05 - Claire O'Connor of babyballet®️ - Redefining Ballet for the Next Generation

Today, on the Active Journey podcast, Mark is in conversation with Claire O'Connor, the visionary founder and CEO of the globally beloved preschool ballet franchise, babyballet®️. 

In this inspiring episode, Claire shares the powerful story behind her journey from grappling with personal challenges in the ballet world to pioneering a transformative approach in children's ballet education. 

Discover how Claire's dedication to inclusivity, kindness, and self-care shaped babyballet®️ into an award-winning brand that champions the joy and well-being of every child. 

Claire's insights on leadership, franchising, and balancing personal well-being with professional success offer valuable lessons for anyone looking to make a positive impact in their field. 

If you liked this episode, and want to know more about Mark and his amazing organisation Active Sports Group, then follow him, and make sure to keep listening for more updates, discussions and sports related content!

Edited with finesse by Mike at Making Digital Real

Transcript

Mark Whitwood: 0:03

Welcome to the active Journey podcast with me your host Mark Woodward. We will embark on an inspiring journey through the lives of extraordinary individuals who've conquered challenges and reached the pinnacle of success through their resilience and determination. Through heartfelt conversations, we'll uncover the secrets to their remarkable achievements. exploring how embracing an active way of life has kept them moving forward, fueled their passion and empower them to overcome even the most formidable challenges. Get ready for an inspiring dive into leadership, franchising and wellbeing with today's guest claro Kala, Claire is the founder and CEO of the award winning global favourite preschool baby ballet. Join us as we uncover the secrets to balancing leadership and personal wellbeing in this special episode. I Claire, thanks so much for joining us on the active Journey podcast. How you doing today? Hi,

Claire O'Connor: 0:59

Mark. I'm really good. Thank you. Thank you for inviting me. I'm

Mark Whitwood: 1:03

super excited to have you on Well, we always start the podcast with just our first question, which is what's the reason that you like to live an active life? What does that mean to you?

Claire O'Connor: 1:13

So I've lived a very busy life. At the moment, my life is very busy. So being active really does help me to stay strong physically, emotionally, mentally. And I do make sure that I build self care and sport and activity into my life.

Mark Whitwood: 1:29

Yeah, I mean, it's transferable into your busy life. Because you you've got four children, is that right? And CEO and founder of an International Ballet School?

Claire O'Connor: 1:38

Yeah, I do have. I have a big family, but they not all at home anymore. So yeah, I've got two girls still at home, and to that have already flown the nest, so I don't have the day to day responsibility for them. But yeah, being a mom and being a mom, who will never, ever stop loving and caring for them and worrying about them. They are always, always with me.

Mark Whitwood: 2:02

Yeah, I think like you said, prioritising that, that sort of activity everyday just for your health and well being. Well, we'll come on to that more as we talk about the sort of business and how you cope with the challenges of that on the day to day. But, I mean, obviously, you've got this amazing ballet school. But for you, how did that journey start? Was it in Sport? Or was it were you just done since from a young age is that where the inspiration for the for the business came from? No,

Claire O'Connor: 2:29

it didn't actually, I was born into a world of ballet because my mom has always had a ballet school. And she's taught around the world for children's examinations in ballet. So ballet was very much part of our family. And I regret bringing a lot of ballet teachers and dance teachers run their businesses from home so that the school had a location. But there was a lot of, you know, admin and things like that done from the family home. So we were very much grown growing up around it. And I did start going to classes at the age of three. And I didn't go to my mom's classes, because it's difficult to teach your children I understand that now being a parent myself, but she said that I was on teachable, I think I was just kind of a little bit, too. What's the word probably too lively and a little bit too silly for a traditional ballet class. So I went to another dance ballet teacher. And it was just very absorbed in that world because my mom helped out with a lot of other external things as well. And I was exposed to the ballet industry from a very young age. So started at three, my early memories were all always kind of like quite good. And then it wasn't until I started reaching sort of my early, probably 1011, early teens, that the impact of the ballet world really started to take its toll on me and I left at 14 not feeling good enough not feeling thin enough. But as a hobby. It was you know, it was a really good hobby to have had

Mark Whitwood: 4:03

clothes that how the industry and the ballet industry may may do and other people failed to fail back then in terms of been self conscious about body image and did all that sort of play into you. So stop in dancing, if you like for a while. Yeah,

Claire O'Connor: 4:21

and I think my mom had an amazing school and her school was very friendly. It was about each and every child just like we have that same value at baby bella. However, I wrongly compared myself to others and the industry is success is driven around how thin you are how you know, the best, the elite of the elite and I don't think you know, I didn't want to be a top ballerina. I wanted to enjoy it as a hobby but it was my own. I think my kind of personal what's the word like just putting up pressure on myself to to be that and my body wasn't naturally, you know, a pre that of a prima ballerina that people stereotype. So unfortunately Yeah, I do think that the ballet culture in the industry did impact on me then having such a bitter taste when I left. Yeah.

Mark Whitwood: 5:20

But like you mentioned your mom and your mum was sort of running ballet schools in the Yorkshire area. And she's like Royalton in the ballet. The ballet world? Isn't she like you stopped dancing at 14? But I guess like you say you're you were around it all the time. When you everyday with with your mom sort of so busy in the ballet industry? Did you end up sort of supporting your mom for a while with her ballet school? Before you you began your own journey?

Claire O'Connor: 5:45

Yeah, I did. So when you normally leave or have a hobby, I suppose you leave it and it doesn't then kind of plays such a big part in your life still, whereas we were still very much part of the ballet world. And it was my mom's it was it was our life and our like her way of making a living. So my dad also at that point works within the Dance School, he ran the dance shop. And he was very creative man, he was an artist by thread. But he helped my mom run the school in the shop. And so it didn't ever lose. I didn't ever lose ballet when I left. And I think to start with as a team, you I was probably quite grumpy about that maybe because I didn't this is on a subconscious level, maybe at the time, but it didn't, I couldn't escape from it. And the the perfection of being thin enough being good enough. And I, you know, I know the pressures on teenagers to be a certain way that they feel is is acceptable. But I definitely did suffer from, like, lack of self esteem, like very low body self worth. And it impacted me, you know, quite severely that getting to just 50 I'm only just getting on top of those. Those issues, which is really, really sad because Bali is such a beautiful thing.

Mark Whitwood: 7:14

Do you feel some of those issues that you incurred, like personally and then around Bali? Was that a motivation for you to come back to the ballet world and introduce baby belly and have a different sort of style to it a different culture that you want to create so that other young people didn't feel like that about themselves as they grew? And they hopefully stick with ballet as well. Yeah, absolutely.

Claire O'Connor: 7:39

That is my main driver that I don't want anyone to have even a tiniest bit of any of the feelings I had or the impact that I had. And that sort of driven me to create baby ballet. I did go back to work my mom after I had been to university I always quite struggled with academic work so as Ken just felt like I'd always just push through school push through it levels push through to uni. And I was really hard on myself really self critical. That is why are we like this, it's so bad. But I was and you know, like I could honestly see the see the wrong and criticising the things I was doing and maybe that comes from the you know, not good enough. not thin enough, but I did go back one said my mom's favourite say and I say this a lot. But it's it's a really kind of pivotal moment and saying in my life that my mom always says I went to university to get a degree and I came up with a child, which was Harry who was now nearly 28 And he would agree with a degree of life. Yeah, I mean, at university I absolutely gave 100% to partying and having a great time because it was a relief and it was a distraction. But the academic side I did and I always have really struggled with that, that side of things. It's really strange because now as a business owner under the stage of life man I absolutely love learning like I can't get enough like geeky love learning how to you know better the business better the team now eventually better myself. And but at school I hated school because I was put in a classroom and it just didn't suit my personality and a bit probably like a quite strict ballet class that I went to your Valley and itself I adore but in that actual environment. It didn't didn't really gel with it. So going back to when I'd had my eldest Harry want to come out of university. I eventually did go and finish my degree which was great, but that was the start of like really start to struggle a lot more with my mental health and suffered with postnatal depression, which lasted quite a long time, but I got myself back backup on my feet quite quickly, considering how bad I was at one point, but I did. I was like quite determined, I suppose I've got a resilience and determination that I pull out when I need to. And I got myself back on my feet went to finish my degree, which was really proud of because I thought that I would probably never get that. So when I finished my degree, but then because I wasn't so well. And I had her a single child, although

Mark Whitwood: 10:30

I've stayed really good friends with a single parent as well.

Claire O'Connor: 10:33

I was yeah, he's done lived in on the Wirral. So I'm in Halifax, and he's on the world. So we were about an hour and a half apart, and it just wasn't meant to be, but we've remained brilliant friends. And, you know, we've we've, yeah, we've got a really, really good relationship, which is great. So I couldn't find a job that fit in with being a single parent, still living at home and also not been so well. And so my mum offered me a job at her dance school, which I was reluctant at to start with just because I didn't really know what I was going to do. And anyway, I just went she she offered me the job. And it was, it was just seemed like perfect to fit in with the with the point of life that I was at. And when I went back in my mom's school, like I said, it was brilliant. It was lovely. I mean, such a lot of you know, big, lovely community happy, friendly. The thing the one thing that I could see them with just a little bit more maturity on my side was that children will still feeling really intimidated, weight wise, or feeling like they have to be a certain share, are they feeling that that if they didn't get the top results in exams, and they've not done good enough, and I'm, you know, I can see these achievement in the smallest of things. And it was always about being the best being the thinnest being getting the gold medal did earn it just, it really saddened me. So that's when I kind of started to read, it coincided with running a preschool class at a play gym that my mom set up. And she found the venue and she said, you know, can you work there. And so we went in that preschool age. And this, just this community that we we started in these preschool classes was just filled with so much joy that I think at that point, that's when I fell back in love with ballet.

Mark Whitwood: 12:24

And looking at the business today, and I know this from my own girls coming in and attending the classes. The brand is just so much fun. It's just so welcoming. It's there. It's inclusive, it's for everyone, isn't it to come and participate? And there was that sort of your, your vision for it right at the very beginning, then when you hide that soft play area with that your mom found it for the first sort of class, was it to? Did you ever see it sort of scaling as big as it's called now? Or were you just wanting to sort of create those key values locally and then and then see what happened? Well, I

Claire O'Connor: 12:57

remember like to this day stood in the in the place that was AP, and these classes had been running for a few weeks, maybe a few months. And just to on a Thursday, I'll put Brewster's only top in Halifax, and the teacher Miss candy was incredible. And I was kind of helping with the management and the the abdomen and a bit of, you know, like, assisting in the classes. And it was such a positive vibe. And I just remember has been stood there thinking, I've got to get this feeling to every child, anywhere that wants to do ballet so that ballet becomes a real positive, upbeat, fun, just inclusive everything. And I know you share my values, you know, in inclusivity and fun as well. And it's like, I just remember being stood there thinking right? I want to get this I want every single child who does ballet to feel like this about ballet. But then I kept the self limiting beliefs kept creeping in going well, you can't do that because you're just clever. And you're just you can't do this you're not good enough and those you know the the evil person in your mind and on your shoulder telling me that couldn't do it. But it literally was I just wanted to get that feeling out there. And I didn't know how to do it. But I just set to work and tried to find a way through.

Mark Whitwood: 14:15

We certainly created an amazing brand now and I think you're you're over 100 sort of franchisees across the UK and international what what what sort of inspired you to look at franchising them because it's clearly works for you and for baby ballet. When When did the first sort of additional business owner join? Join the ballet school and where was that in the UK? So

Claire O'Connor: 14:38

franchising came through trying to find a way through that brick wall I think it's like you know, I've got this idea I'd got this dream the vision of what it is today is very much what it was right in that early stages to create a brand that was full of fun and not just the classes we've got parties events, entertainment stage shows uniform merchandise, we got children's characters it was the vision was real. A strong from the, from the from right at the beginning. But the, the, the inner voice was like, you know, well how are you going to do this basically because you are just glare from Halifax. And then I was like, No, I'm going to push through that because the must be aware. But first what I needed to do was find out if someone else had done it. So I was like, there must be more like free school ballet franchises out there. And I couldn't I couldn't find one. The internet was just becoming usable. And you know a thing. There was no social media or thing, wasn't it? Yeah. So it was like just becoming a part thing. I'd seen a couple of airports outside venues that were like other franchises, there was tumble tots or jingles was around. And this franchising word was kind of like just just really on my mind, like thinking what is that and where is the ballet franchise couldn't find it and then looked into franchising, and it just seemed to be such a fantastic model to replicate the standards that were even in those early days, my standards have been really important high high standards, you know, for the children attending the classes. And those systems and those dreams that I wanted to achieve. Franchising seemed like a really brilliant model. So I did a lot of research for six years, I did research just on my own, like in the literally in my head, scribbling down on you know, like any opportunity I had, nobody really believed in it at all, including my mom, because she just thought that people would create their own programme. And just as she had done and just had we've done in those first classes, so franchising is very light. It was, it was the business side completely scared me I'd given a business studies a level because I didn't understand it back at college. And I just wanted to make sure that if I was doing a class there, then how could I make that same? You know, like commitment as well like teachers, if I'd put a teacher in London or in Australia and they ring ring in sick, then how am I going to manage that it's impossible, but franchising was showing me that that could do it. And then the first one was for this field. So that was our next door. So we once had started to develop the idea a little bit and start to run a few more venues. The Huddersfield one was our next door neighbour. So that was a thought if I've made this successfully in Halifax

Mark Whitwood: 17:27

a great place to start, isn't it then? Yeah, yeah, so

Claire O'Connor: 17:30

I've gone through about 800 children per week. No,

Mark Whitwood: 17:34

I was gonna say like, baby bella is quite nice as well, isn't it in comparison to maybe other areas of the UK? Was it sort of the slightly older children that we're attending that independent ballet school so actually launching baby ballet was was probably quite a new, new thing in the market. You said there's tumble tots as well, but actual sort of a specifically focus of preschool ballet school. Was that completely unique to there was

Claire O'Connor: 18:01

no, it wasn't unique. Some people were were probably doing like younger classes. But I think that going even younger, like we start, we're starting off at months quite soon, because my mom's school started from three and most schools tend to start from three. There's some amazing programmes out there, that, you know, the the frameworks that are already out there that people can teach what they tended to start from three inputs. So when we started doing some younger classes from, say, 18 months, because I was getting inquiries from people for 18 months. It just like, there was nothing really else going on. Now that, you know, there's such a lot of amazing activities that children can do from a really young age from, you know, babies, toddlers, you know, even pregnancy classes. There's some incredible stuff out there. But for us, yeah, in those early days, there was nothing else really like it. And I think that was like the gap in the market that I also saw with my more probably entrepreneurial side was like the fact that I had was driven by this passion to make a difference. In in, in ballet, but also to build a brand that there was nothing else that I could find out there like it. So it was kinda like there's a gap. I've got to fill it. I'm not sure how to fill it, but I'm gonna do what I can to try and make that happen.

Mark Whitwood: 19:30

And what have you really loved about franchising then, is it the sort of, I guess it's the idea of being able to find like minded people and, you know, they then launched the ballet school and it has an impact in many more communities doesn't it's bringing the brand everywhere, I guess is what what's been your favourite thing about franchising? It gives you the

Claire O'Connor: 19:49

model to grow and take your idea to different places. So once it's packaged up, you've got the systems, the processes, the standards in place. And the brand, you can then replicate that in different areas. And I think at the beginning, I was so naive to think what actually running a franchise business would tick and why it would involve that, had I known that now, I probably wouldn't have set off on that journey without more learning. Because the I think the hardest thing about growing a franchise business is the fact that you're looking after people, I'm a natural people pleaser. And the first one first to kind of all right, but then it's, I think it's a very common thing that as a startup franchise owner as a franchisor, by the time you get to 510 15 franchisees, you really lose I lost footing, because I wasn't prepared to what managing all those people was going to entail. So now I do quite a lot of help helping others if they are going to be building a franchise network to understand how those those things will will impact. And, again, coming back to self care as a business owner, I will put right to the bottom of the pile, because I was looking after everybody else. Myself, what were some

Mark Whitwood: 21:20

of the biggest challenges that you you found them with scaling the business, you know, to what it is today with over 100 franchises? Was it? Is it purely the amount of people that you sort of having to support and deal with without bringing the biggest challenges to you every day?

Claire O'Connor: 21:37

To me personally? Yeah, but people are like, an A team, our whole network are absolutely incredible. And they're everything. And this, you know, the idea would be nothing without those people that have been on this journey with me. It's, it's not this, you know, it was that initial idea that I had, but everybody else has to help to make that happen. But personally, because I am, I was so much of a people pleaser, and not able to say no, I've not learned a lot of the skills that I've had to learn. As I've gone on this journey, it really was very difficult. I think. No, I didn't, I did not know how to put myself first so people pleasing. And all the people that were coming in that we've got had a lot of people that have, you know, shown interest in the classes and teachers from franchises. And I didn't know how to manage the all those people and how that would affect me emotionally and physically and mentally. So people have been in the making of the dream and the building of the dream and will continue to be but for me personally, I found that difficult the amount of people to look after,

Mark Whitwood: 22:48

obviously, the business has evolved. And so we'll have you as a business leader, I guess over the sort of nearly last 20 years, what would be your sort of top tips for leadership, you know, and lead in the business that you created today, the top tips

Claire O'Connor: 23:03

on leadership will be looking after yourself as a priority not as the last last thought. And that it always like it still gets me like it always still feels really selfish to put yourself care first, but I've learned the importance of it. And as a result, then everybody else is better. Everybody else performs better, gets the best out of you. And I just really think that that's been my one of my biggest learnings has been how to build myself into that team and see the importance of you know that that growth and how important that is. And I will never stop doing that now that I've built awareness around self development and in personal growth. Leadership from a leading the company, I think just being very strong about my vision, but very, very passionate about the values. And we do a survey actually, we do a survey every year with the franchisees which is anonymous. And this year, we've done it for three years, we've got five stars each year, which we're really proud of, but this year, we got 100% on vision and the 100% on brand, which means that everybody knows which way the chips go in which ways the pink bus driving, and they all know where it's going and what the vision is and about inclusivity and about fun and about, you know, like the everything that we do from head office or from you know, my vision has now out there and been really, really just followed by the franchisees because they love it. They're not following it. Yeah, absolutely. And to just get in to know that we're all on that same journey together. It's just it's, it's, it's brilliant. It's amazing. And that's, that's taken time because I've always really been clear about that. vision but it's sometimes difficult getting that across to everybody else. But yeah, it's, it seems to be a really, really exciting time.

Mark Whitwood: 25:11

Essentially, you're creating leaders as well in the, in the franchise network is that they're independently running a business themselves just with with the baby belly, Brandon. Yeah, absolutely.

Claire O'Connor: 25:21

And I love that it's, you know, the fact that other leaders have been able to, to, to grow and develop as their own bosses. And, you know, we give the structure we give the, we call it a, you know, pink box that we wrap up with a big ribbon and we pass them all the systems, all the processes, all the, all the know how on how to end this party network and how to make it happen. And so then they're opening that box and doing the doing building their own business. And, you know, it's phenomenal, it's I, you know, get a real buzz out of helping everyone on their own personal journey. So, knowing that franchises growing with all these phenomenal leaders is, yeah, it's very special.

Mark Whitwood: 26:02

Oh, I love that clap for you. What's what's been your biggest achievement so far? Either personally, or, or with the business,

Claire O'Connor: 26:10

from a business point of view, just to see how far the brand has grown from that tiny little idea. And makes me really proud to see the mission of, you know, bringing these foreign inclusive classes, to children, and in different countries. And, you know, knowing that your two girls go and enjoy it and have a lovely time knowing that I'm not involved in that actual setting of the class up. But I've been a part of that enjoyment really, really does feel like a great achievement. And I did a TV show about 10 years ago, which is called Big ballet. And that was one of my biggest achievements personally, from a bravery and courage point of view. It was about challenging size in in ballet, which is obviously what you know, is the business has grown from and when sleep was the main mentor on that with another mentor called Monica Hoffman, who's an Irish ballerina. And when one of our franchisees has seen the advert for getting people onto this show, she'd said, Miss Claire, you've got to do that. You've got to do it. It's everything you believe in. It's everything we're all doing. And it was just like, No, I can't do it, I can't put myself out there in that way ballet, it's still scared me a lot personally doing ballet. So my confidence nearly stopped me. But I had a good word of myself and a push through. And I said, I'm gonna go for it. Anyway, I was chosen to be one of those dancers and I got to perform in a real live version of Swan Lake with amazing people. And that was the challenge of the TV cameras was hard for me. But I'm glad I push you because I've got that dream of being onstage and I never thought I would be in a real ballet ever. So it was a real, a real big one for me that the another thing with the business is the pandemic, pandemic, like most businesses out there, business owners, it was just insane how it came and just pulled the rug from under our feet. But I was just straight on a call with the franchisees. I was like, Look, my sleeves are rolled up, we will get through this, this business is not going down on my shift because if mine goes, then yours goes. And there is no chance that after all this effort and everything we've all put in, we're going to go down. So that was a massive achievement. And I think personally, my family number one, billing cent. And then learning about myself and personal development, sort of learning how to control the controllables understanding myself better, the importance of both physical and mental health. And realising the importance of self worth. That's probably been my biggest achievements. Personally,

Mark Whitwood: 28:53

I love that cloud is just talking about the well being and Southworth, you've, you've personally done a lot of work on that, haven't you and you've been open enough to share that as well. I think that sort of seeing you through LinkedIn as well, you've got your Wednesday well being what, what sort of inspired you to do that?

Claire O'Connor: 29:11

Just club really, if I can help anyone else to avoid any of the pitfalls I've been through or to navigate through them because I think sometimes you've got to go through some of those. Yeah, I'm, I'm quite glad now that I've been through the challenges that I've been through, because it's definitely made me stronger. It's made me more resilient. Yeah, they've been really, really tough at times, but I'm actually glad that I've gone through them to push those boundaries. But if I can help anyone to avoid or understand or navigate through those better than I really want to share my story to do so. And the well being Wednesday came about just because I realised that three years ago that's when I really started my journey into self development and self had more. So we had done personality profiling things through work, which I found really fascinating that was over the last, like 10 years, but I've never really dug into it and the the benefit of self awareness and the benefit of personal development, I love the team stuff. But during the wellbeing Wednesdays, after the three years of self development, I've done just felt like a really nice way of sharing it. And just saying to the world, look, it's not people can look at, I think, leaders and think, you know, you, you've got this, you've got the yoga, you've, it's easy for you. And it's been hard and to share that and to give people the I don't know, like you and I have talked about, you know, like it's, it's, it's tough at the top, and I don't see myself as being at the top. So I like to have a linear structure where every single person in the business is valued, whatever job they do, however many hours they work, it's not about being at the top, but I think the person making the decisions and lead in that company, it can be quite lonely at times. So it was about sharing, look, this is real life. And this is, you know, at a massive breakdown, and it's not worth it, you've got to put yourselves first you've got to see the importance of self worth. Being self. looking after yourself is not selfish, it's the most important thing you can do. But I think when you've got a lot of people to look after, it quite easily gets put to the bottom of the pile.

Mark Whitwood: 31:33

But you're sharing so much good advice to your franchise network to other people as well. Clay like what for you, what's the best piece of advice that you've ever been given on this journey that you're on at the moment,

Claire O'Connor: 31:47

my best bit of advice would be that you can't eat an elephant in one bite. So the minute that I was stood there in that pledge year, and I was like, right, I want every child in every country all over the world, to enjoy this and to have this feeling and to feel all these benefits and feel included and feel valued. And my brother works in more corporate finance, and he's more accountancy based and very methodical, organised logical. And he started working with me after a couple of years, because I had kind of built the business on my own. Just through through my own research, really. So he had a lot more experience in in businesses. So he came in to help me, we kind of you know, unravelled it quite a lot and built it back up on firmer foundations, which is brilliant. And I remember him saying to me, he's like, right, so what'd she dream? And I was like, right, so I want to get every child all over the world and join the brand in some way. And he was like, Well, realistically, by when I'm like, Well, ideally, by tomorrow, but he's like, you know, obviously, I knew this wasn't gonna happen. But it was like, right, clear, you can't eat an elephant in one bite. And that sentence has stayed with me because I just run a million miles an hour, I am a fixer and I want to do it fast. And I want everyone to enjoy the brand as quickly as I can. So I think it's about breaking it down into bite sized chunks, setting realistic goals. And my vision was so big, I couldn't go from it that in one go. I couldn't even go from A to B Mongo. So how could I break that down? And be kind to myself in the process because I wanted it to happen really, really fast. So yeah, learning to slow myself down and then all the, you know, setting goals, action points, accountability, and working out what my strengths and weaknesses were, and then building a team so Yeah, can't eat an elephant in one bite was probably the

Mark Whitwood: 33:54

best one. Patience, isn't

Claire O'Connor: 33:56

it? grounded me a little bit. Patience. Yeah,

Mark Whitwood: 33:59

yeah. Having patience and then even on the bad days, it's keep showing up, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, exactly. Just beat being there every day. And I suppose still being here now. Like that's, that's a massive success for you and for baby ballet. Because it's the approaching is it nearly 20 years now that you've been running the business? Yeah,

Claire O'Connor: 34:18

so it's gonna be our 19th birthday this year. And then before that, there was six years in research and development of, you know, like, can I make it work? Should I make it work? Is this gonna is this guy just driven, driven by making a difference? But yeah, and I think like you're saying about just showing up every day and every day it doesn't matter if you're not you can't, you know, be that peak performance. 24/7 I do feel like that's unrealistic. You know, we all have life is about ups and downs. I don't know anyone. And I've never met anybody who has felt amazing all day, every day. Because life throws us curveballs life throws us, you know, bumps in the road that we've got to get over and just being realistic and giving yourself a break about if you are having a harder time and a harder day or half an hour, it's all right. It's all right. And let's stop being so critical to ourselves. You need

Mark Whitwood: 35:14

many research Estonia many research sometimes because yeah, it can all get too much can't it for all of us, for everyone?

Claire O'Connor: 35:22

about like, what you needed the decompression chamber, wherever that is for you. Like, is it just, you know, taking time out going for a walk? Go in? Can you go somewhere? Have you got somewhere that you could go for for a night, two nights? Can you just something to like, just unwind, because it does, it does, there's a lot to deal with as a, as a person in this world, whatever you're doing, you know, not necessarily as a leader, but you know, there's a lot going on, there's a lot of change, there's a lot of really fast pace, evolution going on around us. So just centering yourself, taking a breath, taking a beat, and just being able to say, be kind to yourself, Claire, not just go a million miles an hour without your word with without resetting is, is so important.

Mark Whitwood: 36:14

What, at the end of the podcast clear, we always ask the guest three values that you believe in. And what what are the most important to you so that you live by each day.

Claire O'Connor: 36:27

So I've got I've got loads, to be honest, but the three top ones would be inclusivity. Every person should be valued, and feel valued. As an individual not comparing themselves to others. But just to be included, obviously, through baby bella is very much about inclusivity. And we work hard to make sure that the door can open for any child. And we've just developed some some brand new classes which are called shine which are special educational needs and disabilities specific class, which is running separate to the mainstream classes, which is just honestly, so heartwarming is I am so proud of that. That new programme that's been driven by one of our franchisees, Miss Jessie who had a her second child was non nonverbal, artistic, and she wanted to create this space that literally we are going to make this fully inclusive now. So that's, that's growing, and new classes are coming all the time, which is amazing. So inclusivity Yeah, just every child is Every Child Matters. And then another one is forgiveness. Because people make mistakes, life is about learning, you know, the mistakes help us to improve. So no one can be perfect all the time. So cutting a bit of slack for yourself and for others. And I'm finding that forgiveness is a big one for me. And also, it's about kindness. So kindness, it costs nothing. It's words can impact people so much like the words that I remember from, from ballet classes, they can really have an impact on people's life for a long time. So choosing kind words and kind of behaviours is really high up for me.

Mark Whitwood: 38:31

Thanks, Carla. Holidays, especially forgiveness, that's quite a new one I've not heard people often sort of share that so important. Really love those values, too, in terms of yourself and for for baby belly. What does the future look like now what's next?

Claire O'Connor: 38:49

So the future is so exciting. I like I'm absolutely buzzing, we've come out of the pandemic we have restructured slightly, and we're now ready for a really big scale up operation. So we've working on the systems within the team, and to really get everything ready for a really big scale up. So recruiting more franchisees recruiting more teachers. And a lot of this scaling up actually comes from being better and the best we possibly can with the existing network of customers, teachers, franchisees that we've already got, it's not always about getting new, it's about making sure that you're really really looking after everybody within the business personally, number one is family and continue into you know, hopefully be present and enjoy and support them at all as best as I can. Helping them all to become independent and be themselves but still having a presence in in their lives, whether that be near or far. So then also personally and when Really excited to be starting to pull together a speaking and also like my own, getting my own content out there for others to enjoy and benefit from. So I want to start some consultancy, I want to start some courses, I want to start some learning and development to help share any kind of like pearls of wisdom that I've, I've learned over the years to help people to be the very best that they can the best best version of themselves. But whilst remaining very realistic. So yeah, helping others through speaking podcasts, hopefully want to write a book. And to just continue to make the Yeah, and the brand as well. And we've got really exciting things going on with the Children's characters, we've not really talked too much about that, or the children's characters, like bring the whole fun and inclusive part of the brand to life. And so we're looking at doing more stage shows with those and licencing deals to be able to really get the brand out and those good messages through different categories in the in the licencing. industry as well. So yeah, very exciting. More shine classes, which is the send classes and more franchise in here and abroad. So yeah, lots and lots of plans. Not ready to stop yet.

Mark Whitwood: 41:23

But I've no doubt it'll be a super success plan. So the new sort of consultancy podcasting in the book, right. And as well, I think you've got so much to share now from your journey. You know, lots of people will benefit from that. So yeah, I can't wait to see that and get a copy of the book when you've done it. Thanks so much for for joining us on the podcast. It's been lovely to chat and like find out so much more about what's inspired you. You know, the challenges you've faced and how you've coped with leadership. And in the most important one for me is like, you know, self awareness of well being and how important that is every day so that everyone gets the best version of class. I've absolutely loved chatting to your class. So thanks again.

Claire O'Connor: 42:07

Thank you so much for having me and good luck with everything you're doing.

Mark Whitwood: 42:12

Thank you so much for listening. And that's it for today's episode of the active Journey podcast. Remember your journey towards success and fulfilment is a marathon not a sprint. Keep moving forward and stay active. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to hit subscribe to our podcast and leave us a review. Your feedback helps us continue to bring more amazing stories and insights. Until next time, keep living your active journey. Remember, be kind smile and above all be active.