Elena Chirich from MiniBoss Business School | Checkout

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[Voiceover]: Welcome to the Checkout. We catch up with previous add to cart guests and ask them five quick questions to get to know them better and leave you with a little extra inspiration to get through your Friday.

Nathan Bush: Here's your host, Bushy Today's checkout features

Elena Chirich: Elena Cherig, leader of the Aussie arm of Mini Boss Business School. This is a global program turning children into serial entrepreneurs. From creative problem solving to launching real world businesses, Elena's approach is all about building resilience and sparking innovation at an early age. In this episode, Elena gives us a glimpse into her world from the life changing book she just discovered to the tech that she can't live without.

[Ad]: Elena, welcome to the Checkout.

Nathan Bush: We had a great conversation with you on our main episode where we learned all about your transition from a senior transformation corporate in organizations such as kpmg, Deloitte and Virgin and now starting up Mini Boss School here in Australia where you are teaching the children the ins and outs of business and business thinking. Which was just fascinating because we got to dive into the impact that you're making there, but also how we can unlock creativity in our own minds. Which I absolutely loved. But now I have five quick questions for you so we can learn a little bit more about you. Number one, what is the weirdest thing that you've ever bought online?

Elena Chirich: Where do I start? But generally I have to thank Timo for I don't know how many hundreds of dollars of buying household items I did not know existed. So probably the weirdest and actually helpful and one of the cheapest was it looks like a rubber, like a regular rubber brick, but it's orange color and it erases calcium buildup from taps. So you know in the bathroom over time you get those white marks. So this $2 little thing, you rub it and it's magically gone.

Nathan Bush: It's weird and it works easily sucked in by a good Instagram or a Facebook ad. Get the Teemo bug there?

Elena Chirich: Actually no. So I am a more impulsive buyer when I know I'll just deliberately I'll go and have a look for something I need to buy. And when I'm on Timor they have me like an hour later and there are 20 random items products in my cart, I start remembering what am I there for?

Nathan Bush: We did talk about psychology and consumer psychology and they are definitely doing it very well. Number two, which retailer has most inspired you recently?

Elena Chirich: Well, there are two points I want to mention there. One is a little bit point of frustration. So I do usually shop for apparel or actually most things through the main Maya and dj. So and it works for me great variety. So I like variety and sales and all of that. What frustrates me that even to this day when we talk about sustainability they don't have a search function by fabric, for example, I do not want and that's a result of the masterclass that Lisa Blair presented that our oceans, they're so polluted it's beyond comprehension. And majority of that microplastics comes from fibers from synthetic fibers. So every time we wash synthetic in our washing machine, we pollute our oceans essentially. So one of the recommendations she was given, if we care about environment, let's transition to natural fibers. And unfortunately I have not met a site yet where I can search by fabric. So. So that would be a huge change I think for supporting sustainability. But what on the positive side I want to mention. So it's a fellow Brisbaneian, Belinda Scott, she launched an app well a while ago and I still don't understand why not every apparel brand onto it. This is virtual, kind of try it on. So that's where you can upload your photo and select whatever dresses or whatever apparel items you like and it will show how it will look on you. And her app is amazing because it's compatible with Shopify. So any basically business can just purchase it and apply it. That was particularly, I know popular during COVID when I was looking for makeup or hair color. They've embraced it earlier but for apparel it's kind of no brainer. I'm not sure why brands are not onto it yet. And the other e commerce website that she also started is Australian Fashion. So it's like a marketplace for Australian brands and you can buy from there as well. So that's again when we talk about supporting locals, supporting local designers, going against the Fast fashion, that's a real game changer.

Nathan Bush: Well, you've given a few potential differentiation tips there for the clued on retailers listening. So thank you very much. Number three, can you name a piece of tech that you or your business couldn't live without?

Elena Chirich: I don't have anything fancy, but I look a little bit weird because even when I walk outside I use my headphones. These are the call center wired headphones. And it's just, I don't know, use Bluetooth wireless because it just was really bad experience when they just launched. I realized I get massive headaches and I don't know how proven it is but there is some who say because there isn't enough really not enough years to test and validate. But there are some statements that Bluetooth might be damaging to our brain and health. So I always wear my wired heads sets. So yeah, if you see a person walking on the street and talking on the call center headset, that's me.

Nathan Bush: It's your version of the Steve Jobs turtleneck. It's your distinctive feature that everyone goes up. There's Eleanor, she's got the headset on again.

Elena Chirich: Probably it's not very cool but it works for me.

Nathan Bush: Lovely. All right, number four, can you recommend a book or a podcast that our listeners should immediately get into?

Elena Chirich: Well, the book actually I have learned about this book today so it's kind of fresh off the press. For those companies who work with offshoring teams, this is super important. So it is by Erin Meyer, the Culture Map. So the lady, Tiffany English who runs offshoring company here in Brisbane, she did a presentation this morning and I have had experience working with offshore teams and that book is a must have for anybody who wants to work with even probably immigrants because those culture gaps is not territorial, it's mindset again, how people grow up. So to get the most of your team working together, particularly if call centers or customer support is offshored, super important to understand the difference. So that's probably from the book and again from the TED talk, I can recommend Ken Robinson do School Skill Creativity. It just positions. It makes us think about the purpose of education for kids and makes us think what would be the best way to help our kids learn better.

Nathan Bush: Great recommendations. We will put links to both in the show notes. Thank you Elena. Last question I have for you. What is your biggest challenge today?

Elena Chirich: I think for all service based businesses it is having the right people on the team and it is the ability of every team member to be focused on solving our customers problems. So it's all relationship based. So the success of the business, effectiveness of the business depends on whether I have the right people in my team and whether my team solves the problem solving which makes our customers happy essentially. So for service based, again it doesn't really matter even the stage and probably the bigger as a company you grow, the more important it becomes and for small companies in particular. So that's number one challenge is to make sure you have the right people and retain them and get them to be kind of your copies in a way if you want to present a particular brand to the customers.

Nathan Bush: I love that you've got a people first mentality there with everything that you've got going on. I love that thinking. Elena, thank you so much for joining us on the checkout.

Elena Chirich: Thank you, Nathan. It was a pleasure. And I haven't even noticed how the time flew. Yeah. So it was a very interesting conversation. Thank you for wonderful questions.

[Ad]: To hear more from Elena, head Back

Elena Chirich: to episode four 475, where Elena shares how Mini Boss Business School is shaping the next generation of fearless entrepreneurs, the fascinating link between creativity and brain development, and why mentorship is the ultimate game changer for kids and adults alike. It's one you don't want to miss.

[Ad]: Thanks for listening. And until next time, keep adding to cartoon.