Authentic Achievements with Kody Thompson: A Journey of Purpose-Driven Leadership
In this episode of “Authentic Achievements,” the host engages in a compelling conversation with Kody Thompson, a dynamic entrepreneur known for his impactful web development and remote team-building work. Kody is the founder of Lightning Sites and co-founder of Work Pod, which specialises in helping businesses establish remote teams in the Philippines. The discussion revolves around Kody’s journey, challenges, and lessons learned throughout his entrepreneurial path.
Introduction to Kody Thompson
Kody Thompson’s entrepreneurial journey is nothing short of inspiring. From his humble beginnings in a small country town to founding a multi-million dollar web development company, Kody’s story is a testament to the power of purpose-driven leadership. His ventures, Lightning Sites and Work Pod, have not only achieved significant financial success but have also profoundly impacted the lives of many.
Key Achievements:
Founder of Lightning Sites: Grew from a $250 startup to a multi-million dollar enterprise.
Co-founder of Work Pod: Helps businesses build remote teams in the Philippines.
Philanthropist: Leads the Live at Scale project in the Philippines.
Building Connections in Business
One of the central themes of the episode is the importance of building solid connections in business relationships. Kody emphasises that direct engagement between clients and team members leads to better performance and a more positive work culture.
Key Insights:
Direct Relationships: Facilitating direct relationships between clients and team members eliminates unnecessary complications and misunderstandings.
Enhanced Performance: When team members are directly engaged with a business’s visionary leader, their performance improves significantly.
Better Compensation: This model ensures that team members, particularly those in the Philippines, receive better compensation while clients pay less.
The Three Stakeholders in Business
The conversation introduces the concept of three key stakeholders in any business: the company, the colleagues, and the clients. Kody acknowledges that maintaining a delicate balance among these stakeholders is not just important but crucial for long-term success.
Key Insights:
Balanced Needs: Ensuring that the needs of the company, employees, and clients are met leads to a thriving business.
Disproportionate Challenges: Neglecting the needs of any one stakeholder can lead to challenges that hinder overall growth.
The Live at Scale Project
Kody’s philanthropic initiative, the Live at Scale project, is a significant part of his journey. The project supports a school in a remote area of the Philippines, providing essential resources and improving the quality of education for 250 students.
Key Initiatives:
Computer Room Setup: Providing students with access to technology.
Raincoats and Boots: Ensuring students can attend school during the rainy season.
Building a Fence: Protecting the school from vandalism.
Emotional Impact
Personal Connection: Kody shares touching stories about his visits to the school and the profound connection between his family and the community they are helping.
Gratitude and Perspective: These experiences have made Kody more aware of his life’s blessings and the importance of giving back.
Lessons Learned
Kody shares valuable lessons he has learned throughout his entrepreneurial journey, emphasising the importance of trusting and empowering others.
Key Lessons
Trust and Empowerment: Early in his journey, Kody struggled with the mindset that he had to do everything himself. Over time, he learned to delegate tasks and recognise the strengths of his team members.
Humility in Leadership: Kody has created a more efficient and effective organisation by elevating others and honouring their contributions.
The Birth of Work Pod
Work Pod was born out of the needs of Kody’s clients, who sought advice on building remote teams in the Philippines. This innovative approach has proven successful, with Work Pod quickly placing over 900 staff members for clients.
Key Insights:
Client-Centric Model: Work Pod’s model allows clients to hire talent directly, fostering a sense of ownership and integration within the client’s organisation.
Resource Utilisation: Kody utilised his resources by renting desks to friends who needed assistance hiring staff and providing valuable support to others.
Advice to Younger Self
As the episode nears its conclusion, Kody reflects on his journey and shares advice he would give to his younger self, providing a guiding light for the audience.
Key Advice:
Trust Your Intuition: Kody encourages listeners to have confidence in their decisions and trust their instincts, as following his intuition has always led to positive outcomes.
Connecting with Kody Thompson
Kody invites listeners to connect with him and learn more about his work through the Work Pod website and LinkedIn. He offers valuable resources, including a free checklist of tasks that can be outsourced to virtual assistants, helping business owners identify areas where they can delegate responsibilities.
How to Connect:
Work Pod Website: Access valuable resources and learn more about building remote teams.
LinkedIn: Engage with Kody and the entrepreneurial community.
In closing, the episode serves as a powerful reminder of the impact that purposeful leadership and community support can have on individuals and families. Kody Thompson’s journey is a testament to the importance of taking risks, trusting your instincts, and prioritising people. Listeners are left with a sense of inspiration and a call to action to reflect on their journeys and consider how they can contribute to the well-being of others.
Key Takeaways:
Purpose-Driven Leadership: Success is not just about financial growth but also about making a positive impact on the lives of others.
Empowering Others: Trusting and empowering your team can lead to remarkable achievements in both business and life.
Gratitude and Perspective: Reflecting on the privileges we enjoy and giving back to those in need can bring profound fulfilment.
By sharing his story, Kody Thompson inspires us to lead purposefully, embrace challenges, and make a difference in the world.
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Transcript: Automatically Transcribed With Podsqueeze
Kim-Adele Randall 00:00:03 Hello and welcome to today’s edition of. Authentic Achievements, where it’s my absolute privilege to be joined by the fabulous Kody Thompson. Kody, welcome.
Kody Thompson 00:00:13 Thank you. Thanks so much for having me.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:00:15 Oh, I am so looking forward to this conversation. I am so thrilled to be able to share your journey and it’s such an inspiring journey. But before I get into that, as we know I can get carried away. Let me tell the people watching and listening a little bit more about you in case they don’t know yet. So Kody is a dynamic entrepreneur known for founding Lightning Sites, a website, a web development company that he grew from a $250 startup into a multi-million dollar enterprise, generating over 5 million in profits over eight years. Lightning sites built 1500 plus websites, serviced over 800 clients monthly and generated over half a million leads after its 2023 acquisition by Sites at Scale. Kody co-founded Work Pod with Dan Beaumont to help businesses build remote teams in the Philippines. Work pods has placed over 900 remote staff, driving efficiencies and growth for its clients.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:01:13 A devoted husband, father of three and philanthropist Kody also leads the live at scale projects in the Philippines. I mean, wow, what a journey that you’ve already had. Could you bring that to life for us a little bit more?
Kody Thompson 00:01:27 Yeah, sure. Well, I grew up in a country town. and I didn’t have any intention of going into business. Actually, when I finished school, I started doing youth work, so I went straight back into the high schools when I finished high school, and I was running leadership programs for young people. Unfortunately, I had a number of friends that committed suicide when I was going through school. And so when I finished school, I really wanted to make a difference and and help young people. And so I went back into the schools and was running leadership programs. And then what happened was I ended up the church that I was going to saw what I was doing, and they wanted to help fund me, basically. So they employed me to help me run more programs in the schools.
Kody Thompson 00:02:11 And so I did that for, gosh, maybe 4 or 5 years while I while I went through university. And then I took on a volunteer position in a church and they had no money to pay me. So I started freelancing as a graphic designer, and that’s how I started my first business. I didn’t anticipate that it would turn into a business, so to speak. I was just thought that I would do it for 6 to 12 months and then eventually the church would be able to pay me. But yeah, it didn’t turn out like that. The business kept growing, and over the next, I think next 8 to 9 years, I built the web development company up and sold it and then have started my second company. So yeah, it’s it’s funny how things just happen when you put one foot in front of the other. It’s sort of, surprises you when you look back. You know where you’ve where you’ve gone, I guess.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:03:01 I love that. I often say that life only really makes sense in the rearview mirror, doesn’t it? Yeah.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:03:07 When you’re going through it, you’re kind of like, well, I’m not really quite sure. And then like, that’s why that happened and that that happened. And I think, you know, very often, you know, we don’t see the plan. What we have to do is just keep taking those steps, don’t we? And trusting that the plan will unfold the way it’s supposed to unfold.
Kody Thompson 00:03:27 yeah.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:03:28 But that’s I mean, what an amazing journey. And and taking that what must have been such a horrific experience of losing people to suicide and looking at how you could do something positive to improve other people’s lives. It strikes me from from everything that you’ve done, it’s very purpose driven. It’s about being able to leave things better than you found them. Would that be fair to say?
Kody Thompson 00:03:55 Yeah, I, I don’t know where it came from initially, I guess, you know, grateful for my parents for, I guess somehow they instilled that in me as a young person. And then, I also became a Christian when I was 16, which had a profound impact on my life and gave me direction and purpose like that.
Kody Thompson 00:04:17 I wanted to help others. And then that that really fueled a lot of those decisions that I made. Like even the decision to take on the volunteer position in the church, it was almost like a a demotion. At the time, I was the national youth director for like a group of 120 churches and then to like, then take on a volunteer position. Lots of people told me it was a silly thing to do, like it was the wrong decision. I was newly married, I had no money. even my parents were telling me not to do it. Like it was like it was a bad idea. I had to think about my wife and blah, blah, blah, and but sometimes you just know what the right thing to do is. And, and you have to just do what you know, in your heart is the right thing to do. And if I never made that decision, all these things that have happened, you know, with my business, those things never would have happened or may not have happened if I didn’t, if I didn’t make the decision, which I felt was right at the time.
Kody Thompson 00:05:14 So it’s really interesting I find in life. But like you said, it’s only when you look in the rearview mirror you realize that it was a really good decision. At the time, I wasn’t so sure.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:05:26 And like, they can be hard, but they particularly if at the time when you’re when you’re trying to trust that, that intuition that that heart, that drive and, and but everybody else is kind of going no no no no.
Kody Thompson 00:05:39 Yeah.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:05:40 Come on, come on. That’s a step too far. It can be really hard to find the courage to take the leap. Contin.
Kody Thompson 00:05:48 Yeah, exactly. I don’t know. For me, it’s always just been. I guess the way I’ve made those decisions has just been thinking. This might sound morbid, but I usually think about, like, what’s the worst thing that could happen? And so for me and Sarah, my wife Sarah, we literally had that conversation, okay, we take this job. What’s the worst thing that could happen? We only had like $4,000 in the bank.
Kody Thompson 00:06:12 So we’re like, that’s about ten weeks of rent. not including food. So maybe it’s like a month worth of expenses. So if we go there, neither of us can get jobs. This freelancing stuff that I’m doing doesn’t work. The worst thing that can happen is we come home, back to our parents house and ask our parents if we can move in for a while. I could ask for my old job back, you know what I mean? So and that’s not really that bad. Like, that’s not the worst thing that could happen in the world. So I usually look at like that. What’s the worst thing that could happen? And if I can just rewind it and, you know, if I can walk through the opportunity door. And if it’s not what I thought, I can walk back. Back through the door again. Then to me, that’s not that bad. So we just made the decision to do it, you know, and, thankful that we did.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:07:01 All right.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:07:01 So it sounds like it was definitely a leap worth taking. And, you know, I often do the same thing that made me smile when you said, you know, you look at what’s the worst that can happen. Yeah. My life on what’s the worst that can happen and can I live with it? And if the worst thing did happen, would I survive? Would it, would it be like it might be embarrassing or it might be, not what I expected it to be, but I probably would still survive. And it’s like that gives you that gives you that courage. So I mean, quite, quite a change there. So once you I mean, you started off with it really to help fund you being able to do the volunteer work. And then from $250 to over 5 million in profit, I mean, that’s quite a lot of growth. That’s.
Kody Thompson 00:07:43 Yeah.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:07:44 That’s quite an expense isn’t it.
Kody Thompson 00:07:47 Yeah, I mean, had a lot of help, thankfully, along the way.
Kody Thompson 00:07:50 but yeah, it’s it was for me, like, even I remember the year I made, the very first year I was freelancing, I made 110 K. And for me as a youth pastor the year prior, I made $36,000. Like, you don’t make money. You don’t go into pastoring to make money. Like you basically just survive. and so the, you know, I thought I was I thought I’d made it after even just one year, freelancing. So certainly. yeah. The, the financial success of the business has been, you know, a real blessing and helped us to look after our family in ways that I never thought that we’d be able to.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:08:31 I love that, and not just your families, but the families of the people that work for you. Because for you to have grown it to that size, you can’t just be that was working there. So you created also that opportunity, didn’t you? For other people to be able to start to build the career in the life that they wanted as well, which must come with a huge sense of pride that you were able to do that.
Kody Thompson 00:08:53 That’s right. Yeah. We had 80 staff in the end with the web development company when I sold it last year. And I guess one of the things that I was most proud of was that many of the staff that I hired right in the beginning, I still work for that company today. Like Beth was my first employee. She still works for, for sites at scale. Now, who bought lightning sites? Still works for that company today. Raleigh was the first web developer that I hired. He still, he he came across with me to work, but he still works with me. And Vince, my second web developer, still works. He came across and works at work, but so many of the people who I hired ten years ago are still part of either the organization that I sold or, moved across and work for the new organization that I, that I have founded, more recently. So that’s something that I’m really proud of. And I know when we were talking earlier, before we went live, you know, it’s something that I can I get a sense there’s a similar value with you.
Kody Thompson 00:09:53 You know, how how you look after your employees is really important?
Kody Thompson 00:09:57 Yeah.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:09:57 No. And and as you said, when we were chatting before, I think it were both came from that same space of, like, wanting to do the right thing for you people and put your people, first. And when you do that, you know, it gives you great results as, as demonstrated not only by the success of the company, but of the fact that these people still want to work with you and either have stayed with the organization that you built or have moved across to. The new organization is real testament to what the value they get from your leadership as much as, as much as anything else. And I think as leaders, that’s kind of what we go into it to do, isn’t it, is to add value to help people to, to realize their potential. And it strikes me from our conversation earlier on, from what you’ve shared today, that that’s some of where you get your proudest moments, is seeing them achieve their potential just as much as you can get pride from seeing yourself achieve something you set out to do.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:10:53 Would that be fair?
Kody Thompson 00:10:54 Yeah, totally. I think one of the other things I loved about your journey that I think is similar to similar to mine, like you talk about your past in hairdressing and how that taught you how to listen and how it taught you how to really understand people and to help them leave feeling, you know, better than when they walked in the door. It’s similar to me with my my first career as a pastor. Like what you learn building volunteer teams, you know, when you’re trying to get, you know, 20 volunteers to run programs for teenage kids. Like you have to learn how to motivate and inspire people who are not getting paid, to be there and, you know, get them to wake up at 7 a.m. and come to a high school and cook pancakes for kids, like, it’s not the easiest job sometimes to motivate people to do that. And so, you know that those skills that I learned, pastoring have really helped me, in, in the business field.
Kody Thompson 00:11:54 So I’m so grateful for those, you know, those early opportunities that I, that I was given.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:12:00 I love that because we do often learn so much from things that we didn’t expect to get the same lessons from. So it’s like you go in and you don’t realize how much you’re going to learn from a particular thing. Or, you know, as we both said before, you know, often it only makes sense in retrospect. But we look at those moments and go, actually, this taught me something that’s super useful, in future, you know, future life or, you know, for me, I have to find some of those lessons super useful in being a mom. I realized that actually trying to negotiate with a seven year old. sometimes you need every one of those skills.
Kody Thompson 00:12:37 To to.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:12:37 Be able to make that through. But again, you’re wanting to do the best for them when you’re wanting to make sure that they’re happy, but also that they’re healthy and and we’re doing the right things.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:12:46 And, I remember many years ago somebody saying to me, it’s such a shame you’re not a mom. And I was like, oh, I’m not patient enough to be a mom, you know? but now I look back at it and it’s like, oh, actually, yeah, it’s, it’s amazing how many of my leadership lessons in life have come to the forefront in, in kind of leading my little person to, to help her to, to live the best life that she can. What would you say has been your greatest lesson so far?
Kody Thompson 00:13:14 My greatest lesson so far? I think, I think my greatest lesson would be to to trust and empower others. Like, I think early on in the business, you when you’re when you’re an entrepreneur, you often start the journey wearing every single hat, like you’re the one doing everything in the business. And it’s easy to kind of get into a mindset. You know, maybe some of the listeners would have had the same mindset that I had where it’s like, nobody can do it as good as me, or it’s faster if I do it myself.
Kody Thompson 00:13:55 Like those types of mindsets become like easy to, to to to have because you’re used to doing everything yourself. but I’ve learned over the years that I guess the skills that I have can be, supplemented by other people’s skills and, and the, the genius that I have, can be systemized and and and put into processes and, and then I can empower others to, to tackle those projects in the business. And many times they do a better job, or most times they would do a better job than if I’m doing it and trying to juggle 50 things at the same time. And so that’s been like a difficult lesson to learn because it, it, it involves like humbling yourself basically, and and, and and elevating others and honoring others above yourself. And so that’s not like always easy to do. And I don’t always get it perfect. But that’s, something that I really try to work at. And I think I’ve gotten a lot better at that over the years.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:15:02 Yeah, I think I think that is so true.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:15:04 When you, when you first start out your business that you just realized on day one that all of a sudden, oh, hold on, I’m, I’m it, I’m HR, I’m sales and marketing, all these things that were in addition to what I actually set my business up to do. And then being able to relinquish some of that, being able to go or hold on, somebody else can can do this. Maybe I can do it. But, you know, they could do it better or faster or more efficient or actually they could just free me up to go and do something. I’m really good at some somewhere else, it’s going to have more impact. and, you know, it strikes me that that’s obviously also super important to what you’re doing with the new business, which is helping helping other businesses get the right outsourcers, isn’t it, so that they can actually get the right skills, have that confidence that that those, those processes that they’re outsourcing are actually going to be done to a great ability and free them up and their business up to grow? Is that what made you, think of and start up work pot?
Kody Thompson 00:16:06 Yeah.
Kody Thompson 00:16:07 It’s funny. Nearly all of my businesses, all of my best business ideas have come from my customers. and so when I was running, the web development business over the years, I, you know, I’d build a team of, of about 80 staff in the Philippines, and I’d had so many, clients of mine and friends of mine, like, ask me for advice on, like, how did you do that? Like, where did you find these people? How did you rent a building in the Philippines? How did you set up the company there? Like where do you find the talent? And a lot of other people had tried outsourcing, and, and for many different reasons, had not had as much success or, or hadn’t worked as well for them. And so I’d had lots of people asking me, but I’d been very focused on the web development business. And so I’d, you know, given them a little bit of advice, but never, I guess never been I was never in a position to really help them in a deep way.
Kody Thompson 00:17:03 And then we ended up outgrowing the office that we were in for the web development business. And we, we we fitted out a facility for about 120 staff, and we only had 80 staff. And so, the brainwave for me was like, hey, if I rent out these 40 desks to my friends, I help them hire some staff. They’ve been asked. They’ve been like nagging me to help them. So if I help them, hire some staff and rent the desks out, I could get my building for free. And so that was kind of the intention was that it was just like, well, I’ve got this wasted resource here. I may as well use it. So I went to some of my friends who’d been asking me for help, and I let them use my HR team, and my recruiter in my HR team, to hire staff for them and just rented desks in my office. And it turned out to be like a really winning model. I think what people liked about it was we allowed people to hire the talent directly, whereas most agencies, what they do is they hire the talent on on your behalf and then they double, triple or even more the cost of the talent.
Kody Thompson 00:18:08 And then there’s this weird relationship where you’re they’re not really your employee. They’re someone else’s employee that’s being rented to you. And so that’s what it was, the normal model, in the Philippines and probably in many of the developing countries where outsourcing is a, you know, is common. And so work allowing people to hire the staff directly. It was it was a huge winner because within the next, you know, the next couple of years, as you mentioned, you know, early as you read our bio, we’ve placed over 900 staff for clients. And so yeah, our little 40 desks, yeah, it grew very quickly and in an outgrew my web development company in like less than two years. And so that was really the catalyst for me to, to sell the web development business and focus all my attention on work pod.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:18:58 I love that because I think you’re right. You’re often in that model. The bit that hasn’t worked is the fact that they’re not really your people. And, you know, as we talked about before and in this conversation, you want them to be your people, you want them to be part of your culture and to feel part of the team and to and to have the same experience of being in the team.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:19:19 which is difficult if you’ve rented them because because they feel like a more of a connection to who you’ve rented them from. And they will then they will to you. So I, I love that actually. What you’re what you’re doing is taking the expertise that you’ve got and you’ve built, which is being able to help people find the right person and facilitate them getting the right person, but then letting them actually hire them themselves and make them a member of their team, is a great way for both businesses to maintain a positive culture, isn’t it?
Kody Thompson 00:19:54 Yeah, I think people perform best when they’re connected to the visionary of the business. And if there’s some like somebody in the middle of that relationship who’s it just becomes weird to be honest, you end up having three way conversations where, you know, our client, you know, the client could be upset at the, the provider, and they can be, can be sort of like, played off against each other if there’s a performance issue or something like that, it can just create a strange dynamic.
Kody Thompson 00:20:24 And so, yeah, When people are engaged directly with the visionary leader, they perform much better at their job. And I think it’s a better situation for the Filipino. They get paid more, because they get paid directly. Our client pays less, so they’re happy. And then we don’t have these weird conversations where we’re in the middle of, And so we’re happy to. So I just think it’s a better model. and I think, you know, judging by how the market reacted, I think it was I think it was the model that people were, were really waiting for.
Kody Thompson 00:20:57 Yeah.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:20:58 No, I think that’s right. Like you say, in this situation, all three are happy. And I think, you know, for me, that’s always been the key in business is I always think you’ve got I think you’ve got three stakeholders in, in any business, which is you’ve got the company and what the company needs to survive. You’ve got the colleague and what the colleague needs to thrive and survive.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:21:17 And you’ve got the clients and what they need to thrive and survive. And if you get all three, yeah, that’s when your business goes really well. If all three are all getting what they need and are all feeling happy and thriving, then actually that’s when the business grows exponentially. One of them is out of kilter. That’s where you end up spending a disproportionate amount of your time. And then the wheels come off a little bit, don’t they? Because that’s right and balanced in the wrong place.
Kody Thompson 00:21:41 I love that, yeah, I haven’t thought about it like that before, but that’s. Yeah, I think we’re on the same page there. That’s exactly the way that we’ve tried to run things.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:21:51 Yeah. And it shows because I mean, that’s coming across in kind of all of you, all of your businesses. And I’d love to also hear a bit more about, the Live at Scale project. Can you tell us about that?
Kody Thompson 00:22:03 Yeah. So we had, one of my employees, Beth.
Kody Thompson 00:22:08 she had a friend who was a school teacher in one of the schools. that that is in the provinces nearby. it’s about two hours from our our main, offices in Dumaguete in the Philippines. So up in the mountains, there’s a little school. There’s 250 students there. It’s a place called Kanga Top. And, there was a, like I said, a connection through one of our staff and a teacher reached out, asked for some support. The schools in the Philippines, particularly those in regional province areas, they really are very underfunded, to a point where like even basic things like paper, pencils and like internet, that most schools don’t have internet connection, many don’t have computers, and just basic learning materials. Even like one of the teachers last time I visited, she was nervous to ask me to, to photocopy some readers for the kids. you know, which was like $50 or something like that. And it’s just like, you know, it breaks your heart to think that, you know, our our children can have such a privilege in the UK, where you are in Australia, where I am, you know, we we as a parent, we never have to think about, you know, we never have to make a decision around feeding our child or sending them to school.
Kody Thompson 00:23:31 But many of the parents in these, in these province areas, they can’t afford to do both. So it’s oftentimes the kids won’t even finish primary school or many don’t finish high school. hardly any go to college in these province areas. So, basically we just help support that school. so we set aside some funds every, every year. And, they basically, tell us what they would like help with. So we’ve done stuff like set up our computer room for them. just small things like, like buying raincoats and boots for the children, things like that. Many of them will walk kilometres to to school every day. And they, they end up at school, you know, soaking wet. And then they sit all day wet and they get sick. And so then they can’t go to school. So, you know, basically whatever they need. I think the next project, they’re they’re asking us for help building a fence around the school because it gets vandalized sometimes and things like that. So, yeah, we just basically support these 250 students and it’s, it’s been really great.
Kody Thompson 00:24:36 I think it’s been seven years. we’ve been working with that particular school, and it was really beautiful, actually, on, on my, not my last trip at the time before I took my family there. And it was really beautiful because my daughter’s seven years old and there was some kids there that were the same age as Scarlett that I have, that I’ve seen grow up through, like the preschool and the primary school there. So it was really cool to see kids that were like in prep when, when I first started helping at the school and they were graduating, and it was cool because my daughters were there so they could meet some of the children and stuff. So it was really special.
Kody Thompson 00:25:16 Oh, wow. I mean.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:25:17 What an experience for your daughters. But also, you’re so right. We we take for granted very often the decisions we don’t have to make. so we don’t have to decide. Do I feed them today or do I send them to school? We’re blessed and grateful that we can do both of those.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:25:35 and it takes you back to to really, be grateful that you have that when you have people that don’t have that have to have to make those choices and those and those decisions. And it must be heartbreaking for those parents, because as parents, you try and do the best for your children with what you’ve got available. So it must be so, so impactful to be able to see the impact of helping that school and helping those 250. But to then share that experience with your daughters must have been one of those.
Kody Thompson 00:26:13 One of.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:26:13 Those precious, memory moments that are just priceless.
Kody Thompson 00:26:18 Yeah, it was really awesome and I always just want to be honest. I spend the whole time crying when I’m there. I never like looking at photos, or at least any of the photos that I’m in. And when we go and do those because they always they have such a way, the children there of just being so, so happy and so grateful and and it just makes you feel, it just makes you feel convicted.
Kody Thompson 00:26:42 To be honest, I feel convicted when I go there about like, how how, you know, blessed I am and how many things I take for granted. Like the last trip, that I was there. They always get the kids to do, like, a show, like they dance and they, and they sing. Filipinos are amazing, like karaoke singers. So there’s all these kids with amazing voices, and they they sung a hymn last time. And it’s like the words for the human, like, give thanks with a grateful heart. Give thanks to the Lord with a grateful heart and these like five year old four year old kids in these little white dresses singing this song. And it’s just like. It’s like they set the whole thing up just to make me cry. Every time. Every time.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:27:29 I feel that for you, I would, I would.
Kody Thompson 00:27:31 Cry.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:27:32 It takes you back to those moments when you see your little one, you know, doing a do something in the nativity and you’re all blubbing.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:27:39 But, but they’ve got such children have got such innocence and they’ve got such a, Such an easy way of seeing the joy and the positive in things. But I think when you have moments like that, it hits you in the heart, doesn’t it? That we all have it in us to to see things with the joyous simplicity of children? and when we do, we become so much more present and so much more grateful for everything around us.
Kody Thompson 00:28:12 Yeah, totally, I totally agree.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:28:14 I love it. I could literally talk to you all day. I’m really conscious of time. You’ve already shared so, so much amazing stuff with this, but if you could go back and give your younger self a piece of advice, what would it be?
Kody Thompson 00:28:29 I don’t really regret anything that I’ve done. So I think for me it would be, just to trust in that. We talked about that intuition and just knowing, like if, if you know what the right thing to do is just do it. And, I’m grateful that I think in most cases I’ve done that.
Kody Thompson 00:28:47 but that would be, you know, there was times I doubted in that and struggled to make those decisions. And I think if you could go back and, and, and speak to myself again, I would just give myself more confidence to make those decisions because, yeah, I’ve every time I’ve made that decision, I’ve never regretted it. And so I think that would be the, the advice that I would give myself.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:29:11 I love that I think often we do, we do need to trust ourselves more that way and trust that intuition piece. And, I think you’re right, I like you. I don’t ever regret anything that I’ve done. I might learn from some of the things. I don’t regret them, but often I do things myself. How many days did you waste?
Kody Thompson 00:29:31 Yeah.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:29:32 Why didn’t you just trust yourself? Day one. Instead of, like, eating it out for another 3 or 4 until you were, until you’re ready to to kind of take take that leap. So, that definitely resonates on the, on the whole, actually, just when you can see when you can see the step, when it feels like it’s the right step, then take it because, that, you know, that I think is our inner guidance, isn’t it.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:29:58 It’s I, I always think it’s my inner satnav that, I need to listen to and stop doing the whole yeah, I know shortcut. I know I might have plugged it in to go with you. But I know a different way of going because that will always be the time that I stumble is when I’ve overthought it.
Kody Thompson 00:30:14 Yeah, I, I totally agree.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:30:16 So before we head off, how can people get in touch with you and, and how can they, work alongside you? Who is it? You help?
Kody Thompson 00:30:26 Yeah.
Kody Thompson 00:30:26 So you can check our website out. It’s, work pod spelled w r k pod. So no own work w k pod comm. And so if you want to find out more about what we’re doing, we’ve got lots of great content on there. There’s there’s a free checklist on the home page. You can if you’re interested in potentially looking at hiring virtual assistants. That’s a great resource. That’s free on our website. you can download it. It’s 160 things you can outsource to virtual assistants.
Kody Thompson 00:30:54 So that’s a great way you can audit the time, in your business and figure out what are the tasks that you’re currently doing, that you could potentially delegate to someone else so that you can spend it on more important areas of your business rather than getting stuck in the day to day tasks. So that’s a great little tool. And you can find me on LinkedIn. My name spelt with a k k o d Thompson. And so yeah, I’d love to connect with you on LinkedIn and you can find us at work.
Kody Thompson 00:31:21 Com amazing.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:31:23 And obviously we will make sure all of those details are how to connect with code in the show notes below. So if you didn’t catch any of that then please just look at the notes and you will find all of that. And also more information about Kody’s journey and Kody. Thank you so very much for coming on and sharing your journey with us and sharing such insight. It’s been an absolute delight.
Kody Thompson 00:31:44 Thank you. It’s been a great conversation. I really appreciate you having me on.
Kody Thompson 00:31:48 Thank you so much.
Kim-Adele Randall 00:31:49 And for everybody listening and watching, I hope you found it as interesting, insightful and inspiring as I have. And until next time, take care.