Annette Densham: Empowering Professionals Through the Power of Storytelling

Nigel Rawlins: Annette, welcome to the Wisepreneurs podcast. Would you like to tell us something about yourself and where you're from?

Annette Densham: Sure, I live on the magnificent Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. So I get up every morning and I can hear the waves. It's the best way to start the day. And, I don't think I'd live anywhere else at the moment. It's just such a beautiful place.

Nigel Rawlins: Lucky you. So what do you do, Annette?

Annette Densham: What do I do, that always feels like a million dollar question.I wish I got a million dollars every time. At the heart of everything I do is storytelling. So I'm a writer. I've been writing, I think, since I could hold a crayon in my hand, telling stories, making pictures, making things up. So, um, I've ventured into journalism in my teens, that didn't work out to how I planned, but I still use the skills.

And just the love of people and their stories. And how it shows up now in my current career is that I am the co founder of the Audacious Agency and we specialise in building people's profiles. Helping them be visible, influential, and easy to find. Because, you know, these days it's, it's pretty hard to stand out, I think, because there's just so much information bombarding us. So we do that by writing business awards, and writing articles and content for our clients that really showcases who they are, what they do, why they do it. And, digs into their thought leadership and the legacy that they're trying to leave for the world.

Nigel Rawlins: Well, let's just go back about your writing. And then I'd like to come back to the Audacious Agency because that sounds fabulous. What did you mean when you said you got into journalism at a young age?

Annette Densham: Somehow my little kid brain didn't realize he wasn't a real doctor, but I went, Oh, I want to be a doctor. Maybe not a time traveling doctor, but a doctor, you know, smart, I love people, I love solving mysteries and just thought, well, that could be really good. And also I grew up in a household where it's, you know, get a good job, make lots of money, a fabulous life. And I went, well, a doctor's great way to do that. And then when I started looking into it, cause I've always been a bit of a girly swot, my grandmother would take me to the library to do research in my school holidays.

So, I went to the library and I started looking for what I could do with the skills that I had. And when I realized that to be a doctor, I needed to be good at science and maths. It was like, Oh, that's not going to happen. Not very good at science at maths, but what I am really good at is writing and asking questions.

So I went through this list of a career book and I found journalist and I went, that sounds really like, that sounds per, you know, this little 10 year old going, that sounds really cool. So I was 10 and I went, that's what I want to do. You know, my second favorite shows was like 60 minutes and you know, those type of hard hitting, News programs, which no longer exist, but anyway, that's a whole other story.

Uh, so everything I did from that point on was to become a journalist. You know, the subjects I took at school and, um, at 15 I did work experience at a local newspaper. And I was hooked. So I did journalism at school. I wrote for the school paper. So that's why I say I became a journalist at 15 because I started that, you know, the, the writing and learning how to frame a new story.

And then I got a job with Fairfax in Brisbane and, um, eventually secured a, a much coveted role, um, with a cadetship at News Limited, um, in Sydney. So. Packed my bags up. I think I was 21 and moved to the Big Smoke and just loved it. It's just so cool. Like you got paid to go and meet with people. That's what journalists used to do.

I know everybody sit down. They used to go and talk to people and answer their phone. They don't do that anymore. They just use Tik Tok and Instagram to write news stories these days. Um, excuse my cynicism there. So writing was just always something I wanted to do. So I just kept finding ways that I could, you know, ask people lots of questions.

And it's really interesting when you have that position of being able, you know, of that authority of asking the questions, what people tell you. There's some things I will never unhear, but you know, you're in this place where you can ask people just about anything and they'll tell you. And it's fascinating.

There's so many amazing people out there.

That

Nigel Rawlins: is quite interesting because Now, in my previous life, I used to be a primary school teacher, but that was more than 25 years ago. For a 10 year old to be going to the library and looking up what her future career is and then finding it, especially a stuffy old career book, that's quite astounding. And then at 15, I don't know of many kids that age have got that sort of direction.

That's pretty impressive, if I could say so.

Annette Densham: I, all I had to be resilient and independent. I come from a very chaotic family background. Um, you know, my father left when I was three. And my little sister was one. So one of my earliest memories is my mother showing me how to do the washing up, you know, she'd drag over a chair. I think I was four, drag over a chair to the sink and showed me how to wash the dishes.

So that responsibility was thrust upon me at a really early age. And mum was also a bit of a gypsy, had really bad taste in men. So, we moved a lot and my refuge was books and stories and, you know, just finding out stuff. I've just always been really insatiably curious, uh, and yeah, I don't know how, yeah, it's weird, isn't it?

How, you know, childhood trauma manifests, just, you know, I want to be purposeful and I wasn't thinking these things at 10, but you know, looking back as an adult, it was a really purposeful, the way that I approached life and, and it was all driven by, I don't want to, I don't want to have my mother's life.

She was my greatest inspiration and warning. You know, I do not want to ever be beholden to anyone, ever. So I'm going to be as independent as possible. Um, sometimes that doesn't work out really well, because people want to help you and it's like, no, I've got this. So, yeah, thank you. I never really thought of it being extraordinary.

At 10, it's just so clear in my head that decision that I made and how good it felt. And Oh, in primary school, Nigel, we used to have these green cards and they were divided into genres for books in the library because they're trying to encourage us to read more. And I used to fill in four a year. Some kids struggled to fill in one, one column and I would just fill every, you know, um, science and history and, um, fiction and you just, all these different genres. So I just kept building this, I don't know, amazing wealth of knowledge. I used to win Sale Of The Century all the time when I was a kid, because I just read everything.

Nigel Rawlins: Yeah. I can see that. You would have been one of those kids who teachers would have loved because they didn't have to do much for you. Just feed you another book.

Annette Densham: Yep, I was very popular at school. And you know something I learned, I was thinking about this the other day, because I was so smart, and I'm a people pleaser. So the bullies would pick on me and, you know, I'd negotiate my way out of it. And it was quite often that I would do their homework for them. And I learned at a really young age that I had to make sure that I didn't make it too good. Because most of the time the bullies were the underachieving kids in the class who were always failing. But if I did it just enough for them to pass, I was so popular. If I'd, if I'd known now what, known then what I know now, I probably would have charged for it. It could have been a business.

Nigel Rawlins: You could have been the gang leader.

Annette Densham: As I say to my kids, if I ever go to prison, I guarantee you within a month I'll be running that place.

Nigel Rawlins: It just sounds like my daughter, uh, she was in hospital recently, uh, well, a few years ago and, uh, it was pretty damn obvious she was starting to run the place. Some people have just got that inside them. Well, it sounded like when you were at primary school, they were doing a lot of writing. Were they doing your own writing and creating little booklets and stuff like that when you were there?

Annette Densham: No, it was more like essays. You had to, you know, you're given a topic and you would have to write, um, a story based on that topic. And I remember one, I think I was in grade seven. And I think it was around 11 or 12 that I realized how unfair the world was and you know, how people who were either a little bit different or didn't fit in were quite often ostracized and isolated.

So I became a bit of a champion for the underdog and I started to speak up and stick up for myself and other people. And I remember this grade seven teacher, Mr. Lott, he didn't like me for some reason. Most of the teachers like me, he didn't like me. And I did this story, and I got a B for it. I was very unhappy with that, and I went and I said, Excuse me, Mr. Lott, I'd like to talk about marks on this paper. And he said, well, I thought this, and I thought that. And I said, but how can you mark me down as a B when you told me to use my imagination and my creativity? So are you marking me down for my creativity? And I think he was a bit perplexed by that because I remember him looking at me like blankly for a little while and he yelled at me and told me to go and sit down that my mark was standing.

So we were writing these stories. I don't know where I was going with that, Nigel. Anyway, I don't know. I don't think we had booklets back then. It was just Essays.

Nigel Rawlins: I think it went through, I don't know what year, it was an American thing where we got the kids to do their own writing and their own editing and we taught them about grammar. Well, not grammar. I think we stopped doing that, but just how to put sentences together.

Then they illustrated their books and made little books and it became part of the reading

Annette Densham: That's great idea. I wish I'd done that.

Nigel Rawlins: might have been just after, your going through, but that was more than probably 30 years ago. So there's probably some younger ones who might remember that.

Annette Densham: I know my kids did that. I was actually going through family photos and, you know, the things you keep from your kids and found a few of those little books. My youngest son used to like writing little storybooks with pictures and this one's about him going camping with a friend.

Nigel Rawlins: Well, I'm just wondering what it's doing for writing. So let's go back, you were obviously driven by writing, and then actually to go and confront a teacher about a mark and then discuss it and then he didn't want to talk about it, that, that took a lot of guts. So you obviously got a backbone.

Annette Densham: Yeah.

Nigel Rawlins: it's also a drive. So let's go back to the journalism. That has obviously changed. I mean, I agree with you. I think journalism's nothing like I've ever seen nowadays, because it just seems like they're just sending out PR, well, reproducing PR pieces and stuff like that, or not a lot of thought being put into things.

I used to subscribe to Crikey online . And Yeah, and I loved reading that because I thought, oh, it gives a different perspective until it just started going weird. I won't specify anything, but I unsubscribed. I thought, no, I'm not paying for that anymore. This is just not thoughtful journalism anymore, but let's get back to the writing. So the writing is still driving you today. So let's talk about the sort of writing you're doing today. So what's involved with the Audacious Agency in terms of your writing?

Annette Densham: Well, luckily, I don't know whether it's lucky, but it's a lot of hard work. I'm now in a position where I don't do the day to day work because we've, we've got a team, but I still write. So my writing could be anything from writing a Telstra Best of Business Award to writing an article about, you know, some element of someone's business or writing a profile piece.

So it's all driven by facts and that person and what they're doing in their business and how they're doing it and might be some of their background. But the idea is that, you know, if we, we're telling stories that are real and genuine with, you know, everything that we do comes from a place of servant leadership.

That the clients that we work with are those change makers and the movers and shakers and thought leaders and people who have got a bigger aspiration than perhaps just personal financial um, betterment. Not that there's anything wrong with that. You can't run a business if you don't know your numbers and you're not focusing on that.

But the heart of what they do, the purpose of what they do is to make a difference in their community, be it disability advocacy, be it autism advocacy and awareness, or um, allyship within the Indigenous communities and working towards reconciliation. They're the type of people that I write for.

So there's heart behind it, it's not, you know, this mindless insipid waffle that you see on , I can't even think of something Savvy or snappy to say about that, you just need to go and open up Google and you'll see some examples.

Nigel Rawlins: Anyway.

Annette Densham: So my, but everything that I write comes from this basis of my, my journalistic brain, um, my business partner often says to me, she said, the way that you look at people's stories and, and can just get to the heart of it is just amazing.

Where does that come from? And it's like, I, I actually don't know, because a lot of people say to me, can you teach me how to write? And, Well, I can show you how to put a sentence together. I can show you how to, you know, build a story. I can't tell you how to interact and engage with another human being and how to be interested in them and how to ask the right questions to draw that out.

It just comes intuitively for me, but I guess reflecting, if I look at, my childhood experiences and, you know, my schooling and being taken to the library in school holidays to research pineapples or drugs or Ecuador or whatever. I just go, Oh, I'm going to write about this, this holiday. I've built this amazing, eclectic encyclopedia of information in my head so that, you might say to me, I want to talk about my past as a primary school teacher.

And I'd be like, Oh, okay, well, I've actually delved into this before. And so I bring all of that to my writing so that it enriches it. Because the problem is, is that most people aren't used to being interviewed for a story or for anything that you really have to dig deep and you really have to ease them into it.

And I often find around the 45 minute mark, with people who are like, Oh, you know, this old thing, or, you know, the nobody wants to hear about me is that they start to relax and they start to open up and share. And it's just the greatest privilege, I think to be able to take people through that process, whether I'm writing a business award or an article or a newspaper article, whatever that is to have them trust me enough that they share those deeper insights that they have and I get to write it and share it with the world.

So, you know, often think your people go, you know, how are you changing the world as well? I work with a disability advocate. I work with someone within the autism space. I work with someone within the indigenous community. I work with people who have had the most horrible skin conditions and have created their own skincare companies.

It's just incredible and it's such an honor.

Nigel Rawlins: So, what you're actually seeing is you're actually getting the aspiration that they have because not everyone's able to explain what it is that they do. And then you, you mentioned you're writing it from your heart. Um, so what I'm hearing is yes, your journalism skills and your curiosity, obviously, since you're a child is all coming through, but you're hearing what they're saying.

They don't always hear what they're saying to you, do they?

Annette Densham: Oh no, human beings have this wonderful capacity to minimize and diminish our own accomplishments and you know, having not lived any further than 1970, but I've got mothers and grandmothers, is, is that we've really done a job on humans and making them think that unless they're famous or, you know, influential in a very public way that what they do isn't as important.

And they downplay it. You know, I was saying that imposter syndrome is so rife with almost every human being I've ever spoken to, even to people who you would think have all the confidence in the world and you say to them you blah blah blah blah and they go Oh, you know, that's that's nothing really special and you go, well, I actually think it is, so it's helping them find a comfort in talking about themselves meaningfully, rather than you know, inane innocuous stuff like, you know, what was the latest episode on last night? Yeah, it breaks my heart when I talk to people and they go, Oh, no, one's really interested in me.

And it's like, yeah, but how do you know? Because you've never shared your story. I was just thinking, I was saying that when I was a journalist, I, um, about 10, 15 years ago, I was the Queensland stringer for the Senior Newspaper, best job, journalism job I ever had. And My job was to report on senior issues and older people in Queensland.

And I remember ringing this lady. She lived at Inala in Queensland. She'd volunteered with Meals on Wheels for 50 years. 50 years and she was in her 80s and she was still doing it and I rang her up and I said, you know, hi Mary of another name. I'm Annette from The Senior and you know, congratulations, what an amazing milestone. And she said, darling, it's not really. And I said, yeah, I think it is. There's not many people who've got the, the loyalty and dedication that you have and have stuck with something for so long. And she went, it's just what I do. And she just dismissed it like it was, it was nothing that she hadn't achieved anything.

She hadn't changed people's lives. And I think when you're able to reframe. People's accomplishments, not as an ego driven thing, like to go, Oh my God, look at me. I'm so much better than you. But from the perspective, there's one acknowledging that what you've done is pretty incredible or amazing or accomplished.

But two, that it's not just about that. thing that you've done, it's the ripple effect of what you've done. So you imagine how many lives Mary had touched and changed in 50 years. Cause I imagine that she'd seen and been confronted by some of the best and the worst stories and seen the best and worst of humanity.

And that story and that knowledge and that insight is lost when she says, Oh, it's nothing special. That's not her fault. You know, that's a societal thing that we should be ashamed of that we've made people feel like that. For me to be able to sit there and, and encourage them to talk and share that, that's like, that's, that's like a superpower.

I need a cape. I think I need a cape.

Nigel Rawlins: You do. You get it. That's what the thing is. Now imagine if she hadn't been there for that 50 years. What difference that would have made. I remember an elderly lady in hospital. She was dying, a friend of the family at the time. And, um, the nurse was just treating her as a matter of fact, and I knew something about this lady.

She went to law school with Robert Menzies, who was one of our prime ministers. She was one of the first women to go to law school and graduate. And I said to the nurse, do you realize this lady went to law school with Robert Menzies and she was one of the first solicitors out of Melbourne University.

Before that she was just a shell. So, hopefully, what you're able to do is you're actually able to see inside that person and draw out who they are. So, who benefits from you doing that?

Annette Densham: Well, big picture I think everybody benefits or the people within that person's space, but the people that we work with they definitely benefit, not just from a business perspective, you know, they're, they've seen, people book them to speak or they want to do business with them, so that they can earn more and their business turns over more, but it's the things that aren't written in the brochure, the serendipitous moments of realization when people, perhaps read an award entry that I've, or the team have written, and you get an email back that says, Oh my God, this is amazing.

Are you sure you've written about the right person?

So, because we live in our heads, It's, you know, our brains don't know what's real and what's not real. So if you tell yourself long enough that you're a loser and you're not good, or no one wants to hear your story, or you've not done anything, you've not accomplished anything, you're going to believe it.

We believe our own bullshit. But when you actually write something down or you read something about yourself, it then becomes tangible. Like it's in front of you and black and white, you know, you can't escape from it. I don't work with people I don't like, because if you're writing people's stories, you've got to like them. But you know, I don't live with them. I don't see them on a day to day basis. So from that emotional connection, I can disconnect a little bit and see them from the big picture and it's helping them do that to themselves.

You know, here's, here's you, you. And the, the confidence that you see Bill is amazing, you know, and they don't even realize it, that they, they've had a bit of a boost, um, they understand themselves a little bit better. They can see clearly the impact that they're making in terms of the work that they do.

So the ripple effect is boosted confidence. It's a boosted sense of, yes, I'm on the right path, but then it's their clients and their customers. So they also benefit, you know, and the client's family. I think we really downplay how feeling good about yourself can have a transformational impact on those around you, because when you're confident and you feel good about what you're doing, then, when you have a hard time, you're a little bit more resilient because when we get hit, when we're already down, it's way harder to get back up than getting hit when you're, you already have a sense of purpose and a sense of self.

So yeah, that was pretty deep, wasn't it? It's, I've, I've, it was nice to articulate that out loud because I go, I'm just a writer. No, I'm not just a writer. I'm, I'm a guide for people to open up and to realize the opportunities and the moments that they too can then also make an impact on the world.

Nigel Rawlins: I agree. I think what you're finding is that people are underestimating what they're actually doing. And I think it comes back to that aspiration, like you had when you were younger that you wanted to be a writer. Um, these people are probably finding themselves in a place they want to be.

But then they need that articulation that you're bringing to it. I see that a lot. I find that people have difficulty writing what they want to say. Um, I have to do a lot of writing as part of my marketing services, I look after some professionals, some I have to do their writing for and you'd be surprised what I have to write.

Medical issues, medical clinics, all sorts of things. One is a construction company and I've written all their articles as well. I have to, uh, understand and I look at them and think these people are pretty smart. If you start drawing the picture together, what they're doing, you know, they're amazing.

And, um, What you're finding, I think, is that humans, fellow humans, or fellow, or

Annette Densham: Other humans.

Nigel Rawlins: Other humans, are, um, amazing.

Annette Densham: Yeah, we, we just have no idea how magnificent we are. And I think it's getting harder and harder for us to realize, our magnificence, one, the influencer of space that we seem to find ourself in, you know, like anybody can be famous these days and they can be famous for things that you're looking at and you're going, really?

Like we're celebrating you because you got cellulite on your butt? Yeah, I, and I get why that, you know, it's that normalization of body type and, but the things that they do around that, you're just thinking, yeah, I'm not quite sure that you got it, but that's okay. And also because of the volume of information that hits itself every day.

I mean, I was reading the other day that we are hit with 73 gigabytes of information every single day. No wonder we're exhausted and we're tired and we're worn out because we're just being bombarded with so much rubbish. So when we, when we do realise how amazing we are, it's, I think it's revelationary for many people.

Um, it's just really sad that you would think with all of this information that we have online and all this personal development and articles about humanity and managing our emotions and dealing with conflict and all of these things, that anxiety and depression are increasing. Our self confidence is decreasing because we're constantly being bombarded with messages that tell us we're not good enough or that if we want to be famous, then we've got to look or act a certain way.

And it's just not possible for most people to do that. Instead of normalizing that it's okay to be a normal human being, who's committed to a path, you know, disability advocacy, you know, all of those things that we don't have to be superstars, that we just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other and then we change the world.

I'm working with this lady at the moment, and she's written this amazing book about her experience with incest within her family. So she's very proactive within the space of empowering women to heal and move through this, or not just women, but you know, anyone who's experienced incest or sexual abuse as a child. And she was talking about how frustrated she is about why it's so hard for our society to get this message that we should be talking about these topics. We shouldn't be pushing them under the carpet like we used to, unless we shine the light on this bad behavior, then it's going to continue because what grows in the darkness, you know, most of the festive things in life grow in the darkness.

And I said to her, because one of the analogies we use with the Audacious Agency is, um, dropping breadcrumbs. So the more that you can drop breadcrumbs across multiple platforms organically, so that means that you're not paying for it, is the more opportunity people have to come across you. So, you know, if you think 73 gigabytes of information, if you can just even crack some of that. What happens is that we lose sight of the big picture because we feel like we're not heard or we're not getting our message across. So I said to Carolyn, she was at a rally that I was at to, you know, end violence against women. And she said, I feel like we're just not doing anything. And I said, mate, we're just a breadcrumb.

We're one of those breadcrumbs on the way to the end result. Now it may not happen in our generation. It may not happen in our kids generation. I bloody well hope it does because I cannot understand how people can go, well, really? Why do I have to change to make other people's lives better? I don't know.

It's only half the population, but anyway, and she went, I never thought of myself as being a breadcrumb of change. And I went, yes, we, we so live in a world of instant gratification now that we forget that, that delayed gratification or those delayed impacts may not necessarily be our big finale or our big ending, but it's on the pathway to that.

And by not telling your stories and sharing that and putting that out there, then nothing changes because it all just lives in the dark. So that's why it's so important to do that.

Nigel Rawlins: You've got it, the problem with all that information is standing out, and as you said, the breadcrumbs, it's it's just putting it out there and continuing to put out there. Otherwise, you just disappear, and, uh, and I think that's what I'm beginning to see more and more after many, many years in marketing now, um, It's, it's the ones who stay and continuously put out and consistently put out, but you must be amazing for them to find you.

Well, one of the things you do is you encourage people to go for business awards. Can you tell us something a little bit about that? How does that help create the attention that they need?

Annette Densham: We live in a world driven by social proof. I mean, word of mouth has always been something that has been very powerful in business or, you know, in life. Oh, Hey, I like this guy. Oh yeah, I've heard about John. He's a really nice guy. And you go, Oh, and it, and it reaffirms that we're on the right path or our feelings are correct or that we've made the right decision.

So business awards are an integral, I think, an integral part of that profile building journey because it's third party credibility. It's social proof. That what you're doing has made an impact or it may be around your business growth or an innovation you've created or your story or a case study of, you know, a customer or client journey that you've had, like any aspect of your business, which helps people build know, like, and trust.

You know, at the end of the day, why do people do business with businesses? Because they like the person that they've interacted with and the more that they know about you and the more that they know about what you do and how you do it. And the successes that you're having and the purpose behind what you're doing, the more likely when it's time for them to buy, when they go, you know, I'm looking for an awards writer.

Oh, I heard that interview with Nigel with Annette and I saw her on LinkedIn and she's in a lot of Facebook groups that I'm in and she's got had an article in Kochie's the other day and look she just won a Telstra award and she did this. So in the person's limbic system, you know, that place where we make decisions and we form those connections, you have this energetic exchange going on as the person who's running the business.

You may not even realize your impact on that, but they're building this connection with you. So as I said, when it comes time to go, Oh, I need an awards writer. The first person they think of is me. Why? Because I've dropped breadcrumbs everywhere and I pop up all over the place. And because human beings are inherently lazy when it comes to, you know, Oh, where are you going to go?

I'm just going to do something next door or, you know, whoever pops up in front. I just make it easy for them to choose me or to choose our clients because they know them. They like them. They trust them. They've, they've read their story. They've heard their background. You know, they've you've shared some insights into why you do you share your knowledge and your wisdom.

That's alluring to the marketplace because it's so hard to make a decision. You just have to make it easy for them. So business awards helps with that because if you win a Telstra Best of Business Award you've been through a mighty process to get there.

It's not just something that you went on, I'm just going to fill in this form and off I go. So I guess that's a really important caveat in entering business awards is make sure that they're credible, make sure they're respected and reputable because if you link up with it, like there's a lot of vanity type awards out there that really is just a money earning venture for the people who are running it.

They just want to get you in their magazine. They don't really care about the award. So make sure that they're credible. So when your, your audience is looking around, they're going, Ooh, that's really impressive. And it's won this or Joe's done that.

Nigel Rawlins: I was just thinking, um, even at the local level, in your own town, there's little awards, isn't there? There's, there's a hierarchy of them.

Annette Densham: Oh, absolutely. And they, they're growing in number. And I was like, I wonder if I've got something to do with that. Anyway, maybe I do because I talk about awards a lot, but yeah, I just this morning opened Facebook and Redcliffe in Queensland has got their business awards. The Tweetheads just opened their business awards.

So there's, there's local, there's state, there's national, there's international, and it's all driven and it's about being strategic. So it's not just about, and that's the problem, I mean, I'm sure you find this working at marketing is that people tend to go, Oh, give this a crack and there's no plan and there's no purpose behind it.

They're just like, they've been to a webinar or a seminar and someone on stage was really persuasive and they've gone, Oh yeah, I just need to do that. But without that strategy and linking it to the other aspects of their business, it doesn't work because they just don't want to do it. Leave it to the last minute or it's an award that, you know, people go, so big deal.

Nigel Rawlins: Well, my biggest concern there would be that they're distracting themselves from their own business and fooling themselves. So yes, I think it's really important that they do get some help like you're offering. So let's go back a little bit. You also do a number of other things.

Annette Densham: I do.

Nigel Rawlins: you're a stand up comedian.

Annette Densham: I am.

I think it was 2017 and look, and I've always, always thought I was very funny. Um, I'm a legend in my own lunchtime. You know, I'd go to parties and people just, It just opened my mouth. I think the way that I look at the world, um, I'm quick most of the time. I'm sarcastic without being nasty and I'm really well read, very knowledgeable and I'm pretty smart.

So someone would say something and snap, I'd just go and people would be laughing and they'd go, Oh my God, you're so funny. And it really started as a coping mechanism as a kid because I found that people didn't bully you if they thought you were funny, so I became the class clown and it just rolled on.

So in 2017, a friend of mine was doing a course with a female comedian here in Queensland, Fiona McGarry, and I knew of her, I'd been to her shows before and I went, you know what, I like to do things that push me out of my comfort zone. I'm going to go and do a stand up comedy course and I'm going to see if I'm actually really funny and get up on stage. So I did it and people came and they laughed. And I went, Oh my God, people think the way that I look at the world's really funny. And you know, my jokes are dirty or crass. I do swear a lot. I do have a potty mouth. I will say that there's lots of F words dropped, I'm on my best behavior today. And I went, Oh, I'm going to do this.

So I started doing open mics, um, with The sit down Comedy Club. So you get a five minute spot and off you go, you do your bits, um, you try out new jokes. And so I did that right up until COVID. And then obviously I stopped, and I got a little disillusioned with the open mic space As a middle aged woman, most of the other comedians were like 30 year old men who I really felt like I should probably be mothering rather than laughing because, well, gee, there's some dark people out there who, you know, hide their challenges behind comedy.

What people were laughing at, like in those open mics, because a lot of the audiences, you know, 30 ish, weren't getting where I was coming from because I'm 20 plus years older than them and I wasn't being dirty or crass, or mean, you see a lot of that and it's like, oh, I don't think I want to do this anymore. I'm driving an hour to come here.

I do my five minutes. It's costing me 50 bucks every time in petrol and food. I'm just going to find another platform for comedy. So I've, I've just started getting back into it. I did a comedy show and this is what I realized, is there is such a great market out there for middle aged female comedians, not in clubs.

But at women's events where I'm surrounded by women who go, Oh yeah, I understand the hair on the chin joke, you know, that's pretty funny. Or I understand having to make seven stops driving to Brisbane because my bladder is no longer what it was when I was 20 and they laugh because they understand.

So it's really understanding your audience. And I don't think I really understood mine when I was doing open mic, but I'm, um, I'm planning a comedy show. in August, September. And it's going to be during the day. There's something really dynamic about doing comedy where you can see people's faces. I think it makes me funnier because I can see their reactions. And I'm going to do it during the day because there's a lot of women who can't come because they've got to pick up kids or they don't have a babysitter or, you know, they can't leave the house at night for whatever reason.

So I'm going to revolutionize comedy by having it at lunchtime.

Nigel Rawlins: Yeah, why not?

Annette Densham: I might call it lunchtime laughs.

Nigel Rawlins: Yeah, why not? A couple of my clients are clubs, gaming venues with restaurants.

And one of them had a Scotchman at lunchtime. He was a Scottish comedian and he was telling the dirtiest jokes and it was all women in front of him. And then he had a big thing of beer and he sculled and they all cheered. And I'm thinking, what is going on?

Annette Densham: That's Aussie, isn't Yeah, scull!

Nigel Rawlins: But it was all women, elderly women. Because it was at lunchtime, you have a comedian plus lunch for 20 bucks or

Annette Densham: Oh, tell them, I'll come down. And, and look, and I can be crass.

I've got a really dirty mind.

Nigel Rawlins: Well, he was wearing his kilt too, so God knows. But he was, he wasn't young. He would have been 60 years old with a bit of a potbelly and with a big beard. So maybe he was just a character.

Annette Densham: Maybe they were laughing because when I look at my grandmother. There were so many rules and societal expectations around, well they still are, but like women in, you know, the 40s, 50s and 60s, and what I've found as I get older, and you know, I'm talking more with my mother in law, is that they still thought and they felt all of these things.

They just didn't say them because it was inappropriate or it wasn't ladylike. And now women are going, you know what, if I want to say the C word, I'm going to bloody well say it. You know, you can't, Oh, that's disgusting. And it's like, no, it's just a word. And I'm going to say it or I'm going to laugh at something that might be a bit rude and, and off. Um, and maybe that's why they laugh because it was there in this environment where they went, Oh my God, we can actually express ourselves. I

Nigel Rawlins: I was just fascinated with the laughter. They were loving it and cheering. Well, What I wanted to talk also about is you do adventures overseas as part of your awards. Can you tell us something about your adventures?

It's

Annette Densham: called the most Audacious Award Winning Adventure. So it was 2017, that seems like a pretty big year for me. I was just working by myself. I had a few clients who were writing awards. We were doing really well. We were winning them. And I discovered an international award called the Stevie Awards.

And they've got seven or eight awards programs across the world. They've been around for 25 started by a small businessman and he started the Stevie Awards for Women in Business like 20 years ago because there were no awards for women in business. And he said, you know, I'm meeting all of these amazing women.

Who are running these businesses and doing really well. And they're going up against men in these awards, but they're not winning because of gender bias. I'm going to create this program. So I discovered it pretty early on in my business journey and I was It's doing really well with my client entries.

So I decided with my now business partner, Lauren Clement, to put on this lunch, the award winning lunch, uh, and came up with a brain fart of an idea to take a group of women to New York to attend the ceremony and have a bit of an adventure. Because for me, I was like going, all I do is I get up, I work, I go to bed, I get up, I go to work, you know, everything I'm pouring into my business.

Haven't had a holiday in years. Let's go to New York for a week. So we've been doing that every year, did we go 2021? No, we didn't go 2021. We went 2022 when they, they opened travel back up again. And we take a group of women over, we attend the awards because the beautiful thing about the Stevie's is that if you come from outside the US is that whether you win bronze or silver, you can go up on the stage and do an acceptance speech.

So a big part of what we do with profile building is we also use repurposing and leveraging. So we say to our clients, you don't have to write 700 blogs a month. That's exaggerating, but you don't have to write four blogs a month. You could write two and then you could repurpose them and make all of this other content.

So you've got it for social media and you've got it for your website and you've got it for all of these other places so that you can leverage what you've already done without having to do more work. So when it comes to awards, is that we encourage people to go to the awards event, whether like, am I going to win?

I don't know. Maybe? Can't guarantee that because I'm not a judge. It's got nothing to do with me. And you know, there is always bias and subjectivity in judging as much as they go criteria, objectivity. They're human beings. They're swayed unconsciously by their biases and their past experience and beliefs.

And it's like, no, I don't know. But go, because one, you can use the photos. You know, from the red carpet, standing on the stage, the random images that people take, you can network and connect with other people who are there because if they're entering awards, they believe in themselves or they're trying to believe in themselves and their movers and shakers. Connect with them.

So this adventure is the awards. We do some workshops, but it's really about coming together as women in business. Connecting, building friendships and relationships. So, you know, we've got each other's back because I think one of the most important things in, in business, particularly for women is, is trying to work out what our networking style looks like, because the way of networking that has been around for a long time is very male driven, very sales driven, and very much referral.

And so we really wanted to create something that was just about connection. Like, meet other people, you know, lift each other up, because if we lift each other up, then we all succeed. Because then we're supporting each other. We've got each other's back. So yeah, it is a bit of adventure. Um, I'm, I'm very much a, um, fire, aim person.

So when people come with me, they just never know what's going to happen on that day because I'm very much a spur of the moment, whimsical person. So, you know, if I, I have got five tickets to go see the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, oh yeah, all right, let's go. I don't like basketball, but let's go.

So, it's taking people out of their comfort zone and helping them see the world a little bit differently. So that's why it's an adventure. It's not just, you know, hey, we're going to another country to win an award. We're going to another country to reframe how we look at ourselves and how we work together as women in business and making new friends and new connections.

Nigel Rawlins: That just sounds brilliant. Well, I would encourage anybody to go with

Annette Densham: you.

Oh look, and blokes can come too. We're not discriminating here, but

you know,

Nigel Rawlins: Sounds fantastic. And, brilliant for women, I would say, very, very supportive. Well, we've probably come to the end now. So, how would you like people to find out more about you, Annette?

Annette Densham: Well, they can Google Annette Densham and I guarantee you'll be clicking for 11 or 12 pages because I've worked very hard on building my profile. The Audacious Agency. com. There's a contact form there that you just fill in and you can pick an appointment to speak to myself or to Lauren.

Facebook, email, our email is on audaciousagency. com. Smoke signals, carrier pigeons, interpretive dance, you name it.

Nigel Rawlins: LinkedIn?

Annette Densham: Oh yeah. LinkedIn. LinkedIn, Instagram. I am on TikTok, but I just, I just can't bring myself to.

Nigel Rawlins: Well, that's the problem with some of the social medias. I mean, you know, they're talking about banning TikTok because it's a Chinese thing. So, you never know, that could disappear. So, yeah, all right. Annette, thank you very much for being my guest.

Annette Densham: Thank you, Nigel. That was fun.

Nigel Rawlins: It was.