Success is rarely as linear as it looks. Hoopsy CEO Lara Solomon joined the This Is Not How I Made It spotify podcast to discuss life expectations, reality and the moments in between with Gabriella, the founder and director of The Nut Blend. Here is the full transcript from the episode:
0:00
Gabriella
Welcome to This is Not How I Made It.
This is a podcast inspired by the typical success stories we all see and know about, except I want to shed light on the stories that otherwise may remain unknown.
Real people reflecting on where they thought they were going to be at this stage and age in comparison to where they actually are today, and how the life we envision does not always go to plan.
0:20
Perhaps you too have moments of feeling far from where you should be.
And sometimes you can’t help but wonder, is it just me?
My name is Gabriella, I am your host and fellow romantic, and every week I will be talking to someone new about their journey, the peaks and troughs and unpredictable plot twists.
0:37
People who, like you and me, thought some things would be different by now.
By no means better or worse.
Life has a way of surprising you when you least expect it.
And actually, on reflection, life in theory is the sum of our choices.
You may not have made it to the one you imagined yet anyway, but you have made it here for a reason.
0:57
Gabriella
My guest today is Lara Solomon, an entrepreneur in the truest definition.
She has run various startups, including a personalized children books business, hooded beach towels, mobile phone sock covers, and a social media agency.
1:12
To our benefit, Lara has also written a book about her first four years in business.
The eldest of four siblings and currently single.
Outside of work, she loves picnics, reading, dancing, baking and ocean swimming, which she tries to do every day regardless of the weather.
1:29
So Lara, welcome to This Is Not How I Made It.
I’m thrilled to have you on the podcast.
1:35
Lara
Thank you.
It’s great to be here.
1:37
Gabriella
So let’s dive straight in.
Can you take us back to your early teens and tell us what did you see for your future?
So this could be influenced by popular culture, media, TV, films really paint as a picture.
1:52
Lara
This is a hard one because I don’t think it was really one thing.
I remember at one point I thought I might be a lawyer, but then I’m not super academic.
I don’t have a great memory for remembering verbatim stuff, so I wanted to be a writer.
At one point I remember being in the garden one summer with a typewriter banging out.
2:11
I don’t know what it was, but some kind of story.
But I didn’t have anything I guess.
Like my dad had his own business and he always brought us up to be very independent, thinking very much do your own thing, very much have your own ways of doing things.
2:26
I guess that I probably thought I would have my own business, but I hadn’t really.
I didn’t have a burning desire to be anything in particular at that stage, really.
2:36
Gabriella
And was there any expectations being the eldest of four?
2:40
Lara
No, not really.
My mum and dad were all about doing something you really enjoyed and that made you happy to the point where in my first business they actually lent me money to get started.
Well lent I thought it was a lend but actually later on they I paid them back in full and gave them around the world trip as their interest.
2:59
But they they said that they were willing to write the money off because that was what was important for them, me being happy and doing something I enjoyed.
3:08
Gabriella
So did you do any specific subjects, school or university or even A levels that would carve out that path for?
3:16
Lara
A-Levels not really.
I just did things that I thought interests me for uni.
I started out being a primary school teacher, did two years doing that, then realized that this was not what I wanted to do being a classroom all day.
But I did masters degree level as part of that.
3:34
So I actually ended up switching to a business course because that’s what interests me a lot more and I knew that was something I wanted to go into.
Kind of specialised in the marketing area of it.
3:44
Gabriella
So now where you are today, would you say you made it to the life that you imagined when you were younger?
3:52
Lara
I don’t know.
I think however old you are, you’ll always think when I grow up, I’m going to be this this or that and even when you’re 90, you’ll still be thinking that.
And it’s funny because my niece now is 14 and I said to her the other day, do you know what you’re going to be when you grow up?
And she’s like, no.
4:07
And I said no, nor do I. I feel like things are always changing.
There are always new things that come along and it’s not one thing anymore and it doesn’t have to be one thing and I don’t think it probably ever had to be one thing, but we were always taught that it should be one thing.
4:22
So I think you can do something for a few years and love it and then do something else for a few years.
For me, I know personally that if I don’t enjoy it, then I don’t do it well.
And that’s been proven out time and time again in roles I’ve done where I’ve hated it and I just haven’t lasted because I just hated it so much.
4:39
I know for me that is something that’s really important, doing something I enjoy and I’m passionate about.
4:44
Gabriella
And to your point of things constantly evolving, you never really know how something is until you try it.
When you hear someone pick a complete 360 to somewhere else and you’re like, wow, there is change out there, I can do something else.
4:56
Gabriella
I think that’s something that a lot of people say to me or I can’t do that.
And I’m like, why?
And normally what’s stopping them is money.
They’re not willing to change their standard of living.
And that is what stops a lot of people from change because it’s like, well, I do this job and I get paid all this money and I have this great lifestyle and going to holidays.
5:18
And if I do this other thing, I’m not going to have that, oh, that’s too risky.
I don’t want to do it.
And I’m like, see, I don’t prefer to be miserable for 10 years.
Well, yeah, I just don’t get it myself.
I’ve had a really good friend and she got offered a job for a year and she loved it.
And then she went back to her old job when she realised she really didn’t enjoy.
5:35
So she got offered the secondment job for three years and she didn’t take it because she didn’t know what was going to happen after three years.
And I was like, three, this is such a long time.
You don’t know what opportunities are going to come up.
And I just feel like you’ve got to just grab those opportunities because there’s nothing worse than having regrets.
5:53
And what it could have should have.
It’s, you know, you just have to jump on it.
5:57
Gabriella
Definitely.
And if you could now bring us up to date so explain to the listeners exactly what you do.
This could be age, relationships, job, career, professional and personal.
Please be as specific as you want to be.
6:12
Lara
So I guess the thing that dominates my life is work.
I run my own business.
At the moment I’m running a business called Hoopsy, which I’m on this mission.
It’s huge and I’m not going to do it on my own, but I want to eliminate plastic from all diagnostic tests.
6:27
So that’s things like pregnancy, ovulation, COVID, any tests that you basically do at home. It creates a massive amount of plastic waste.
I went through IVF in 2021 and I just kept seeing everyone post up these pictures of their test results and it’ll be like 10 plastic tests.
6:44
And I was just like, why are they plastic when you are literally using it for 5 minutes?
It seems like madness.
And I’ve always been quite environmentally conscious.
For some reason this just really fired me up and and I just felt like the big players wouldn’t do anything because they don’t care and so decided to do something myself.
7:05
And that’s kind of why I’ve been doing Hoopsy now 3 1/2 years.
It’s been a long journey.
It’s been a hard journey, much harder than I anticipated.
When I started, I thought how hard can this be?
I’ve never worked in medical.
I’ve never done a medical device.
I haven’t got a science like biochemist background, but you know, I can find all those skills.
7:24
It’s been challenging, not to say I’ve wanted to give up, but there have been times when I’ve said like, I have to be realistic.
I can’t live on fresh air.
I can’t keep living on savings.
I have to.
There’s certain things you can live without, but you know, it’s something that I’m really passionate about and what I love about it is that I know every single test I sell makes a difference.
7:47
There is no ambiguity in my mind.
So at the moment, that’s why I’m in the States at the moment because I moved here for an accelerator, which, okay, is abit of a risk.
Never lived in the States before Donald Trump.
Everyone’s like, Oh my God, how’s it going to be?
It’s really not that different to living in the UK, people are lovely on a day-to-day basis.
8:06
Politics doesn’t really affect how you live.
So that’s kind of one thing I’m doing.
And then I just did a big ocean swim at the weekend, 3.8 KS, which is the longest one I’ve done in a while, which was from Peaks Island.
She’s an island just off Portland to the mainland.
8:24
And that made me realize it’s been a few years since I’ve done a long swim.
So I just love that.
Well, I really enjoy it.
Part of the first two KS, I’m like, why am I doing this?
I must be mental.
Then after I get past two KS, I’m like, oh this is really easy, this is great, you just have to forget that first two.
8:41
So yes, I just really enjoy being the outdoors and I think that for me it’s quite meditative swimming.
I’m not a fast swimmer, but part of it.
I think in life generally it’s about finding things that you love, but also things that help you relax.
And I’m because I am single, I find it quite hard to relax when I’m on my own.
9:00
If I’m with someone else who’s not doing anything, it’s very easy.
But if I’m on my own and I’m not doing anything, I’m kind of like, I’m not doing anything.
Why am I not doing anything?
I should be doing something.
So it’s good for me to have something.
And it’s reasonably easy to do.
Like most places.
It’s easy to find a pool.
It’s easy to get in the water.
9:17
So yeah.
9:18
Gabriella
Being single and then feel like you need to do something I can completely resonate with.
If I’m sat for too long, I’m like, I need to be more productive.
Why am I not doing this?
Or maybe I should just do some work.
But it’s 9:00 PM, but your mind kind of races.
Whereas it’s true someone was sat next to me being like, just chill.
9:35
I’d be like, OK.
9:37
Lara
I know and it’s so hard.
Even though I’ve been married, I’ve been divorced and been single on off for quite a few years now and it still doesn’t get any easier.
It’s crazy.
And I think as well, I do often feel lonely and so I organize stuff as well.
9:54
And all my friends are in relationships like, my God, you do so much, and I’m like, but if I don’t plan the thing, I don’t do anything.
I haven’t got that buddy that’s stuck to me to do things with.
If I don’t organize it, there’s nothing.
And I think people just forget what it’s like to be single and that it is the case of you have to organize your life and do stuff, not other people are going to do it for you.
10:17
Gabriella
You mentioned that you thought you were always going to go into business, but you start off with primary school teaching.
Why didn’t you initially go into the business side of things?
10:29
Lara
At uni, I didn’t have good enough grades.
I really didn’t perform well at school.
GCSES, they were fine, but with A levels I are really struggled.
And I realized that it was all rote learning and I’m just not good at rote learning.
And then when I went to university, I went from being like bottom of the class at A level to being top of the class at university because it was a completely different way of learning.
10:50
And I think that, you know, you have to find what works for you.
And that’s basically why I didn’t go into business initially because I didn’t have good enough grades even to get into like the worst university.
I just didn’t have good enough grades.
So I ended up choosing master degree level because I knew that I could translate that to another course quite easily.
11:11
And I wasn’t enthusiastic about primary school teaching initially.
But more than half of it is to sit down and show up.
And then I was just like, this is not what we’ll do.
11:19
Gabriella
When was that first a half moment of thinking I’ve given this a good go but now I need to change course, leave this job or career and try something new.
11:29
Lara
At uni, I guess it was the start of the second year and that was again something quite difficult because I didn’t have enough credits to be able to swap straight onto the business course.
So I did 2 years full time teaching and I did one year part time on business doing classes in the evening and I got a full time job, just an admin job.
11:51
And then in my 4th year I went back to uni and did full time years 2 and 3.
So I ended up spending five years at uni, which is obviously not, something you normally do.
So it was hard, I guess in some ways.
And I know that a lot of people wouldn’t have done it because it’s much easier to stay where you are than it is to change.
12:09
And basically that’s pretty much been my life.
Like, you know, when I was married, I just couldn’t see myself married to him.
I couldn’t see myself getting old with him.
And I just thought this is not what I want.
I just need to do something now.
But obviously it’s much easier to stay.
12:25
The way I look at things now is what is the very worst thing that can happen.
Very worst thing that can happen to me now is that I completely run out of money and I have to go and live in my brother’s spare room in China.
That is my worst case scenario.
He knows this and he has a spare room ready for me.
12:42
And but if I am happy with that worst case scenario, then the risks are much much lower.
Like it’s not ideal, but for a short space of time I could do it.
And so it makes it a lot easier to make difficult decisions.
12:57
Gabriella
If you don’t mind me asking, how did you meet your former husband and was it that thought process of you not being able to see yourself growing old with him that was your deciding factor of things needing to change?
13:10
Lara
When I met him I was at uni and then he got residency. He was English but he got residency to live in Australia.
So he moved to Australia and I moved out nine months later.
So I think we were together two years in person in the UK, about nine months remote.
And then I moved out and it was partly that getting old and but partly I just felt that things weren’t right.
13:34
He, he used to put me down a lot and use money to control me, not, not like the crazy stuff you read in the magazine.
And at that point I was starting my first business and he said to me, I can’t listen to you talk about your business more than 3 minutes a day.
Of course when you get home from work, that’s kind of a bit of a download.
13:50
So then I was limited 3 minutes.
And then we’d go out with friends and friends would say what’s happening and I’d tell them what’s happening and they he’d say to me, you didn’t tell me that.
And I said, well, there wasn’t time in my 3 minutes like it, it was just, there was a lot.
There wasn’t any one big thing.
It’s like, I can’t live like this.
14:06
It’s just not who I am.
And this is just not what I want from life.
And I need someone that’s more supportive.
14:13
Gabriella
And I can imagine it’s given you a bit more of an understanding of what you are looking for actually now going forward.
14:18
Lara
Yeah, exactly.
It makes you realize what you want.
But I think it does also mean that you meet people.
Like, I met someone recently and he’s millionaire.
Great, nice for him, but he seems to think that he’s a millionaire, therefore I should be all over him like a rash.
14:33
And I’m just like, yeah, money’s not that important.
Yeah, I need someone that can support themselves.
But just because you’ve got loads of cash does not mean I’m going to like you more than if you don’t.
And we’re kind of led to believe it’s better.
But like, happiness and doing what you love is the most important thing for me.
14:52
Gabriella
And interesting, I’m not sure if you can relate to this, but a bit like what you said, when you’re young, you sort of expect this tick list.
I feel like in dating, it’s the same where I want them to have this, this, this and this.
And then you can just meet someone and think you’re just really nice and friendly and you make me laugh.
15:08
And actually, all those other values I thought were really important slip away a bit because there’s something more attractive about that.
15:16
Lara
Yeah, I think for me there’s certain non negotiables, like I don’t think I could date anyone that smokes because I don’t smoke and I really don’t like that.
It’s quite hilarious because for me, I really like intelligent guys.
And if I say that to them, they go, yeah, well, I’m intelligent and I’m like, yeah, but it doesn’t work like that.
15:34
It’s like how I perceive you to be, not how you perceive yourself to be.
And it’s not about on paper.
You could be like Einstein on paper, but if you can’t hold a conversation, then we’re not going to get on because I need someone I can communicate with.
So this kind of layers isn’t there of things.
15:51
It’s not just this so looking.
15:53
Gabriella
Back at all the experiences that you said, and this is professional and personal, ignoring the fact of it changing the future to where you are now, but would you change anything about the past?
16:04
Lara
My first business, I learned a lot, a lot, a lot.
I remember even like we did really well initially and phoning my account and say I’ve got all this money in my bank account, what we’re supposed to do with it?
And he’s like, what do you mean?
And I’m like, well, am I supposed to be spending it or saving it or doing something with that?
16:22
I just don’t really know.
Now there’s like a bazillion online resources on starting a business and obviously in 2004 it wasn’t really even the Internet.
It makes me sound ancient, but I didn’t know a lot and like had an offer to buy that business and I turned it down because I was going through my divorce and I was like all over the place and I should have taken it because I couldn’t sell it.
16:41
Later on I learned a lot about working with other people in terms of partnerships type thing and also just doing things you love like social media, business.
I really loved talking about it.
I loved teaching.
I hated dealing with clients because it’s driving me off the wall.
16:57
Even in personal life, most people are runners.
If they do exercise, they normally run.
I hated it.
I never liked it and and I did it because it was like, this is what you do and this is the way you get fit.
And it was kind of the way to do it.
And I just hated it.
And then I was right.
17:13
You know what?
I never have to run again if I don’t want to.
And when you come to these realizations that actually the world is not going to end if you don’t run and there’s other ways to get fit, I think a lot of my learnings have been from these preconceived ideas, whether that’s put into my head by the media or things I’ve read or whatever.
17:31
But maybe it’s partly as you get older, you just do what you want to do and you don’t worry about everyone else.
But I think you have to make the mistakes.
But I wish that I did better, done better at school and then gone to university earlier, and then I would have saved two years.
17:47
I’ve never thought I’d get to my age, so I’m 50.
I never thought at this point in life I would be still renting, that I wouldn’t be earning very much.
I’m still kind of at the beginning.
I’m not at the beginning of my career.
I expected to be like more established than I am now.
18:04
I remember in my first business I started when I was 27 and I decided then I was going to retire at 40.
Obviously that didn’t happen.
So there’s always things that come along and even just things like my dad died in 2008 as well and then everything takes so much longer than you think.
18:22
That’s one thing I’ve learned was this emotional stuff.
And then when my mum died, it was a massive impact that affected me for a lot longer than I anticipated.
And even doing the IVF like didn’t work.
Yes, it was hard and okay now, but I wasn’t.
And two years later I wasn’t.
18:39
And even three years later I was on stage talking about my experience and I got really emotional.
And that’s the thing, we’re not robots.
So you just don’t know when things are going to hit you and try and make the best decisions you can going forward and not worry too much about where do I want to be in X number of years because things change, which you really have no control over.
19:02
At the start of this year, I said to myself, if I don’t get funding for Hoopsy by May, I’m going to have to go and get a job.
I can’t just keep hoping that we’re going to get money, hoping that we’re going to get investors, hoping that we’re going to make sales.
That hope is just not a strategy.
And so that was my line in the sand and we did get funding.
19:21
So great.
I can continue to do what I love.
But I was very aware that even when I stopped doing it, I’m not going to get a job the next day or it’s unlikely it’s going to take a while to get something.
So I think it’s just thinking about different options.
19:36
And I’m really not like a great at that.
It’s hilarious here on the program, we’ve done quite a few sessions on risks and I’m like, I don’t see any risks.
If it goes wrong, I’ll just fix it.
They’re like, yeah, that’s a risk.
19:48
Gabriella
And I really like what you said about the should versus want and choosing enjoyment versus what everyone says we should be doing or where we should be at this stage or age.
Do you ever catch yourself comparing to other people that could be friends or people in a professional environment?
And if so, what is it that you feel slightly envious about?
20:08
Lara
I’m not so much on a personal level, although I do.
One of my best friends in Sydney, she’s nearly paid off her mortgage and I’m just like, wouldn’t that be nice?
But I look at what she’s done and I just think that wouldn’t have worked for me.
20:24
So I haven’t met anyone on a bigger life scale like that that I’ve kind of been envious of.
But I do look at other businesses raising money and go, I can’t believe someone has invested in that rubbish in five years or at 62 million in revenue.
20:39
That’s just mental.
How the hell have they got that far so fast knowing how hard it is?
And then someone said, yeah, but they did have 12 million invested in them.
It’s all that perception, social media stuff really again playing out.
So yeah, I do.
20:54
I think everyone gets caught up in it and it definitely happens.
But it’s kind of like, you’ve just got to do you because there’s no one doing the same as what you’re doing, just no one whatever you’re doing.
And everyone has different experiences and everyone can look amazingly like they are super fabulous.
21:11
And then you drill into it and you realise that actually they’re not.
And that’s what actually led me to write my book years ago.
Was that a networking event?
And there’s this girl, we were chatting and saying, how’s it going?
And everyone was always amazing.
It’s amazing.
This is before that people started talking about negative sides of running a business.
21:28
And then I was like, yeah, it’s not that great.
I mean, like, I’ve only got $100 in my bank account.
And she said, I’ve only got $100 my bank account.
And then we kind of compared.
We’re just like, oh, my God, this is real.
This is what happens.
And then now that’s part of the reason that I do interviews and stuff, because I think it’s really important that people understand that what you see on the outside is not what’s happening on the inside.
21:52
And much as you kind of go that’s really unfair, they’ve got that.
And yes, you’ve got these things that play into it.
Like the guy that runs wild is a guy and white.
So we all know men get more money investing than women and all that kind of stuff.
22:07
But at the end of the day, I’m not going to be able to change that.
That’s just the situation.
You just have to do the best you can do and focus on what you are good at, what they’ll set you apart, and what will make a difference.
22:20
Gabriella
And on days that you maybe feel particularly frustrated at how your life is going or just how something is not going to plan, how do you check in with yourself and actually turn around that feeling of disheartened and think, OK, eyes are my own.
Lame.
22:35
Lara
Two things that I do 1 is I have this book it’s fast as a physical book, but now it’s an online thing.
It’s warm fuzzies and basically whenever anyone sends me an e-mail or comments on a post that you’re doing amazing, yay that kind of thing, then I will screenshot and save it in a folder.
22:53
Anyone can do this.
They don’t have to be massive things that people are cheering you for.
And you probably find that you will get at least one a week, probably way more than one a week.
So, you know, over time that really builds up and you can have hundreds and you go through it and you’re like, everyone thinks I’m amazing.
This is it.
23:09
And then the other thing is I have a like a coach that is part of this accelerated program, but I was on another program before that I speak to every week and she’s like, so what’s happening this week?
And I’ve done anything, oh, where was me?
Wow, wow, that kind of thing.
She’s like, come on, tell me what we’ve done this week.
23:25
And then I run through all.
Then she goes, Oh my God, you’re just kicking ass.
You’re like doing so well.
So I think having cheerleaders in your corner, whether it’s a coach or whether before I had a coach, we had a WhatsApp group of just other female founders, you know, can just be friends and you just have to be willing to be vulnerable and share stuff.
23:43
And then you have your cheerleading squad.
And I think that’s what you need.
The warm fuzzy thing is just so easy because you’ve got so much out there that people are saying, but when you’re down on yourself, you don’t remember those things.
And I think one of the things I’d try and do, you know, sometimes you’re walking along the street and you see someone come towards you.
24:01
Normally it’s a woman and they look fabulous.
And I just say I love your dress.
I think you look amazing.
It’s not a big deal for me to say that.
But I know having been on the other side, how good you feel by someone telling you that, especially some random that has no interest in your life or you or there’s nothing in it for them.
24:21
And I think as a society we should do more of that.
You feel good for doing it and they feel amazing for getting it.
24:28
Gabriella
If you can think of 1 unexpected experience that you’ve gone through, could you share with us the silver lining that you’ve taken from that experience?
24:39
Lara
When my mum died, it was kind of expected because she had ovarian cancer, but I didn’t expect her to get ovarian cancer and die out of that experience.
I knew another person who’s now a friend, but lady was running a charitable organization to help people learn to swim or improve their swimming and also raise money for Cancer Research.
25:00
That’s basically what got me into loving my ocean swimming and got me into doing that really well.
So the only reason I started that program was because I wanted to raise money for Cancer Research because of what my mom had been through.
So I’d say that that was probably a massive silver lining and now that’s something that really impacts nowadays basis.
25:20
Gabriella
That’s really nice, especially how when you described ocean swimming at the beginning, it was about feeling really happy and it calms your head and just it’s a moment for you.
So where you are today, is there anything that you hope to see happen in your future, are afraid of not doing, or that you want to see happen?
25:40
Lara
I want to see my business succeed because I want to make an impact on the world.
And I don’t have to be in a storybook.
It doesn’t have to be that other people know that I did it.
I leave the place, leave the place better than when I found it.
25:56
And then I’d like to be able to sell my business and start a fund to be able to fund other female startup founders because I really, really hate the way the startup world with investment is so tech bro focused and I really feel like we all need to change that.
26:14
So that’s kind of where I’d like to be.
But maybe, maybe that doesn’t happen and I get there another way.
I don’t know.
26:21
Gabriella
Is there anything on the personal side that you want to see happen?
26:26
Lara
Oh, well, I still want to meet my guy and I’ve been looking for him for a long time, and I still want to get married again.
But yeah, I want to meet that person.
Keep thinking it’ll be this year, It’ll be this year, but it’s hard to put a timeline on those things.
26:42
So I just think you have to put yourself out there as much as you can, and you never know who you’re going to meet.
26:48
Gabriella
Being in a completely new country, I mean, you’ve kind of got fresh slate of people.
If someone told you that they were feeling far from where they should be at this stage or age, or they felt lost or worried about being successful they compared to their peers, what one piece of advice would you give them?
27:10
Lara
That’s such a hard place to be.
I’ve been there many times.
I think the only thing you can really do is look at what you do actually have now, because it’s not.
It’s never nothing.
You’ve always got something to be grateful for and then working out how you can build on that to get you to where you want to be.
27:28
And also try and look at other examples of way.
So you want to be somewhere.
How did other people get there?
Because there’s never only one way.
There’s always loads of ways to get to that end point.
But yeah, it’s hard.
It’s really hard.
27:42
Gabriella
I love what you said, It’s never nothing.
27:44
Lara
Yeah, actually just getting out of bed can be a big deal.
Getting out in the sunshine, walking to work rather than taking the bus.
It doesn’t have to be rocket science.
It can be something really, really small.
27:57
Gabriella
And if I told your teenage self this is where you would be at this stage and age, what do you think they would say?
28:03
Lara
Would we really believe anything that we were told?
Like when I was younger, I always thought that when you were grown up, it was like being a completely different person, like a complete body transformation.
Like everything happened, you suddenly morphed into this.
Whatever.
28:19
And so, yeah, I just don’t think I believe it because I just don’t think when you’re that age, just even being this age was ancient.
When we’re teenagers, you know, you practically had a walking stick and you’re practically in the retirement home.
You don’t have that concept of time and space.
28:35
And it’s just, yeah, I just don’t think you’d listen.
28:38
Gabriella
Personally, I do believe that everything happens for a recent life is the sum of our choices.
Are you happy with where yours have led you to?
28:51
Lara
I don’t know.
I’m happy doing what I’m doing, but I would have liked to have been here a bit earlier.
I feel like I look back and go, I was faffing around for a bit.
What was I doing?
And I know that that faffing around was kind of necessary, like, partly because of things like my mum dying, my dad dying, getting divorced.
29:12
Yeah, just one of those things.
You can’t change things.
29:16
Gabriella
And do you feel like the place you have made it to today is better because you know how volatile, unexpected and unpredictable life can be?
29:27
Lara
I don’t know about better.
I think I’m better equipped to deal with it, but I don’t know about better.
29:34
Gabriella
As a sliding doors question, and what would you say would make today better for you?
29:41
Lara
If I had more money, well, for my business, like I know they say money doesn’t bring happiness and it doesn’t, but when you’re running a business, it certainly makes life a hell of a lot easier.
If you can afford to pay people, you can afford to do stuff.
My best friend, I was mentioned earlier, she says life’s all about choices.
29:59
So whenever people complain about their children, she’s like, life’s all about choices.
And that does not go down well with people with children.
But whatever it is in life, you’ve chosen to do it.
So you have to live with the consequences and that’s just the way it is.
30:14
And so you try and make the ones which are going to be the most enjoyable consequences, but doesn’t always happen.
30:21
Gabriella
I completely agree with that.
I think does come down to us and where we end up going.
30:27
Lara
Exactly.
30:27
Gabriella
A bit of a jigsaw and this podcast is a lot about making you feel seen and giving you spotlight.
And I want to share your story with the listeners.
So the final question is, is there anything you want to get off your chest or share with us?
30:43
As a final thing, the floor is yours.
30:49
Lara
I don’t know if there’s anything I want to get off my chest, but I would just say that you know much that I hate thinking about this, but life is short, really.
And it’s too short to do things that you should do or someone else tells you you should do or you think you should do.
31:07
And it’s too short not to do things that you enjoy because at the end of the day, you’re not here forever.
If something comes up you want to do, you should try and take advantage of it.
And it’s like, that’s why I kind of have that worst case scenario for me.
I do take risks.
31:23
I do do things which basically means I don’t have much money that I’m, I mean, I spent the last two years house sitting and living on friends and family’s floors because I wanted to do my business and I wanted to succeed.
And the only way I could do that was not to pay rent.
31:39
So I made that choice and it wasn’t great.
Didn’t enjoy it a lot of the time in terms of living, but it was something I was willing to sacrifice for what I wanted to achieve.
And so I think that it’s about doing things with what you want to do in mind and not necessarily looking at what other people are doing.
31:58
But it’s hard.
It’s really hard.
32:01
Gabriella
That’s brilliant, really good advice, but also I think that will inspire and relate to someone else in either similar circumstance or someone who is maybe afraid to take a risk and what is the worst that can happen.
And sometimes it’s not the best or ideal situation you put yourself in, but you’re doing it for a better cause and hoping that at least you’re trying.
32:21
Lara
Exactly.
And I think you regret the things you don’t, not everything you don’t do, but if you really want it, you have to do everything you can to get there.
And, I think that’s one thing I’m often afraid of.
Am I going to give up too early?
Which is why I keep pushing things.
32:36
But again, that’s the choice and that’s something that you have to be passionate about and believe in what you’re doing to actually want to put that time, effort and hard work into.
32:46
Gabriella
Yeah, I always said to my friends, I regret not trying more than trying and living with that, not knowing what could happen as a result.
32:54
Lara
We never know where it’s all going to lead to.
32:57
Gabriella
And on that note, I just want to say a huge thank you for coming on this podcast.
You’ve been really inspiring.
In fact, I can relate to so much that you said and well, hopefully you get the funding.
I’ve got fingers crossed for you.
And thank you for just being so honest.
I hope you enjoyed it as well.
33:13
Lara
No, it was lovely chatting, thank you for having me.
33:18
Gabriella
Thank you for listening to This Is
33:19
Gabriella
Not How I Made It if you have any feedback.
33:22
Gabriella
Or words of wisdom.
33:23
Gabriella
Please let me know by.
33:24
Gabriella
Emailing thisisnothowimadeit@gmail.com
33:26
Gabriella
I am new to the podcast world and so would really appreciate it.
33:32
Gabriella
Thank you in advance.
33:33
Gabriella
And I hope you stick around for the next episode.
About Hoopsy
Hoopsy is on a mission to make healthcare more sustainable—starting with eco pregnancy test kits. Our plastic-free, paper-based hCG pregnancy test strips reduce waste without compromising accuracy. We believe better health starts with better choices—for you, and for the planet.
Learn More About…
