finance, but I specialize in rural regional women. And I've also got a flower farm.
Rebecca (00:48.27)
I love that. I want to come back to the flower farm because I find that really fascinating. But what led you to being in finance? Like what was your background to go into that and why have you specifically focused on helping regional and rural women? I should be able to say that better after running the Champagne Lounge for regional and rural women. But why do you focus on us wonderful regional women?
De-Arne O'Toole (01:12.807)
Well, my life started off as a travel agent and I had the pleasure of spending 12 years in Manisa where I had a travel agency. When I came back, the internet was taking over travel and I was looking for a new career and got into banking. And I became the first small business regional banker or regional small business banker for ANZ in the Hunter Valley. And so for 15 years or actually 10 years, had
the Upper Hunter, Cessnock, Singleton, Musselbrook and the Scone. So wines, mines and horses were my area. And after leaving there, I spent some time with one of the other lenders as a mobile home lender, again, doing the same regional area. But what I was finding was the banks were slowly closing down in our regional towns. And there was just really no one looking after our regional people. So I opened the brokerage five years ago.
Rebecca (01:47.984)
Nice.
De-Arne O'Toole (02:09.42)
And that was just about the time COVID come around. With COVID came Zoom, which was wonderful, which gave me more access to people. So I've got people in Gunderwindi, Queensland, rural New South Wales, Victoria, and it's been such a wonderful tool to be able to get on Zoom, have a conversation, find out their needs. No one has to leave their home. Everybody's safe.
and just gives them their time back in their day.
Rebecca (02:39.576)
It really did change the way we all do business, right? COVID and Zoom and being able to do that, particularly when you've got regional women who are living in remote locations, being able to jump on Zoom and not have to meet face to face has been, I'm guessing, a real winner for your business.
De-Arne O'Toole (02:58.048)
Absolutely. And the thing too
people working search different shifts and work patterns are so different. So they don't have to be in somebody's office by five o 'clock. know, some morning, and I'm an early riser, so I might have an appointment at 6 .30 in the morning, or alternatively, I can jog over to the house, so I do have a dedicated lovely office on the property. I can go over, cook dinner, come back and do a seven o 'clock appointment with the client. So not out in the dark, not on the roads, not going to a stranger's house.
Yeah, and keeps everybody and the client can put the kids to bed or do their chores, catch up for 20 minutes, get everything started, understand that you're talking to a real person and not somebody, you know, out there in cyberspace. So it works really well.
Rebecca (03:44.582)
Yeah. And I find those hours really interesting because I spend a lot of time talking with people and getting boundaries put in place around the timeframes that people offer to do work. for me, if I say yes to something before 10 a chances are I will forget that I've said yes or I'll feel flustered or I just won't be ready for it. So why have you decided to be that flexible in your business and how do you balance that out with having
downtime, personal time, when you are seemingly, I know this isn't the case, but seemingly on call, you know, at all hours to help reach the clients and when they need you and when they're available.
De-Arne O'Toole (04:24.224)
Yeah, absolutely. So for me, it works two ways. I have my two family members that are here, so my husband and my son. I get up at 4 .30 each morning to see them out the door by five. So I'm already up and it's such a beautiful hour of the day. So I really like that early hour of the morning and I can get bits and pieces done. But by the same token.
I will block out time during the day to do things. So this morning before I've come to have a chat to you, I've just done a flower delivery. So I've picked flowers on Sunday and I've taken them into my forest this morning. So that's my two hours on a Monday. So that's time taken out of the business. The other thing I'm a really big advocate of is continual education.
And I've done a few courses online, which has been great again. So I might block out a whole Wednesday where I'll be online doing something for me. And then I can give back to my clients by being available at a time that suits them.
Rebecca (05:20.382)
I love that. And how have you managed that with your family? Because I know when people are running businesses and we all do different work patterns and different shifts, but particularly when we're running our own show, it can look really different and really somewhat unsettling or somewhat like, why aren't you doing your normal nine to five when I go to the office nine to five? How are you balancing that with family time?
De-Arne O'Toole (05:45.248)
So my children are all grown up, 26, 23. One of them's already left home. She's out in Sunny Dubbo and my son, he still lives with us. But my husband had recently retired, but I think he got a bit bored of being here. So he's just come back to work. So they're gone all day. So it works fine. And the other thing is when they get home, dinner is on the table because I've gone in an hour beforehand.
dinner's done, everything's ready. So when everyone walks in, we're not doing the just got out of the car, trying to get the groceries in, trying to get them ready, not doing homework. at this stage in my life, it works beautifully.
Rebecca (06:22.778)
I think that's fabulous. That's somewhat aspirational and inspirational to find that balance. think a lot of business women struggle to put that me time in and that me time can look, as you just said, like education or doing something different or learning something and doing something for you that's not specifically family related or home related or business related. finding that balance. I quite like the idea of carving out time on a Wednesday.
De-Arne O'Toole (06:46.502)
It's great. And the other thing too, I must say, I do have some back office help as well. So I've got some staff who are all remote, they work remotely as well. So they've got their set hours. And again, for them, it's not about the hours that they're here. It's about the tasks that they need to get done in that time. So if tasks are done, then they're free to do whatever they need to do.
Rebecca (07:07.494)
that's music to my soul because like, I remember when I started my video business, decade and a bit ago, I was very much around, well, this is how much the job's going to be. So I don't, I don't really mind if you do it in four hours or 12, but I've got a budget of eight. So, you know, you, you work with it I think it's very tough being task oriented is something that's really refreshing, which is, which I think a lot more people should
De-Arne O'Toole (07:31.216)
look, I totally agree. And I think the thing is, A, you trust your people. You can see their results because the job's done. So why do I need to make you sit here for another 25 minutes and, you know, not be productive? Yeah.
Rebecca (07:43.044)
Yeah, yeah, I think that's fabulous. Yes, go you on that. I think that's awesome. And now tell me about this flower farm, because I love it. I find it fascinating. But what what got you into farming flowers? And have it always been a dream of yours to
De-Arne O'Toole (07:59.68)
Well, again, another interesting story. I had just started in financial solutions and I said to my husband, I'm gonna do one thing for me. So on a Wednesday, Wednesday just seems to be the day, I went and did floristry at TAFE for 12 months. Anyway, I was never gonna be a florist. I just do not have that talent that they have.
But I had come home and I had said to my husband, see that gray stuff you grow up the road there? I said, I can sell that. He's like, no. And I'm like, yeah, okay, $10 a bunch. so what it was, it was actually gum. So everyone buys gum or sinaria. And yeah, he had planted a whole lot of it because he's very, he comes from a farming family and has a bit of a eye for different plants and growing from seed. And he'd planted these about five years ago.
So that's where it sort of all started. And then I'd met a group called Wildflowers Australia and a sub group off that called WINS, which is Wildflowers Industry Network, which were a local group within New South Wales and they're having field days. Anyway, I said to my husband, let's go to one of these field days. And he's like, okay. And then he started realizing how, because he had come from a potato growing family with beautiful soil to a,
Rebecca (08:50.714)
Wow.
De-Arne O'Toole (09:20.188)
mountain top full of rocks, it's like nothing will grow up here. And then when we started seeing what other people were growing and where they were growing it, we realized that we didn't need thousands of acres. We commercially needed about two to three acres and that's what set our little journey off. So we're slowly becoming more commercial. I have a handful of florists that I can service every week with what I've got, but each year the production gets better and better.
Rebecca (09:40.794)
Yep.
De-Arne O'Toole (09:48.609)
and we, it's called the Banksy Man Wildflower Farm and we are predominantly Australian natives and South African parotias.
Rebecca (09:56.506)
I think that's fantastic. I just, knowing that I've got like a big renovation project and a veggie patch to build and do, having absolutely no idea where to start or what to do. You know, in doing the TAFE course, was that a useful thing for you? Was it something that you went, I'm going to start a flower farm after the TAFE course, or was it more of a, I'm going to go because I want to learn how to do this myself. And just it's sparking interest.
De-Arne O'Toole (10:22.6)
Yeah, look, I really like the idea and I like the idea of playing with flowers and I've always loved that. And the first thing they tell you when you go to tape is you don't play with flowers. know, like it really is an art and it really is, it's a skill. So the flower farm sort of came because I could grow, we grew flowers really well. We could go away and leave them.
If they died, the RSPCA wasn't going to come and get us. And if you got sick of them, you just let them keep growing, whereas you can't go away and leave the sheep. yeah, so it was and it just sort of evolved with the the forestry. I did try to do a few things in forestry, but I just found that I wasn't very good at the people, not that they were criticizing me, but everyone had an opinion about.
your arrangement. I'm like, that's just a bit too close for me. know, so I like growing them and I love giving them to the forest to do beautiful things with them.
Rebecca (11:21.51)
So you grow them and you pick them as a bunch of one single type of flower, and then you give that bunch to a florist to do all the beautiful things with. I think that's awesome.
De-Arne O'Toole (11:30.048)
Yes. So I'll go and cut and you'll get a, say you get a bunch, you asked for a bunch of gum, you would get 10 stems in a gum and that would be one price. And then when we do our focal flowers, like a protea, you would charge per stem. So then it's all that stem length. it's very, it's very interesting and very evolving.
Rebecca (11:54.008)
Yeah, well, that's again, something I have to draw a lot of people are thinking about because I would go equally to you the same. I'm going, I've tried my hand at flower arranging and mine look terrible. And I've got friends that come and just pull stuff out of my garden and I don't think I've got much here. And all of a sudden, you know, there's these sticks and flowers and all these things looking beautiful in a bucket or a watering can. okay. Well, yeah.
De-Arne O'Toole (12:04.818)
Yeah.
De-Arne O'Toole (12:18.905)
I totally agree and I try and I say I'm a fat finger florist because I'm trying to stuff every flower in it and then you go to the florist and they're gently and beautifully putting them in. I'm like, yeah.
Rebecca (12:29.926)
Yeah, stick to your strengths is what I reckon. Now, when you and I were talking before, this was a long time ago, I think you were talking and you described and I think it was the flower farm. It could have been something different. So the flower farm where you found during COVID you were no longer commuting. So you had 10 hours back in the week because there was no commuting into that. And you sort of explained how you were using that time. Is that how the flower farm came about? Or can you dive into a little bit more for our listeners around
De-Arne O'Toole (12:31.39)
Yes, absolutely.
De-Arne O'Toole (12:56.414)
you.
Yes, so I used to do an hour and 15 minutes every day into work. Before that, I'd have to drop the kids off at the bus stop. So very much that pick up kids school routine.
I honestly could not do it again today. So as you know, don't know how I would ever get anywhere on time, but my 10 hours has given me back time to, so like when I get up at six o 'clock in the morning, you know, I'll take the dogs up to their front yard. I'll check the sheep. I'll walk the flowers, see what's in season, come back in. I'll spend half an hour just running through emails, setting my day up. And that 10 hours is definitely giving me the time to do, if I want to do a course.
you know, to be able to go out and do the things that I want to do. So yeah, the 10 hours, you know, that's a whole day, really. That's a whole day at a bank of a back.
Rebecca (13:48.494)
It's huge, isn't it? Yeah, and it's huge. And I still hear people's conversations around actually even this weekend just gone when friends were here going, I'd work harder at home. I get more done when I'm at home. I can jump on the computer at 8am. I'm going, this is crazy. Like, do you get paid for all the extra time? No, but I'm really productive. like, interesting. So I'd to challenge anyone listening to flip that on its head and go, if you were commuting, you wouldn't be doing that many hours in the office or that many hours at your desk. So what can you do?
that's creative or different or productive in a different way with that time.
De-Arne O'Toole (14:23.23)
Yeah, and I think too, you've got to be a little bit more disciplined when you work home because you can get sucked into the vortex and just be doing work, work, work. And you have to feel not selfish for saying, you know what, this block of times for work, this block of times for me, because it does feel very selfish. It does feel like, you know, look, I'm going out for the next four hours and I might have a facial, I might go to lunch. You know, I might do something for me.
and then come back and do some more work. it's, you really end of a night time after a certain hour, I always put a do not disturb on. So, and I try not to look at work emails before 6 a Yeah.
Rebecca (15:00.312)
I like that. I keep putting on and turning off and taking off the Gmail app on my phone. Every so often I just seem to just hit it and then I've read an email that I shouldn't have read and then I delete it off and then I realize I need it back again. it's still, these boundary things are always a work in progress.
De-Arne O'Toole (15:07.701)
Yeah.
De-Arne O'Toole (15:18.362)
absolutely. And then I suppose the other thing I've done with my do not disturb is I've actually been putting it on during the day. But if I know I'm expecting a call from somebody, I put them in that they can disturb me list, you know that list. Yes, and I put them in that one and I know they're going to get through. So that way that helps me get through a bit more as well. But yeah, you definitely need to set your boundaries. But as well, I think it's really important you still need to go out and network, you still need to see people.
Rebecca (15:29.37)
Yeah, the special starred favorite list.
De-Arne O'Toole (15:46.29)
It's nice to get out so that you can come back and say, actually, this is how I really like to have
Rebecca (15:51.066)
Yeah, and it's trial and error and it will take practice to get into the vibe of what you're doing and it's not a one -size -fits -all and it doesn't have to stay the same week in week out.
De-Arne O'Toole (16:00.96)
Exactly right. And you know, I've been away for a couple of days with some girls that I met on a course and it was specifically to go and look at furniture and finance and it was wonderful. Three days with them was great. Then we all got to wave goodbye at the airport and come home and continue back on. So you're not in everybody's pockets all the time. I think the nicest thing is you're out of the gossip. You're not in the office politics. You're not having to be the monthly favourite. It's wonderful.
Rebecca (16:28.324)
Yeah, I think there's a lot to be said about working from home, finding that balance and finding your people as well outside of that space. And so one of the other things that I know you've been talking about on our virtual meetups within the Champagne Lounge is interior design. You've got a love for interior design and another thing that you've honed your skills at, looking at finance, flowers, interior design, three very different skill sets and interests there.
De-Arne O'Toole (16:35.071)
Yes.
De-Arne O'Toole (16:45.822)
Yes.
Rebecca (16:57.447)
Are you interested in doing that? And is it something that you had an eye on as well? Like it was constantly learning? Is it just something that sparks your attention? Like, why did that fly into
De-Arne O'Toole (17:07.316)
Well, that was again, another one interesting one. I was at TAFE doing floristry and one of the girls had said to me, I'm going off to do interior design next. And I that sounds really interesting. Not really having any passion or coordination. I love building. I love the process of building. I love architecture. I love drawing on AutoCAD.
And I had looked a few times to see what was in interior design. And by chance, and I'm sure that your phone listens to you, up come the Sydney Design School, they were doing their Cert IV and it was government funded. I'm like, that's good. Thank you kindly. I'll do that one. And out of that, I met this amazing group of women. They were from all places. it was online. It was actually two days a week, but it was about a six hour block.
Rebecca (17:45.85)
Wow. Yeah.
De-Arne O'Toole (18:00.292)
And they were from Orange and down the coast, up by, and one was from Western Australia. And I did that for six months and that's where it come from. Now, look, again, I'm not going to be an interior designer, but again, it's given me an appreciation of what's out there, what goes into it. And I think it complements where I'm going as a broker. So these people that are meeting on my journey are people that are either starting their own businesses, wanting to buy properties.
So it just really adds to my broker and business.
Rebecca (18:34.279)
It's networking and in a creative fashion.
De-Arne O'Toole (18:36.734)
Yes, doing something you love it. And it's not work when you're passionate about it.
Rebecca (18:41.142)
No, exactly. And you're doing something that you love. And I find that if I'm out talking to people or hosting dinner or, you know, being a little bit more out there and chatty without being work focused, that's where the relationships come. And that's when you stay top of mind. And it's not all about work.
De-Arne O'Toole (18:56.852)
And I think you're right. And for me, the work will come when you have that relationship with people. I don't feel you need to go out and sell it. People know what you do, that's great. But for someone that's trusting you with all their finances, you definitely want that feeling of trust. Finance is such a personal thing.
You know, it's been such a taboo subject, we don't talk about it. So people really feel like they're being criticised when people are looking at their finances and they're going to draw a judgement on them. So you do need that relationship. And look, if you know someone up front and you feel comfortable, then you can have those conversations.
Rebecca (19:33.594)
Yeah, yeah, I think it's, as we always say, within the shampoo, there's power in conversation and power in finding that trust. And it doesn't always have to be a business conversation or a live conversation. It's just about building those relationships and that trust factor along the way.
De-Arne O'Toole (19:49.012)
Yeah. And interestingly enough, it goes the other way too. So as I go on my journey of, you know, learning a bit more, doing something that interests me, I meet so many amazing people and see what's possible. So from coming from a banking background, now I've met these other creatives then have seen a world of things that I would never have seen if I hadn't have done those courses. Yeah.
Rebecca (20:12.548)
Yeah, that's amazing. You've inspired me to have a look at some courses. think I think I need to maybe a dab hand. Maybe I could do some gardening or horticultural stuff so I can actually get my veggie garden underway with a support network. That would be amazing. Now, Deanna, don't let anyone leave the podcast without asking why you chose to be part of our incredible community here at the Champagne Lounge.
De-Arne O'Toole (20:17.072)
What
De-Arne O'Toole (20:25.805)
Sounds good.
De-Arne O'Toole (20:37.94)
Well, I think I had said to you a couple of times, Rebecca, I had seen you pop up in a few different places. So again, when I was doing my interior design course, a few of the girls had spoken about different events at Orange. And when I looked them up, I'd seen your car, your and my daughter, your, yes.
Rebecca (20:57.7)
A nice pink car, yeah?
De-Arne O'Toole (21:00.42)
My daughter was out at Mudgee and I had seen your car when I'd been out to Mudgee. And so my curiosity led me to look into it. And it's probably one of the best things I've done. I just think for people that enjoy networking, but perhaps again, rural and remote and haven't had the opportunity or can't get to an event. What a great way to be able to come and catch up with people and meet interesting women.
Rebecca (21:26.33)
That's amazing. Thank you. That's exactly, exactly why we created it. We can't be in places at all once. you know, it's about meeting as many different people as you can in a safe space for you to be yourself.
De-Arne O'Toole (21:37.864)
Absolutely, and it's been fantastic. Thank
Rebecca (21:40.346)
Well, thank you. And thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing your business journey. think there's been a few, well, many golden nuggets in the episode today that I'm sure have inspired a number of our listeners to go and maybe try a different skill or try something new or give themself a bit more self care during the week. So thank you so much.
De-Arne O'Toole (21:59.422)
My pleasure. Thanks for having me.
