Empowering Women in Crisis: The Birth of Held + Free (ft. Kathy Rhodes)

Jules (00:13) Cathy Rhodes, I am absolutely thrilled to have you as my guest for the She’s the Boss Disruptors podcast today. Thank you so much for agreeing to do it. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (00:22) goodness it’s such a pleasure to be here Joel, thanks so much for the invitation. Jules (00:26) Well, I had to, I had to extend an invitation when I saw what you were up to on LinkedIn, so I don’t want to reveal everything for people that are listening, but let’s start off with you just quickly telling us what it is you do, what’s your business called? Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (00:40) Yeah. So I have a brand new business that I’m so excited to talk to you about. In fact, you are my first, I’m hoping of many podcast interviews. So well done you on being, you know, the disruption queen, but ahead of the curve. So I’ve started a business only a few months ago now, and it’s called held and free and it’s in a social enterprise that’s designed to stand with, to stand alongside women who run businesses. Jules (00:46) Woohoo! Ahead of the curve! Right? Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (01:08) and are also experiencing crisis. So crisis of a health variety, crisis of a legal variety, crisis in their personal lives and that that has an impact on how they’re able to show up in a entrepreneurial sense and in a business sense as well. So that’s what I’m now dedicating the rest of my life to doing. Jules (01:29) my god, I love it. And tell everyone what’s it called. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (01:33) It’s called Held and Free. And so our website is heldfree.com. it’s the name for the business was inspired by Glennon Doyle’s work. And really what she talks about is that the best family structures are where all individuals within it are held and feel psychologically safe and are physically safe, but also free at the same time. Jules (01:37) Right? Yeah. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (02:00) to be them as individuals. So free to make mistakes, free to be vulnerable, free to need to ask for help. And so having read her material years and years ago, when I thought about this business, was like, that’s the type of community, that’s the type of family I wanted to create for women in business, that you’re held through the tough times so that you continue to have freedom well beyond the tough stuff. That’s where it comes from. Jules (02:26) my god, I can’t even tell you how much I love this. And also how badly it’s needed. mean myself having gone through a divorce when I was trying to run a business, I had twins. I found out I was pregnant with twins just as my dad got diagnosed with a brain tumor and I was starting my PR business. you know, it is a really, really hard thing to get through. So I think it’s super fantastic that you’re doing this. the next thing I want to know is why you think it’s needed. I mean, I know why it’s needed. I’m sure all the women listening will go, what a stupid question, Jules. But I kind of want to know what you want to disrupt and what you think is broken in the system that you think this is gonna solve. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (03:11) Yeah. So for me, women like us, and like all the women listening to your podcasts, we tend to fall through the cracks. So we already know there’s so much out there about the mother load and wearing multiple hats and needing to be, you know, the best friend and the entrepreneur. Like we already know that, but I think for women who are going through crisis, if you run a business, it’s so much harder and it’s harder because one crack that we fall through is financial support. Jules (03:15) Yep. Yeah. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (03:40) So let me give you an example. if you need, for example, and I’m sure I’ll talk more about this in a moment. If you are someone who is an employed woman by a large corporate and you need time off because you’re unwell or because for example, you’re escaping domestic violence, there is leave, paid leave often or unpaid leave, but your job will stay in place and you have support around you or Jules (03:41) Yep. Yeah. Secure. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (04:08) employment assistant programs, there’s lots of things that exist to help you get through that and maintain your career, maintain the bills that need to be paid. If you’re a woman that runs your own business, that doesn’t always apply. And where it gets even trickier is that often it’s the case you earn too much money to get government support, but not enough sitting in your reserve. So if we think about our businesses, Jules (04:14) Yeah. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (04:36) And we’ve done all of our clever planning and we’ve got money set aside for all of our subscriptions and all of our suppliers and all the invoices we know we need to pay and our insurances and all the things, right? So we’ve got, we’ve got strategies in place, but something completely left of center arrives. You can’t then turn around and reallocate those funds easily to things like legal advice or, you know, Jules (04:48) Yeah. No. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (05:04) or having time off so that you’re sick so you can go and have medical treatment or you can continue to pay for a virtual assistant with no money coming in. those sorts of cracks is financial cracks that I’ve experienced through my best friend firsthand. But also there’s the loneliness side and that’s equally important for me to disrupt and fix because I mean, I remember like you, my background’s in PR and Jules (05:19) Yes. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (05:32) The first job I had out of uni was working for a boutique PR firm. So there were two directors, a man and a woman. They were married lecturers at university of Canberra. We had a swathe of clients or just a couple of us juniors in the office and the principal, she got diagnosed with breast cancer. And we, as a team, as her employees, we knew, we knew that she was wearing a wig. knew that she was spending her weeks. Jules (05:46) Yeah. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (05:58) you know, traveling up and down to Canberra and still maintaining her, her electric and her, and we were told under no uncertain terms, like it was so strict. We couldn’t tell anyone about that. Now that was 20, more than 20 years ago, right. And people’s attitudes have changed, but women in business, what’s also broken is that we don’t feel safe to tell our clients, to tell our suppliers, to tell her, you know, if you’re running a subscription based business, you can’t. Jules (06:01) for treatment. Yeah. Yep. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (06:25) feel confident to say, I’m going to be off the tools for a little bit because I’m actually in crisis. You know, it’s. Jules (06:29) That’s right. That’s right. And talking about insurance. ⁓ income protection is hopeless if you don’t have a regular income. So if you aren’t paying yourself a set wage and you are a sole trader, having done it myself and had them not cover me, I know it is so hard because they can’t kind of go, or your clients fall off a cliff, which so many people have. When you’re busy and working, you forget about the pipeline and suddenly all that work ends and you’ve got no clients for two or three months and that be really really stressful as well so there’s just so many things where you can’t switch off. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (07:09) correct. But you need to you absolutely need to switch off. And you need to not feel stigma and shame around it. You know, you need to know that you are not the only one. And it’s not a link to your, you know, entrepreneurial success, whether you’ve had a crisis or not. Yeah. Jules (07:11) Yeah, that’s right. I love that. No, that’s right. So what ex- did something happen though, Cathy, that really kind of tipped you over the edge and you went, right, that’s it, I’m going to create this now? Yeah, what happened? Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (07:32) That’s the day. Yeah. So, so there were two things that came together. So the first is that I just before starting the business, ⁓ celebrated my five year cancer free journey. So that was a huge, yeah. So I’ve personally be affected. I was running a business when I was diagnosed and it could be a whole episode around that story. ⁓ but after, but after five years, I knew Jules (07:41) Yeah. You’ve been through it. Right. I bet. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (08:01) that psychologically, safety wise, I’m like, okay, I’m really cured. I’m really done. It’s time to give back. So I knew that and I had that brewing and like in the first week after that anniversary of, know, officially being a survivor, I ran out and gave blood because you can’t do that when you’ve been, okay. So I did a lot of things. So I knew that there was something coming to me that allowed me to give back. So that was the first time. But why now versus any other time is actually my best friend. So Jules (08:23) Yeah. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (08:29) She, like you and I, runs a business and falls into those traps that I’ve mentioned. And so she called me and said, hey, I need to escape this domestic violent relationship. I need to come and stay with you. I’m getting on a plane. I’ll be there tomorrow. And so I have subsequently, since she’s arrived into my orbit, been standing with her the whole way and watching how many people either Jules (08:34) Yeah. Right. Yeah. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (08:57) don’t believe her or how the system’s re-traumatizing her by asking you to repeat her story many times or in order to get support she’s needed to have her text, you know, up to date and filed and all these things that when you’re in crisis you don’t think about turning around to call your accountant to make sure these are up to date. You want to keep your business going. It’s not high on the list, you know, when you’re fleeing from months. Correct. Jules (09:15) No, not high on the list. And then, and then, you know, add young kids into it if you are a single mum and you’ve got kids as well. You have literally no time to do anything other than, you know, particularly if it is something traumatic or a sickness or something as well. So God. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (09:32) Yeah, so I went enough’s enough. I’m at the right time where I can help. She’s at the time where she needs help. She’s not the only one. I was never the only one. And I’ve actually stopped all other aspects of my business. I’ve run a business for seven years before that. And I said, right, that’s it. Stopping that. This is my new and forever thing. So. Jules (09:52) my god, I love it. There is nothing like though, as a woman, a lane or, mean, particularly if you’re entrepreneurial and you’re always coming up with business ideas and I’m very bad with this, picking the one and saying I’m going to put all my energy into it is so satisfying, but also like the focus and you think of, know, if you spread across a whole lot of different things. So I’m absolutely delighted and I can see why you’ve done it. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (10:03) Yeah. Jules (10:19) So can you just take me back a little bit? You’ve alluded to being in PR and I know on your LinkedIn profile I could see you’ve also been in marketing for some pretty big organizations. Can you tell me a little bit about your life that has led to this big momentous moment that I’m so glad that you’re doing? Let’s start off by saying, where did you grow up and did you have brothers and sisters? Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (10:44) Yeah, so I have one younger brother and we grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney. I’m the daughter of two school teachers, two primary school teachers. So I often often joke that I was born with a whiteboard marker in my hand and I… this is a joke. But what like my parents and my extended family if you were to go through all of their… Jules (10:46) Right? Okay. ⁓ brilliant! Yeah. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (11:08) careers, you’d find doctors, you’d find nurses, you’d find police officers, you’d find teachers, you’d find social workers. So I am the black sheep in so far as I’m pretty much one of the only entrepreneurs and the only self employed in this way. But it doesn’t surprise me at all that I’ve ended up wanting to just help others and help others in this business way rather than being employed by a government department or something of that nature. So Jules (11:14) Right. It’s very brave of you though too, Cathy, because if you have everybody in your world who’s being paid a regular wage and you’ve gone out on your own, pretty brave I think ⁓ for you to do it. Were there any role models around of people who were running their own businesses? Wow. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (11:49) Do you what? Absolutely zero. So you know sometimes, yeah, so you know how you hear. So let’s say if mum’s in politics, you’ve got to, you know, pass into politics or if your mum’s an actor, you can go into that. So I didn’t have any of that. My whole world was education and frontline support workers. And so, yeah, they… Jules (12:04) Yes. What? Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (12:14) So I just knew inside myself that it was what I needed to do and knock down doors and was patient and persistent and yeah, really have carved my own path when it comes to my family, if that makes sense. Jules (12:29) my god, well done. And I can imagine that there’s little youngies who’ll be watching you in that group because all it takes is somebody to be doing something different for, you know, other people to get inspired to do it. Okay, so grew up with parents as teachers in Western Sydney and you went to uni? I think I saw that you went to uni. Yeah. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (12:45) Correct. I did. I did go to university. In fact, I know that one of the questions you warned me about was what’s kind of the quirky thing about you and perhaps I’ll reveal it here. And that is that is that I I actually went undercover as a uni student. So at the time there was a person doing a PhD and what they were looking at and was were interested in. Jules (12:59) Go on, tell me now. We can’t wait. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (13:13) is the transition and the skills that someone needed to go from the high school environment to thrive and succeed in the university environment. And what makes it what makes someone ready at 18 post school. Anyway, so because of this PhD work, they then looked for high performing students that were interested in going undercover as ⁓ first year out or undergrads. And so I put Jules (13:21) Okay. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (13:40) Yeah, so I my hand up for that. So I would go to school in the morning and do, know, do unit maths or whatever it was. Then I’d go into the school, you know, change rooms, get into plain clothes. And I’d drive myself to uni and I did uni and HSC or U12 at the same time. So I got… Jules (13:45) Yeah. Yeah. my god, so you’ve got to tell me more about that. What was that like? Did you love it? Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (14:03) It was fascinating. I loved it. So it was all about social psychology and it led to my communications PR degree that I did at Western Sydney University. And I absolutely thrived, I must say. Jules (14:09) Yeah. Right. Because I was going to say, I mean if the PhD was how do high school students cope, you clearly coped. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (14:24) I clearly coped and part of the reason I say undercover is that the deal was that we couldn’t reveal ourselves. So the lecturer, the tutors, the other students, no one was allowed to know because they weren’t supposed to try and identify us. They weren’t supposed to give us special treatment. Like we needed to be, you know, seen as just a part of the general undergrad population. So yeah, I walked away from that subject with a HD. Jules (14:33) no one knew. You’re right. Oh my god, that’s amazing, that reminds me… Well I don’t know whether I’m showing my age, but there used to be a show called 21 Jump Street, do you remember that? And they had undercover detectives who went into school. Similar, you and Johnny Depp, like that. Okay. So, yeah, go on. No, go on. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (14:55) Yeah, I do. Exactly. But in terms of my career, also asked me about that. So I describe it now on reflection 20 years plus later as a kaleidoscope. So at the time, I didn’t fully appreciate all the little pieces and how they’d fit together. But now I stand back and bring them into view. And the golden thread that connects them all has created Jules (15:24) Right? Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (15:32) all the conditions and all of the magic that’s led to Held and Free. So for example, again, I refer to that PR consultancy. One of the things, one of the clients I had, which at the time in my 20s, I thought was boring, was to run the annual report awards. So yes, there’s an annual event to run the annual report awards. And so I was tasked with sending out and bringing 300 people in a boardroom. We had very fancy sponsors at the time. Jules (15:38) Yeah. Yeah. Right! Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (16:01) CPA and try the counsellors and all these things. And so I used to have to read these annual reports. And so that, for example, has led me to be able to understand and really appreciate the business side of business. As an example, I worked for the Cancer Council for two years as a paid employee. So I understand what it takes to get educational resources out. Important in held and free. ⁓ Jules (16:12) Yeah. Yeah. Well, actually, just let me interrupt you there. When you were at the Cancer Council, when you were quite young, think, what did you learn? What did you learn about that kind of support? Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (16:31) Yeah. Yes. So how, how incredibly important it is, ⁓ for starters and what happens when you don’t have people and finances in your corner, which led me to working in insurance, right? But if we come back to the cancer council, ⁓ also, you know, this part you’ll love the importance of storytelling, the importance of vulnerability, the importance of content that connects all of that. learned quite early on. So. Jules (16:57) Yeah. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (17:04) It was very common for me to be out on a weekend, accepting those oversized novelty checks, giving the thank you and acceptance speeches. It was very common for me to interview survivors and their families that would then go into our grassroots PR campaign. Yeah. So and I was the youngest person at the time ever to be appointed into that role. But it came off the back of, as I said, having worked for the woman who was going through treatment at the time. So I went from working for a woman that had cancer Jules (17:11) Right. Wow, what an amazing grounding. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (17:33) to being at the counsellor council, to then many years later getting counsellor myself. So all of my bits and pieces, as I said, come together in this kaleidoscope in a way that I couldn’t possibly have imagined ⁓ as I was going through it. Jules (17:46) And also it feeds into that expression of lived experience. Boy boy, have you got all of it now. So you’ve seen it from all sides. So you said cancer and then you sort of said, and then obviously it led to insurance. What was that? Tell us why did that happen? Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (17:55) Correct. Yes, so I ⁓ like all good Aussies at the time did I took off overseas and worked in London and at that time I worked for the Richemont group. So Richemont has Cartier, Mont Blanc, Shanghai Tang, Alfred Dunhill. So I had this very bougie couple of years working in the luxury goods space and when I came home Jules (18:18) Okay. Right. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (18:26) I was just open to tamping. So we took a temp job and I landed at Zurich Financial Services, their office in Sydney. And I think, and it was in the life insurance space, so trauma, anti-pity, which, you you’ve spoken about and income protection. And I was like, ⁓ everything that I remember from working at the cancer council, having seen people struggling and then going into this, you know, obscene amount of wealth in London, right through to, well, hey, I, Jules (18:32) Right? Yep. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (18:56) I don’t think we’re talking about these policies. We’re not talking in a way that really connects to the people that need them. Here’s what I bring. And so they offered me a full-time role. And then that led me to have over 10 years of financial services in-house marketing experience. did Zurich, I did ING. I worked for ANZ, which owned the brand One Path. In ANZ, worked in the marketing team for the private bank. So I have all of this. really strong, solid, you like, financial services background, which then led me to other things. So it’s all just so connected. Jules (19:27) Yeah. Can you tell me a couple of stories about, ⁓ I don’t know, I’m kind of putting you on the spot, but any stories in your business career that kind of inform what you’re doing now in some way? Other than everything. ⁓ Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (20:52) that’s okay! Yeah, absolutely. And everything. OK, so I remember being at ANZ Bank and on the bus, I lived in the inner west. I lived in like out of time and I was traveling into Pitt Street head office and I came across this. This was must have been 2012, 2013 and I came across TEDx for the first time. TED and TEDx for the first time. Jules (21:08) Yeah. Okay. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (21:26) And I fell in love with this idea of telling a full story and fully explaining a concept kind of in 18 minutes. And I consider myself obviously not the first adopter because I’d been around for many years before that. before TEDx was cool, I was really into TEDx. So that then informed the way that I would write speeches. I went on to work for seven years in Jules (21:36) Yeah. Yeah, you win. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (21:55) the development of female thought leadership and working with people to write TEDx submissions and to write speeches that ended up on the TEDx stage. Yeah, so the business that I just closed to do this was the Thought Alchemist. So I was commercializing women’s stories and experience and TEDx stories were such an important part of that. And I see taking Jules (22:01) hang on what was that role that that sounds fascinating what was that Yes. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (22:22) the TEDx style and all the way back then and really taking one idea and bringing it through into everything we do at Heldam Free being so critical. So for example, there’s lots of information out there at the moment about coercive control. All right, it’s just something that’s impacting on us. There’s very little, if anything, out there right now about how does coercive control show up and what to look for if you’re also a business owner. Right. So, but, but taking that insight and then turning it into something that’s fully explainable, that will change hearts and minds, that will be so useful to the consumer of that, the reader of that, the watcher of that, the listener of that. I can trace that all the way back to that bus ride when I first heard my first ever TEDx talk. So yeah, that’s it. That’s an example of how that we’ve come to to held and free. Jules (22:52) Yes! Yeah. It’s amazing. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (23:22) And I’ve got so many others. Jules (23:22) Amazing. All right, well, I’m going to come back to them in a minute because I’ve realized that I’ve been pushing you along here and we haven’t talked enough about what Heldon Free does. So I know that what you’re trying to do in terms of offering that support, can you take me down the rabbit hole a little bit into what that actually looks like? What access do people have? What’s it going to do? Great. Okay. ⁓ Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (23:42) Yeah, I would, I would love to. Okay. So, ⁓ So there’s really three pillars of support that we want to provide. So one is around that education. So rather than needing to talk to chat GPT to get answers, rather than needing to go onto sites or read resources, which are for everyone. want to be able to have a specific set of resources that addresses the topics that matter. Jules (24:06) Mm-hmm. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (24:12) but specifically in a business context. So if you have an ABN, what it looks like to apply for financial support, what it looks like to get grants, what it looks like to identify coercive control, what it looks like to have a business safety plan, what it looks like to have your tech being surveyed and intercepting that. It all looks very different if you’re a woman who runs a business. So at the moment, there’s lots of generic advice. Jules (24:36) Yep. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (24:40) And then it just falls short for me. So the first arm is around this education. And that. Jules (24:45) And to do that, sorry, are you bringing in experts so that you’re going to have like a community of people to refer people to? Is that the idea? Okay. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (24:49) Absolutely. Absolutely. So I’m not a psychologist by training. I don’t intend to be, I’m not a medical doctor. I will never be. Um, so I’ll be leaning on and bringing together, um, community with a very specific goal of saying, but how does that apply to women in business? And then making those resources available. So that’s the education side. The second side is community, you might imagine around, for example, we’re holding a launch event. think it will be over by the time this podcast, um, launches. Jules (25:08) Yep. Yeah, brilliant. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (25:22) but to make sure that women don’t feel isolated and alone. And that’s been very deliberate, even in our branding. So if you were to look at women in crisis, if you were to do that as a Shutterstock search or a stock image search, or you were to look at some of our leading organizations that are helping in these spaces, the go-to are black and white images, they’re men, typically are male figures looking and posing and a woman in the… corner or woman looking very full on or you know in distress. Deliberately with my brand background, I’ve introduced yellow. I’m wearing it today and they’re all about women that look just like us. So the community side is about breaking down barriers and stigmas and having women say I went through that too. Here’s what helped me. You are genuinely not alone. We can tackle this together but in a way that’s uplifting. So that’s the community side. Jules (25:57) Yeah. Right. love it. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (26:19) I’m in the f- Yes! No! Go for it! Jules (26:20) And hang on a minute, wait, wait, wait. Sorry, I’ve got so many questions for you. So what is the practical side of that? Are you gonna be running Zooms? Are you running in-person events? How do people get into this community? Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (26:32) Yeah. So to start with it’s, it’s live events, which the first one for us. ⁓ well, the plan is to run them right around the country actually. Yeah. So, ⁓ not only with me creating them, but also don’t forget I came from the cancer council. So there’s Australia’s biggest morning tea, which is where hosts create little events right around the country. Jules (26:36) Yeah, in Sydney, presumably. Yep. Yeah, great. Yes, so you can do something similar. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (26:56) So I might do something like that. And then I’m toying with the idea of an awards program, which will allow people to be recognized within the community who’ve done incredible work in this space as well. So that’s coming. That’s all the community stuff. And then the third pillar I’m the most excited about, equally like the most scared about, but is going to make the biggest difference. So right from the start, I said to you that ⁓ Jules (26:59) Yeah, great. I love it. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (27:25) having resources, right, is so important. And when I mean resources, I mean financial resources. So pretending that crisis isn’t expensive is crazy. So there’s going to be a DGR status side to this business, which will allow, ⁓ like a registered charity component, which will then allow me to give grants to women. Jules (27:29) Yes. Yep. Sorry, what’s a DGR? Okay. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (27:51) to inject cash into their business so that they can continue their businesses. So what I want to be able to do is to say, right, you need five grand to pay that lawyer. Here it is. Have it, continue your business, thrive and survive beyond it because you matter. Because we know that women’s contribution to the economy is so significant. Like apart from all of the things that are happening to these women, and their health and their mental health and their physical health and their safety and their family structures. Jules (27:56) Wow, brilliant. Yes. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (28:20) If they don’t have the money to continue their businesses, the businesses won’t continue and we need them, right? And they give so much purpose. And so I want to Jules (28:26) Absolutely we do. 50 % of the world’s social enterprise is run by women. So, so important. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (28:33) Correct. Yeah. So I want, I want someone to reach out to me and say, Hey, I need five grand for a lawyer. And for me to go tell me their details. Here’s a grant. Here you go. And the criteria is going to be, an ABN holder. You’ve been a woman running a business and you need help. And I’m happy to pay for a virtual assistance service so that you can continue to make it. I’m happy to pay for your subscriptions for a year. Jules (28:45) my god, I love that. So, okay, so are you gonna, so you’ve got that pay it forward model, the donations. Have you also got some sort of high net worth women that are interested in backing this or are you doing this literally by yourself? Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (29:12) So I’m having increasingly having conversations with high net worth women who also can see the lot of value. Jules (29:16) Yeah, great. Well, they want to give back has been my experience. In fact, the higher and more successful they are, the more they want to give back, I think. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (29:26) I think so too. yeah, so I’m thinking grants, philanthropy route, but also putting my own dollars down. So to kickstart it, I’ve put, I’m going to invest, have invested 50,000 of my own money to give back. Cause it’s so, so important to me. So yeah, as I said, I’m so excited about this part because if I can, if I can help women and then they keep going and then they survive and recover and then like, yes. Jules (29:40) Wow, Kathy. You should… Yeah, you should be. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (29:56) People will be paying attention to these women because they deserve to be held so they can be free. Jules (30:02) Ugh. There are just so many people that I’ve had to watch businesses fail because of personal circumstances and just not being able to keep all those balls in the air and having to go and get a job. So I absolutely love it because there are women who are in roles that they never wanted to be in purely because they’ve got to get some cash in the door. And it’s just so wrong. And also, guess, what one of the things that I’m seeing anyway, and I’ve just done a little survey, of 370 odd women, actually I’ll share it with you because it’ll give you some insights into those female founders. But many of the ones I’m speaking to are 45 plus, which is actually 62 % of women business owners anyway. And there’s another whole thing that as you get older, not only is there the freedom, but there’s also the ill health that can come and… ⁓ Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (30:37) Yeah, please. Yeah. Jules (30:56) What was the other thing that I was thinking that ⁓ is the aging parents? And that is a massive thing where people are like, all I wanna do is run my business, but my mom has got dementia, is really sick, I’ve gotta look after her. You know, there’s just so much. I mean, I keep saying this is brilliant, but it’s absolutely fucking brilliant. Excuse my French. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (31:00) ⁓ 100%. Oh, thank you. Yeah. As I said, the idea arrived and I just knew it was right. And so I’m taking a massive risk, right? Like as with all startups, could fail spectacularly. I could be on this podcast and you’re going, that was too hard. Um, but yeah, I’m gonna, I’m gonna. Jules (31:22) Yep. Of course. And that’s fine if it is as well because you know what, Cathy, I’m a big believer in giving something a go. Not everything works. It doesn’t have to, but the principle of what you’re trying to achieve now will work anyway because the problem is there and it needs solving. So if it’s not held in for you, it’ll be something else, but I have a really, really good feeling. When you came up with the name, did you kind of go, oh my God, I know it’s gonna work now because I managed to get this name? Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (31:45) Correct. ⁓ yeah. I was, it was funny. You would know this, right? You find something. ⁓ Yes. And you like when you’re in that frenzy by the domains, by the eight reg check all the trademarks and you just kind of go, exactly. I’m like, it’s meant for me. ⁓ yeah. Jules (32:06) Yes! I know you’re like, can’t believe no one’s taken this already. I’m so excited. So what does this year look like for you? What are you going to do in 2026 to get this message out there? Obviously, other than lots of podcasts and interviews, being a PR chick, I’m expecting there’ll be a whole lot of publicity. But but what are the other plans for this year? Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (32:26) podcasts and interviews. Yes, being a PR. So putting, so it’s basically building those foundations. So I’ll probably work on the backend to give just as much as I’m going to talk about it, to be honest, these things take time. So yeah, setting up really solid foundations so that I can do it all so properly with all of the right compliance and all the right diligence and have the best conversations with the right partners, to vet the experts. Jules (32:41) Yeah. Yes. my god, well if I can help you… If I can help you in any way, you just come and let me know if you need pointing, you know, anybody to connect with you that I might know. However, and I’m sure any woman here who’d be listening would be saying the same thing, tell me a bit about how people can get involved. Is there, you know, how do they get hold of you if they’re in a bad spot? But I imagine that there’ll be a hell of a lot of women that’ll be, like I’m saying, how can I support this initiative? Because it’s, you know, something we all need to see out there. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (33:32) Yeah, I’d love that. So the first thing is, um, find me on LinkedIn and, you know, follow all of our socials. If you need help, there’s, um, there’ll be a form very soon for you to fill out some, details. My dream for the form, I’ve got to check it with the lawyers is we believe you. I don’t need to re traumatize you. don’t need a big bag. You know what mean? Like I don’t want to have, I want it to be really simple and. Jules (33:39) Yep. my god, I love it, Well maybe you can do I believe you with a tiny little microscopic asterisk that at the bottom says, as long as you’re telling me the truth. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (34:01) I know right responsible lending on things. So yeah, and then if you if you’re an expert in this space, let’s say you work with women and you can help them in these situations, right? Let’s say you’re a family lawyer. Let’s say you’re a conveyancer. Let’s say you’re a divorce specialist. Let’s say you’re a digital marketer or what it happens to be and you’re like, yeah, could lend my intellectual property. I could lend my thoughts. could lend some experience. then please get in touch. It’ll be so obvious how to do that when you jump on the website, which is heldfree.com. Jules (34:35) Okay, and ⁓ so LinkedIn and held free. And then, ⁓ and you’ve told me your quirky fact. Is there anything else that you would like everybody to know about this? Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (34:47) join me. Because I’m still so fresh and new and ideas are flowing and there’s no one path that I’m hell bent on other than, you know, the grads. I’m so open to partnerships and ideas and I think we are so genuinely better together. So if this has sparked something in you and you’re like, ⁓ she hasn’t thought of this or ⁓ I could help there or ⁓ know if if this light’s a fire in you as the listener ⁓ just reach out it’s still it’s still so malleable at this point Jules (35:21) Okay. What a brilliant thing to say. Okay, well this won’t be too long before this is out. Thank you so, so much for sharing this with me. I hope, I can’t wait to go out and share it with everyone actually. I’m actually for the first time gonna promote my podcast better than I’ve done before I think. So, you hopefully will get the, you know, I can get the word out there. But, absolutely love what you’re doing Cathy and thank you so, so much for even thinking of the idea and then taking it and following it through. Cause it’s something that I think is really badly needed. Kathy Rhodes – Held+Free (35:53) my absolute pleasure, Jules. And as I said, thank you for being the first person to pay attention and notice and have me on. I think there’s always going to be something really special about that milestone too.