The Human Upgrade – the power of a shared journey

Are you ready to go beyond the transactional side of real estate and tap into what truly matters?

Join Steve Carroll, CEO of Digital Live, and Claire Baines, CEO of Hands Across The Water for an inspiring presentation that delves into the heart of what truly matters — going beyond the transactional side of business to explore the transformative power of connection, reciprocity, and shared experiences.

Discover why successful agents like Lisa Novak from Novak Properties call the experience of being part of a charity bike ride a "Human Upgrade" and why business owner, Colin Gooding from First National, describes sweating it out to give kids a chance in life as the most significant step he’s taken for his health and wellness.

Steve and Claire's meaningful talk isn’t about cycling; it’s about creating moments that feed the soul, balancing the demands of a busy career, and fostering a deeper connection with yourself, your family, and others.

Time and again, participants of shared experiences talk about how an emotional and daring journey has brought families closer — dads and mums discovering a new bond with their sons or daughters, finding revelations in relationships often stretched thin by the demands of work and family pressures.

Come and hear how being part of a life-changing experience can elevate your personal and professional life in ways you never imagined. Don’t miss the opportunity to learn how to take the step that could transform not just your health, but your relationships and sense of purpose. You can read more about Steve at www.digital-live.com.au and Claire's work at https://www.handsacrossthewater.org.au/.

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What You’ll Gain:

• Reignite Purpose: Discover the deeper meaning of shared experiences and how they shape your life and career.

• Strengthen Connections: Learn how journeys like the Digital Live Bike Ride bring families and communities closer.

• Boost Wellbeing: See why participants describe it as the most significant step for both health and resilience.

This is your chance to hear how taking part in life-changing experiences can upgrade not just your career, but your relationships, health, and sense of purpose.

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Kylie:

Cool. So look, I'm gonna do a very quick welcome to the country. Welcome, Steve. Welcome, Claire. I'm gonna do a quick acknowledgement of the country, and then I'm gonna hop off screen and let you guys kick off and go. I am coming to you today from the very gorgeous country, and I am on the land of the Bring Jamanji and Yewin people in Welbunja, on the south coast of New South Wales, so that beautiful stretch of land between Bermagui in the south, all the way up to just underneath Naura in the north, but also on the south coast of New South Wales.

And on behalf of RISE, we would like to acknowledge the Bring Jamanji people as the traditional custodians of the land on which we're meeting today, and pay our respects to Elders past, present, and emerging, and extend that welcome to any other Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders joining us here today.

So, very excited to have Steve, Carol, and Claire Baines, on the call today for our wellness webinar, thanks to MRI Software. But I'm gonna jump off and hand over to Steve to do further introductions and to take it from here. We'll see you at the end!

Steve:

Thank you, Kylie. Thank you, Kylie. And Claire, welcome to this RISE webinar. Good to have you on the call.

Claire:

Thank you, Steve, and thanks to Rise for having me.

Steve:

Yeah, now, Claire, a lot of people, know you from your work with Hands Across the Water, which is a terrific Australian-based charity, and we're gonna talk a little bit about that, and try and extract some, really great lessons and advice that you can pass on to everybody who's on the call, or who will watch it at a later date.

Steve:

But I just want to go back to your time at REA, because, of course, that's where we met, and you had a pretty senior role at realestate.com.au when the share price was probably $10. Tell us a little bit about that job, and what you're responsible for, and what you organized.

Claire:

Yeah, thank you, Steve. It takes… takes me right back. So, I started working for REA in 2011, and joined the company in an events role. So, they were looking to start doing some customer events for real estate agents, and I was one of… I was just the sole person of events in realestate.com. And, you know, very quickly, I was working with Steve and other,

I guess, directors within the business, and we started to develop customer programs and customer event series that, that would become real key events on the calendar. And, you know, the purpose for us was to build relationships with our agents, with our customers, and, and improve and strengthen those.

And, you know, fast forward to probably 2014, I think it was, we… we introduced a Top 20 program, and we would take, basically the country's biggest real estate agents, we would take them overseas, give them an experience. We went to the Shanghai Real Estate Expo, we took them over to San Francisco, and, you know, did the likes of Google and Facebook, and… and so just created these incredible once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to… to help develop, real estate agents, and yeah, that's where… that's where you and I, Steve, had many a conversation.

Steve:

Yeah, we worked out of the city. We worked out of the Sydney office, I remember, and I, I was the one who always pinched your cashew nuts and what have you after you went home, and I was still… still working. And,

I don't… and really interestingly, because you have this… you have this job with RamWorld, with REA, your… your budget. Two things to buy for. Those people that have been to ARIC 3, 4, 5 years ago, or probably no longer than that, but will remember when REA first appeared at Arik, and a lot of that creativity was driven by yourself.

But one morning, you came into work, and you announced it's all over. And, I'd love you to tell us a little bit about that story, Claire, because we thought you were joking, but you were deadly serious. You were about to hand in your notice and throw away what was a terrific job at a company that was growing at knots. What happened? We obviously need to keep names out of it, but just go for it.

Claire:

Yeah, look, 2015 for me was, it was… it was an incredible year, and… and I was probably at the height of my career. I'd built the events team out to a team of 6. We were running in excess of 120 events per year, so I really was just at the peak of my career.

And what I had started to do, on a volunteer basis was I'd started to work with Peter Baines, my now-husband, but I'd started to work with him on building leadership programs for corporates up in Thailand as part of his work with Hands Across the Water.

And really interesting, we ran one of those programs two weeks prior to taking a group of 20 real estate agents over to San Francisco.

And the money that was put into that trip, it was huge. You know, it's business class flights, it's the best of the best accommodation. And I found myself on that trip… Just feeling a little bit conflicted in… in just where I was… where I found myself because two weeks prior, I had been working in the slums, demolishing a house, rebuilding a home for someone who had nothing. You know, we were up at Home Hug, which is one of the homes that we support through HANDS, and, you know, we were doing work up there, spending time with the kids.

And then you fast-forward two weeks, and you're in this incredible country, and, you know, drinking fine wines, and there were a few moments on that trip that I just found myself thinking, I think we've lost what this is all about and, you know, I was handling complaints from customers about. Not putting on the most expensive wine, or, you know, the accommodation across the road is so much better, so I'm actually gonna go over there and check in myself and, and leave the group. So, there were all of these kinds of moments that… that built up in me during that trip, and… and I think it was about 2 weeks after I got back from San Fran, and I walked into Tracy Fellow's office, and… and I just said.

I'm done. You know, I just felt like my values were no longer aligned from a, I've always been someone who just wants to give back and wants to do the best for people, and I found that I was getting more reward from the work that I was doing with Hands than I was in my big corporate job.

Steve:

Which is really interesting, because your… we talk about the word purpose, and I think, Claire, looking back on it now, you'd lost your purpose, or your purpose was going in a different direction. Would that be fair, to talk a little bit about that?

Because it's really important, it's really important, Claire, that people on this call, people anywhere in the world, wake up in the morning and feel as though they belong, feel as though they have a purpose, feel as though they're going to contribute to the day. And when you lose that, you do lose your soul and looking back, Claire, I think that's probably what happened to you.

Claire:

Yeah, I mean, look, it's… you know, if I look at the work that I do now, it's very clear why I do what I do, and I get, you know, very first-hand you know, a look at that. You know, my 20 years working in events has always been about wanting to give people an amazing experience, it's wanting to help people, so I think that is really ingrained in me and while I was, you know, I was still helping real estate agents and believing that the programs we were putting together were educational and they were building those stronger relationships,

But the pull, and I guess my purpose was amplified when I spent that time in Thailand doing the work that I was doing. It felt like I was making a genuine difference, that it wasn't just token, tick of the box, it was actually, we're changing lives here. And that really speaks to my values and what I believe in.

Steve:

Yeah, very, very interesting and, of course, Claire, when people look from the outside in, they see you, and the perception is you've lived this incredible life to date. You've got a fit, good-looking husband, you help give kids, and we'll talk a little bit about that, a life of hope and, I know that within the real estate industry, and there's a lot of people who know you in the real estate industry, they kind of look up at you and, think, I'd love to be Claire Baines one day. And I know there'll be people, listening to this right now who will be nodding their heads. But not everybody knows this, Claire, and obviously I wanted to… I made sure that you were comfortable talking about this. It hasn't always been a bed of roses, and, you've had some kick in the teeth, some major setbacks, and I'd love you to share the key setback that, you know, what I'm leading to.

But try and share some life lessons to people who are listening to this webinar right now, Claire.

Claire:

Yeah, thank you, Steve. And, yeah, look, it's a lot easier to talk about, sort of, 3, 4 years down the track, so, Peter and I went through IVF and tried to have… tried to have a baby, and went through 4 cycles of IVF over… from about 2016 through to 2021 and, you know, in the middle of all of that, there was… there was two rounds of IVF, there was a miscarriage, and then there was a breakdown of our marriage. And, you know, at that point in time, I was working full-time for Hans, so we had this…very complex 2018, just where, you know, we're bouncing between

Failed transfers, miscarriage, now communication issues, marriage breakdown, and… and it was really, really tough. It was a really hard year. And, you know, I found… I found myself going back to… going back to Thailand, visiting the homes, and it felt like every time I went there, there was a new baby.

And I don't know if it was just because the universe was just sending me all these signals for babies, but I, it just… it was like they were just putting… putting it in my arms and going, it's okay, I've got you. If this doesn't work out, there's these beautiful kids. So, yeah, like, it was… it was definitely a… a really hard journey, and…

And coming out the other side of it, I think the biggest lesson for me, and unfortunately we weren't able to have kids, so, the last transfer was 2021, coming out of COVID, so there was, there was COVID to deal with as well. And… I made a very clear decision that I didn't want to become a victim to my circumstance. So, you know, I've seen people go through… Whether it's illness, whether it's, you know, trying to have a baby, and you can… you just see them break down, you know, with this becoming a victim of why did that happen to me, and so I've… I've tried to… I've tried to kind of repurpose all of my energy and feeling around that, and put it into my three incredible nephews, put it into my two, almost three beautiful grandchildren, and now, obviously, 300 kids in Thailand. So… There's a lot of places where my maternal love can go, let me tell you.

Steve:

And so, Claire, that's a lovely… that's a lovely statement. I didn't want to be a victim of the circumstances, or didn't want to be the victim of what is being thrown at me right now. For those people that are listening to this webinar who are probably thinking, I'm doing exactly that, I'm actually allowing the circumstances to enable me to feel like a victim, what advice from your journey would you give those people to help them.

Claire:

Look, I think, you know, life… life doesn't always go as planned, and we're all dealing with something. You know, we're all dealing with something right now, we'll deal with something tomorrow, we'll deal with something next year, and, you know, it's… We can't control what happens, but we can always change how we respond to that. And, you know, I've just always tried to… you know, I'll have my cry, and I'll have my sucky moments, and then I wake up the next day, pinch myself, and go, right, let's get on with this. And, you know, and just… I guess I just try and live my life through a lens of,: just…positive, and just trying to… trying to build that resilience, I guess, and resilience from the adversity that keeps coming.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah, no, that's… that's really interesting. And, Claire, I want you to just think about… so it's 2018, obviously, unable to be a mum, and, you know, that was something that you so desperately wanted to happen. You know, you and Pete weren't in the best of places, really difficult from a work perspective. I mean, goodness knows how you cope with that. So, can you… can you think about… just… just cast your mind back to the… the… the crappiest day, the crappiest moment because we all have them in different ways.

What did you learn about yourself, and what can you help the members of the real estate industry who will find themselves, if they're not already founded this year, a day where everything seems to be going against you.

Claire:

Yeah, like, there were a number of moments that year that the rug was just pulled completely out from underneath me, and I credit my relationship rebuild to a counselor that I was seeing around my IVF journey. And, you know, up until that point, I'd never seen a counselor, I'd never needed to, and… and seeing her on a regular basis just allowed me to reframe what I was thinking, you know, because I was walking in there as a victim and going, this is what's happening to me, and… and she really helped me reframe. So I can't recommend enough that if you are going through something, you know, having someone to talk to that's external to your world is really important.

The other thing that I found going through that time is… and it's really interesting, I only ever do this when I'm going through really tough times. Journaling, meditation, all of the… all of those things that people tell you to do every day. But it's only when I feel like my wheels are falling off that I really sit down and embrace that and get into it. And that was a huge… that was a huge saver for me. So, you know, having someone to talk to. Constant journaling, and that meditation every morning just helped ground me and prepare me for the day ahead, whatever that was gonna look like. Because for that year, there'd probably be, you know, 40, 50% of the days of that year that something was gonna happen, and it wasn't gonna be a good day. So, I just had to try and equip myself with those tools.

Steve:

Yeah, awesome. And that's a really great segue, Claire, because Rise has this brilliant app, and many people on this call will be aware of the app, and so I'm kind of talking to the converted.

But I do encourage the people on this call right now to make sure that they tell their whole office about the Real Care app. That you can download, because it will give you advice and tips when you're having a shitty moment, a shitty day, a shitty week, a terrible month.

And everything you talked about, Claire, is available with certain tools that are provided free of charge by RISE. And, you know, you talked about the counselor that really helped you reframe things, and my wife often uses the word reframe and on that app, there is the opportunity to download, not download, to, to access free counselling from a professional. It's confidential.

And so, Claire, you know, whatever you got from your councillor, everybody in the real estate industry can get something similar, through a free counselling legislation session. Not one, not two, but three, and the bill's picked up by domain. And, you know, if there's one thing I can urge everybody who's on this call, make sure that you've got that app, and make sure you talk about that app in your sales meetings, because as you found out, Claire, having someone to share those tools and give you those strategies, like reframing, was a godsend.

Claire:

Absolutely, and if I think about, you know, my community around me, like, there wasn't a lot, you know, I'm not part of an industry group like real estate, for example, so, you know, having access to those kind of tools is invaluable, and, you know, for me, I had to just figure it out and find it myself, and, you know, I've heard the work of Rise, and you've shared a lot, Steve, and I just think it's such a remarkable thing for the real estate industry.

Steve:

Yeah, excellent. So, Claire, let's move on, because, of course, and it's great, you didn't want to be a victim of the circumstances, and the circumstances that were thrown at you were, you know, you were unable to have your own children. And Claire Baines, being Claire Baines, then decides to adopt 300 plus. And, I found this on my phone, and, you know, a little sigh here, 7 years old, lives at Bantham Nai… Nam Chai, and she's just got this dream of being a teacher when she grows up, so she can share her knowledge and what's beautiful about that is this young girl, along with 300 other kids, have been given such an awful start to life.

Can you tell us a little bit, Claire, about these 300-plus children that you are mum to right now and, tell us a little bit about what you've learned about life, and what you've learned about yourself through, obviously, taking them from 7 to 10 to 15, and we will talk about AM in a second, so if you just hold that story back, but I'm really interested to learn more.

Claire:

Yeah, look, Steve, for those that do know Hands, so Hands Cross the Water, started back in 2005, so we are celebrating 20 years this year, and started off the back of the Boxing Day tsunami. But I won't go into that in detail, because I think, you know, if we talk about the kids that are in our homes today, they're kids who have come from dire circumstances, whether they've lost their parents, they've been pulled out of their home by the government due to, you know, sexual abuse, emotional abuse.

There's some really hard stories, and… and I think, you know, what I've learned over my time working with HANDS, there can be really beautiful, good people, and bad things can happen. And, you know, these kids have been dealt some pretty awful cards, but it's what we do, and, you know, it goes back to what I was saying before, we can't change what's happened, but we can try and help them create a brighter future.

And so the work that we do is not just limited to providing home, food, shelter, clothing, and education. It's about creating a pathway for them, so that, you know, once they hit their teens, once they hit, you know, adulthood, they can make a choice about where they want to go in life. And they can go on to have families of their own, they can go on to study.

You know, we've got lawyers, we've got teachers, we've got kids now who have grown up and are now working back in their homes. So, you know, for me, one of the really big, important things, and it comes back to that purpose, is just being able to create these bright futures, for these kids, and… and I feel lucky. I feel lucky that I get to be such a big part of their… their foundational journey.

Steve:

Yeah, incredible, which is a beautiful cue for me to introduce, Am here who found herself… and you use the word home, but for absolute clarity, in Australia, those homes are orphanages, basically. But you, little am here, found herself at one of the homes that you support, at an age I seem to remember, of about 3 or 4.

No mum, no dad. No family, no hope and you've watched her grow. Tell us a story, and tell us how that makes you feel when you look at this picture, which is such a great picture of you and Am having a little cuddle.

Claire:

Hmm, I'm such a proud parent. Yeah, look, Am came to us when she was 4 years old, and grew up at Ban Home Hug and I met her in 2012. She did one of our bike rides, and you know, she was barely a teenager. And I've had the privilege of watching her grow up into such a beautiful young woman.

We made sure that she had the opportunity to go to university. So going through schooling in Home Hug, she put up her hand and said, I'd really love to go to university, love to study business English, and… and so off she went.

She graduated in 2019, and then she was struggling due to some health issues. She was struggling to find an internship up around Yasuton, which is where she lives and so we sort of stepped in and said, how can we help? What can we do to support you here? And we were able to secure her an internship with the Novotel in Bangkok, which is where we stay for the start of our bike rides and fantastic internship, all ready to go. She was due to head up there in April 2020.

But as we all know, the world shut down on the 13th of March, 2020. So, all of a sudden, she was just thrown into this land of uncertainty like the rest of us, and, and the internship was off. And, you know, with no, I guess, idea about when that was going to come back. So, I continued to work with her, and she ended up working back in the home, so she went to look after the kids, helped with all the homeschooling, and really helped Home Hug get through that COVID period. And then, sort of fast forward to our first trip back to Thailand. I was up at Home Hug, and I spent some time with her, and I said, how are you doing? And she just burst into tears, and, you know, she just felt like there was something more for her outside of Home Hug and I said, okay, you know, explain to me a little bit more, what are you thinking? And so that got me thinking, you know, how do we… how do we create an opportunity for her?

At the same time that I was having this conversation with her, we were also setting up a new social enterprise business in Thailand that would run all of our bike rides. So we were setting up this touring company, Hands Experiences Thailand. We would need tour guides, drivers, mechanics, we would need a team of people to run our bike rides.

And so I put the idea to her, and I said, do you fancy moving down into the south? And, we'll put you through a tour guide training course, see if you like it, and if you do like it, we'll put you through the national training course, which is a 6-month course and, and so she did, she said yes. It was… it was scary for her, because she was moving from Yasuton, and moving from everything that she's ever known.

But she very quickly became part of the family down at Hands Experiences Thailand. She got her tour guide license and that photo there, the photo that we just saw, was actually the day that she got the license, and so she's holding it up, and… and we're just so proud, so proud of her and… and her journey, and it continues.

So next February, she'll be going off to do the… the Thailand, the national Thailand tour license, which is.

Steve:

Yeah, so let's be really clear here, Claire, and my slides are frozen again, so I don't know if, Jamie, if you can flick back, Jamie, and take control, that would be great. Back to that slide of Am, if you can't, I'll figure it out.

So, let's be clear here that there are no freebies in Thailand. So, there's no rights to education, there's no rights to medication, and basically, without the support of hands across the water, the real estate industry in Australia has plowed at least $2 million into supporting the likes of AM. Without that and would not be where she is today and you must feel incredibly proud of that, but what I want to ask you about is, when COVID happened.

You were faced with the potential, the possibility of funds being closed down, and kids like Am not being able to live, actually dying through lack of Medicaid. How did you deal with that, and what lessons can you share with the people listening to this call right now?

Claire:

There was a lot of pivoting, Steve, to use a COVID term. Yeah, look, that was a… it was a very scary time for us, and, you know, you'll remember this on the last day of the Digital Live bike ride on Friday the 13th.

I was getting calls and messages from back home to say, ride canceled, trek canceled. You know, we had about a million dollars in funding.

Cooled that day and I remember, you know, we were on that ride, and COVID at that point was just… Australia was running out of toilet paper. So we were probably a little bit naive as to what was really happening back home and so, when I got back home and had to quarantine for the two weeks, Pete and I just bunkered down and said, right, what are we gonna do here? Because…

You know, we did not… we absolutely did not want to compromise the children's health, food, anything like that. So, we came up with a plan, and, you know, fortunately, we had some good savings, so we… we had, and thanks to the advice of one of our board members, we had enough funds to get us through 12 months.

But we still had to top that up. We still had to find ways to top that up to make sure we could get through the following 12 months. So we just had to come up with crazy ideas, and, you know, that we did. We ran a virtual gala dinner, we did a virtual bike ride, there was a lot of virtual stuff.

But we got through, and not one child was compromised. Not, you know, they all got their medicine, food, education, they still got everything that they needed. So it was a tough time, but it certainly, I guess, put the spotlight on, well, what if something like this happened again? How do we make sure Thailand is sustainable so that we don't have to rely on Australian bike rides and the Australian community? And so that's where we landed on Hands Experiences Thailand.

Setting that up as a business to create sustainable income and, you know, our future plans and our future growth is all around creating these sustainable business models in Thailand. So it's really kind of just thinking outside of, you know, just that

Standard li… you know, the things that kids need, food, shelter, water, thinking outside of that, and how do we create… Sustainable.

Steve:

So, Claire, if you were talking to a real estate principal, a property manager, a real estate agent, and they feel right now that the shit's hit the fan from this angle, this angle, this angle, in fact, every angle, yeah?

And that's exactly what happened with COVID, and it kind of just came out of the blue. What one or two pieces of advice would you give that property manager, or that principal, or that agent to, get themselves clarity.

Claire:

Oh, gosh. Breathe. Yeah, look. I think it's important to set aside the time, and to carve out the time To think, catch your breath, you know, because I think we were all on this hamster wheel during COVID of, you know, where to go, what to do, and I think, you know, the best thing for Pete and I was that two-week period where I was… I had to be in quarantine, and I don't think we had the COVID. I don't think we had the lockdown in place at that point, I think it was just the quarantine. So basically, that two-week lockdown was perfect, because it allowed us to, you know, just focus purely on what we're gonna do. So, you know, I think getting clarity comes from.

Creating space and time, and shutting down all of the noise around you. That's probably the biggest… the biggest thing for me.

Steve:

Yeah, no, excellent.

Okay, lovely. Let's move on to this picture, and this is not… I wanna just… So this is not about a bike ride. This is not about a bike ride, this is about a shared experience. So, you know, maybe a few people have seen this slide and thought, oh, the pommy guy's gonna ask Claire about cycling, because I can see all this lycra, and it's not about that.

But what we do know in real estate, Claire, and obviously, you know, I've been part of the real estate industry since 2006, when I came over from the UK. What we do know is there is a ridiculous level of stress, because it's a very challenging job being a real estate agent, or a property manager, or a real estate leader.

There's a ridiculous amount of stress, and that's why RISE exists to try and help the industry through these periods of time and there's a stupid amount of divorces, there's an unacceptable amount of suicides within our industry, I'm just calling it out as it is and there's also, and I talk to a lot of real estate mums and dads who say to me, you know, my relationship with my kids is not as good as it should be. In fact, some people say, my relationship's just broken down, because I've been chasing the dollar.

And not, chasing the moments and we've got this great picture of Tom and Adrian, from One Agency Group, and I know that they're really comfortable with you sharing the story. Can you just tell us a little bit about what's happening here? And what I want to try and get over is the importance of quality time with each other, irrespective of how busy life is.

Claire:

Yeah, this, I mean, this photo's, you know, 3 or 4 years in the making, right? It's, so Adrian and Tom have joined… joined a few of our bike rides, 3 or 4 off memory, and… and I remember meeting Tom, so when Tom first came to ride with his dad, Adrian had ridden the year before and then he said, can I come back and bring my son with me? And, you know, Tom was a really shy, quiet 14-year-old boy. And, you know, underneath, underneath that shyness and quietness, there was… there was a really dark, dark past for him.

And, you know, he's shared some stories with me around, and, and, you know, he's comfortable for me to share this, but he's shared stories around, being bullied as a kid, you know, having suicidal thoughts. Like, he really did go to some dark places and Adrian said to Tom, you know, Adrian and Tom didn't have a strong, solid relationship, prior to the ride, and Adrian said to Tom, mate, I want you to come and do this ride with me, and, you know, it took a bit of convincing, Tom said yes, came along, and and what started to happen during that ride was…

They were just getting closer as father-son, because they were… they were on a bike, they're riding next to each other, they're doing something hard and experiencing it together and that just generated conversation, it generated connection. And so by the end of that ride, the relationship with those two was really starting to blossom and was just beautiful to watch and then, you know, fast forward to the ride that's just gone, which is… which is this photo here. You know, their relationship now is stronger than ever and Tom's now working in the business with his dad. They, you know, organise scuba trips together. They, you know, they carve time out now to spend with each other.

They do the bike ride so that they can connect with each other. I think they've both signed up for the double next year, so, you know, there's gonna be 10 days on the bike for them to reconnect and shut business down for a week, and just focus on their relationship, and I think, you know, the ride has played such a big part of it. And whether it's a ride, or a run, or whatever shared experience it is, just taking yourself out of your business to do something meaningful like this.

It can be life-changing, and it can really build relationships.

Steve:

Yeah, absolutely. And as I say, Claire, it's not about signing up for the bike ride and this'll happen, it's about having a shared experience with the people that actually matter the most. And you know, it's… often, we, as real estate people, we give our best selves to our customers, or we, we give our best selves to our, the people that we work with, and, and our closest people get the leftovers.

And that was certainly the case with Adrian and Tom. And if I might just dive in really quickly here, because Tom is a Rise influencer. And what a Rise Influencer does is basically becomes an ambassador for Rise and the work that RISE does, and what's great about having Tom, who might be on this call, actually, what's great about having Tom as an ambassador is he is only 21, 22 now. He can relate to young property managers, he can relate to young real estate agents, and he's been there.

He's had the really crappy days, and the moments where he's actually questioned whether or not being alive is actually worth the effort and the energy. And if anybody is on this call, wants to be a RISE influencer, you can do as much or as little as you want, as long as you're, you know, happy to, you know, wear possible talk about RISE and its work, then just get hold of, Kylie Davis, or get hold of me, and we'll, we'll point you in the right direction, which is, which is great.

Claire, can I just, maybe I'll just quickly tell the story about Annie, my daughter, who, is that okay, Claire?

Claire:

Go for it, Steve. The floor is yours.

Steve:

Yeah, so, Annie bless her, when she was in year 12, had a pretty… she'd done so well at school, right up until year 12, and then in year 12, she dropped the ball, her first love dumped her, and she actually said to me, well, you know, I haven't got the OP score I need to do the degree that I want to do.

So I've got all this time on my hands, Dad, I might as well come on this silly bike ride that you, you organize with all these real estate people. And the reason I want to share this story, Claire, is, the degree and the profession that she thought she wanted to go into was completely transformed by that shared experience. And she went on this bike ride, and she ended up at home, and she met these kids. And what it did for her is it reframed, using one of your words, on what she actually wanted to do with life. And she, from that moment on, decided she wanted to work with children, and she wanted to help children, and, she then became a, she then signed up to do a degree to be a schoolteacher, and she qualified earlier this year. And, and that's a great story, because without that shared experience,

She probably wouldn't have really realized what her true meaning of all-purpose was and, you know, taking your saying, Claire, you know, Annie didn't want to be a victim of the circumstances, so signed up for this silly bike ride, and, and looked where it landed at, which is, my little story to share with Adrian and Tom. So, not sure if you've got any comments on that, Claire, or any other thoughts?

Claire:

Oh, like, it's not… it's not isolated, Steve. There's so many of those stories within the community, and… and, you know, a lot of stories about, young people as well, and just what it's meant to them. But, you know, equally, at the other end of the scale, if you think about, you know, people like Frankie Newton, who first rode with us after having a mild heart attack, and has ridden every year since 2012, now 76, I think, if I've got that wrong. Sorry, Frankie. But, you know, just the… I think one of the most beautiful things about our rides is that… is that we've built them in a way that they're inclusive. They're not these testosterone-fueled races where you've got to be the first one in, and you know, it's… it's more about the experience, it just happens to be on a bike. So these stories, you could talk to anybody from our bike rides, and they'll have a story, very similar.

Steve:

Actually, Claire, before we move on, it's just that what you've just said prompts a little story that I'd like you to tell, and that is, one of the things I think we get wrong in real estate, which I think then drives the stress and the pressure and the reputation that the industry's got is we tend to celebrate the winners. And, you're either a winner, or you're a loser. And, and all the accolades always seem to go to the number one, and, and that's…just seems to be… I might be wrong, but that just seems to be the way that real estate operates.

What's really interesting, and it's one of the biggest learnings that I personally have taken out of the shared experiences of doing something like the bike ride, is around celebrating everybody. Can you… I think you know where I'm going. Can you just elaborate on that story a little bit?

Yeah, like, it's… I mean, we get people from all walks of life joining the rides, and, you know, whether you're… whether you're riding in first or coming in at the back, like, we absolutely celebrate everybody there, we celebrate their… their contribution.

Claire:

And, you know, if you think back to the Digital Live ride this year, and with Jason Partridge, and, you know, a bigger guy on a bike, absolutely struggling, did his knee, and, you know, I think you were riding with me, Steve, on that day that we rode into the hotel, and the whole crew was just waiting for him to come in, because we were just all going.

We want Jason to ride a full day on the bike, because up until that point, he hadn't ridden a full day on the bike. Due to injury and a few other things. So, you know, it was his first day over 100 kilometres, first day finishing the whole day, and we rode along that river to Country Road, which is a well-known digital live song, and just the cheers and celebration from everyone, because he did that full day, I mean, it's… it's goosebumps.

Steve:

Yeah, absolutely. And I was at a Hayley Mitchell conference a while ago, well, a few weeks ago, in fact and, Haley's a great supporter of Hands Across the water, which is terrific. So hi, Hayley, if you're on this call. And I was talking to a young agent, a young property manager, over a drink, and she was telling me about the quarterly awards at her office, and she said, you know, it's the same old people that get the bottle of champagne and the big cheer. And I said to her, how does that make you feel? She looked at me, and I felt so sad when I heard this. She said, I actually feel worthless, because I never get recognized for what I do. And it just made me realize that the importance of making sure that everybody in your organization feels as though they belong, feels as though they contribute.

Feels as though they are adding value, and celebrating everybody for the achievement of the office, not just the main agent or the main property manager. We've got 10 minutes to go, and I'd like to talk about two individuals who I know have contributed massively to your life, and you've learned so much from both these people. And, this is, obviously, Peter, your, your other half. Just tell us a little bit about the picture. Claire. And also, I'd like you to share with the audience

If Peter was on this call right now, what's the bit… What's the bit of advice that you know that Peter would share with… with very, very busy real estate professionals? So, what's in the picture, and what piece of advice would Pete share if he suddenly jumped on the Zoom?

Claire:

So, so yeah, so look, this picture, this is at the end of day two on Peter's…epic 1400km run through Thailand last December. So, he decided that for the 20-year anniversary, he wanted to do something epic, and do something more than the bike ride, and something he had never done before.

And… and so he came to me one night and said, I want to run from Ban Home Hug to Bantham Nam Chai. And I was like, okay, great. What do we need to do? I believe in you, we can do this, let's… let's do this. So 2 years in the making. And, you know, this, this photo here,

Peter started the run. He had some health issues in the lead up to the run, and that's a story in itself, but, you know, 3 weeks prior to the run, he wasn't able to do any training, and so the first couple of days, like, we were starting in the dark and finishing in the dark.

Now, and it sounds funny when I say this, he was only running 60 kilometres a day, which shouldn't take 12 hours. And we knew that if it was going to take 12 hours every day, that it's probably a very, very high chance that we wouldn't make it to the end. bSo this moment here was that… was that moment of, have we bitten off more than we can chew here? And, you know, what… What do we do? And it was a really hard moment, because, you know, Pete talks about like, he was coming in, and we've got the crew, and everyone's around, and everyone's there for him, and to help him get from A to B, and he just walked in like a beaten-up dog, and was just, like, his body language, everything about him just said that, you know, this might not happen and what he learned very quickly, and in the coming days, he started to get stronger, and we would finish in the light, we would get more rest and recovery, so things definitely improved. But, you know, what he learned early on was that leaders bring the weather.

If Pete was on this call, he would say to you, as a leader, how you turn up to work each day, how you walk through the door at the end of the day, is a reflection of how the conversation's gonna unfold and so if you're, you know, walking in, you're beaten up, and, you know, your body language is really low, you're not going to be lifting the people around you.

But if you've just run 60 kilometers back-to-back, day by day, and you run in, and you high-five the team, regardless of how empty you might be feeling, well, that's gonna lift the team. And we saw that over the 26 days. The days that he ran in fist-pumping us all were the days that we felt like, yes, we've done this, and we've got you. So, so that would be… that would be my Peter Baines quote for you all today.

Steve:

Lovely. And of course, I'm the host, so I can change the rules as we go through, so there's probably going to be a second one, but leaders bring the weather, love that. What about in the morning? He got up, it was pouring with rain, there was a wind and we haven't rehearsed this, so hopefully you'll know where I'm going to take this, came out with this great line, which I love. Just, just share it.

Claire:

Whatever the conditions, they are my favourite.

Steve:

Whatever the conditions, they are my favourite, and I really love that. So, leaders bring the weather. Whatever the conditions, they are my favourite. So, well done, Peter and, you know, the lady on the right-hand side is the second lady that I'd like you to talk about, Mayfield. She has personally buried over a thousand children. I'll repeat that. She personally buried over a thousand children who, in Thailand, died through lack of food, lack of, lack of medicine and thankfully, when Hands Across the Water got involved with Mayfield, the children stopped dying, and, and now they're on this journey, as we, as you beautifully explained with Am. But, in the last, sort of, 4 or 5 minutes that we've got together, just…

Can you talk a little bit about Mayfield, and what she has taught you, Claire, about dealing with what life throws at you?

Claire:

Yeah, so, you know, Mayfield's a remarkable woman, and… and, you know, you… you see her. We've watched her for the last, what, 12 years since we've been involved, and just the love and presence she has, as a mother, as a leader, within the home is… is just something that we can all aspire to, and…

And Mayfield, contacted us in the months leading into the run and said to us, I'd like to join you and when Mayfield says she wants to do something, there's no arguments, there's no discussion, it's she's doing this, and we were like, yep, okay, we don't know what this looks like, and she said, I want to ride from Home Hug to Bangkok with you. So that would be the first half of the ride.

And, sorry, the first half of the run. And so Pete and I sort of said, yep, okay, we'll, yep, we'll make this work. Not knowing how we were going to manage the logistics of. Mayfield on an e-bike, riding at the same pace as Pete running. So, there were just some concerns about how… how that was all gonna go, and what ended up happening, and Pete talks about this in his latest book, he talks about just how she became the angel on the road. And very quickly, we realized her purpose wasn't about riding next to Pete. It was… it was to protect him from traffic. It was to ride up and get rid of dogs that were coming out barking. She would, on day 14, when he had his worst day, and just had to keep running, he couldn't stop because he had shin splints.

She would just run up to him, grab his water bottle, go back, fill it up, take it back. And so she really just became this, this silent angel on the road. And, you know, what I… what I've learned from May Phil, and, you know, we can talk about resilience, tolerance, and, you know, she… she's a woman who's not a victim of her circumstances, right? Like, she's… as you say, Steve, she's buried over a thousand kids, and if she was to live in the, you know, in the poor me, why me, she wouldn't be able to do the work that she does.

And, you know, one of the really interesting parts about Mayfield joining the run. Well, she decided that she wanted to do the whole thing, so she wanted to do the 26 days and then, as we got to the end of the run, we had, Sir Pete's family flew across, his kids came in, we had Greg's family there, so our group started to become bigger, and there was… there was less of a need to have her on the road, and… what I find so remarkable about her is she turned around to us on day 24, so there's 100Ks to go, and she turns around and says, my job here is done, I'm going home.

And we were gobsmacked, just thinking, well, why… Why is she going home? You're gonna miss the celebration, you're gonna miss the finish line, and… and very quickly, we realized she wasn't there for the celebration. She was there to do a job, she was there to support Pete, and he… until he no longer needed support and then she put her hands up and said, my job's done, it's time for me to go home. So it was this powerful… It was very sad and emotional to… to not share those last couple of days with her, but we understand. And yeah, really powerful.

Steve:

Excellent, excellent. Claire, we're done on time. I really appreciate you sharing your wisdom to the real estate community. And, you know, I'd just like to remind everybody on the call that, you know, Claire talked about, on the lowest of low days, just having access to a counselor was just…

So, so important to her. Make sure your team know that through the Real Care app, you can get free counseling sessions paid by domain. Claire talked about the importance of taking a breath and clearing the decks, and, and getting clarity. Again, within the Real Care app, there are strategies and tools on how to do that. I'll leave the final thing, Claire, I love this picture. Whose hand is this, Claire? It's not mine.

Claire:

No, that would be Jet Xavier.

Steve:

Jet Xavier. Jet Xavier, who's a big, big Rise supporter, at the end of the ride, holding the hands of one of the 300 kids that you're mum for, Claire. And, if anybody would like to meet Mayfieldl, at Home Hug next year, in October, so will the monk who cycles from one end of Thailand to the other. Then just scan that code and, if you want to talk to me about becoming a Rise influencer, or anything about the ride next year, the Ride is exclusive to the real estate industry. It's our contribution to help Hands Across the Water. We're just one of a number of verticals that leans in and supports Claire.

And Claire, obviously, if anybody wants to learn more about Hands Across the Water, they can go to your website. They can connect with you on LinkedIn. It's 1 o'clock, and I did say to Kylie Davis, we'll finish on time, so, I'll take all of what I've written down and put it into a post and share it to as many people as I can. Thank you, Claire Baines.

Claire:

Thank you, Steve, and thank you, Kylie.

Kylie:

Thank you so much, Claire, that was really inspiring. Wonderful, wonderful chat, thank you. And so, look, we might just quickly wrap it up. We will… we have recorded the session. We will be sharing, sharing both the session and the transcript, with everyone that's gone out, and it will be available on the website. So, thank you so much again for your time and for sharing such a fabulous story. And I'm in awe of how many children you're a mother of.

Claire:

Big job.

Kylie;

Yep. Thanks, guys. Thanks, everyone. Bye.