Carlyn Cooper Episode 2 Reclaiming The Joy of Business Podcast

Balancing Growth and Passion: Carlyn Cooper's Journey with In Sync Kids

In this episode of 'Reclaiming the Joy of Business,' host Steve Sandor interviews Carlyn Cooper, CEO of In Sync Kids. Carlyn shares her challenges and triumphs in balancing her roles as a clinician, business owner, and mother. 

Carlyn talks about transitioning from being a hands-on occupational therapist to a strategic business leader, the importance of training her team to maintain high standards, and her efforts to expand her philosophy into the broader OT market.

Carlyn also discusses the importance of maintaining passion and setting strategic goals for both personal fulfillment and professional growth.

00:00 Introduction and Early Challenges
00:46 Meet Carlyn Cooper
03:26 The Vision Behind In Sync Kids
04:33 Understanding Occupational Therapy
10:18 Transitioning from Clinician to Business Owner
17:15 Building a Supportive Team Culture
21:08 Lessons Learned and Overcoming Challenges
25:31 Future Goals and Inspirations
28:58 Conclusion and Contact Information

Carlyn Cooper LinkedIn Profile

In Synch Kids OT Link to Website

Steve Sandor CEO and Founder of Inspiring Business

LinkedIn Profile

Transcript

Carlyn Cooper: 0:05

about five years ago. Um, and that was more of a capacity of knowing that I could not do everything really well. Um, so I, as a clinician, I want to be an exceptional clinician. As a business owner, I want to be an exceptional business owner. As a mother, I want to be a good mother. So it was the realization that. You've got to pick your battles. And for us, for my vision of being able to reach as many families and be able to make enough difference, I realized I needed to step back because that enabled me to be able to grow in sync and be able to support the clinicians so that we can reach more families and so on.

Steve Sandor: 0:48

Welcome to Reclaiming the Joy of Business. I'm your host, Steve Sandor, and my guest today is Carlyn Cooper, CEO of In Sync Kids. Carlyn is one of those passionate and energetic business owners who started their business to make a difference with her clinical OT skills. And as the business grew, Carlyn was faced with the same growth and leadership challenges that I'm sure you have faced, or are facing. Carlyn recognized that she couldn't be an exceptional OT therapist, and an exceptional business owner, and an exceptional mother, all at the same time. Her approach was to simply redirect her clinical skills of caring for her clientele and focus that on her clinicians that were servicing their clients. Carlyn felt the typical emotional separation anxiety when it feels like you are letting go of control. Carlyn's approach was to make sure that her staff had all the skills, experience, and time to provide the quality and standard she had set for In Sync kids. This allowed Carlyn to leverage her experience and have a greater impact on the broader community. It's allowed Carlyn to focus on a larger association project to expand her philosophy into the broader OT market. So reclaiming the joy of business is possible. It starts with a shift in the mindset and small consistent changes. Thank you for joining us for this conversation. I hope it inspires you to know that you too can be in control and reclaim the joy of business. my guest today is Carlyn Cooper. How are you, Carlyn?

Carlyn Cooper: 2:51

I'm good.

Steve Sandor: 2:52

We've had some technical issues. We

Carlyn Cooper: 2:55

did.

Steve Sandor: 2:56

Seems to be the bane of my life. We've got a number of recording. And so we'll let, let's, let's press on. Um, we're using zoom this time So we'll see, uh, see how that goes. Um, so thanks very much for coming on, uh, as a guest, as I said, we're having real conversations with real people just to give the listener, um, A sense of what your background is, what you do, and then, you know, we can, we can get into, um, other conversations.

Carlyn Cooper: 3:26

Um, so I, um, own a business called In Sync Kids Occupational Therapy, um, and it's an allied health clinic, um, and we have, um, a couple of branches in Brisbane, um, and I am, my background is an occupational therapist, so when I started, um, In Sync 10 years ago, um, just before my daughter was born, I was the main OT, um, and I have a passionate So We're making, enabling children to reach their full potential and understand what is hindering that and getting a clear understanding of that. So super passionate about that. And that's how In Sync grew. Um, and we growing every day, um, and have grown a lot in the last five years. Um, we have a team of 20 OT's now, um, and equally as passionate as myself about making a difference in kids and families lives.

Steve Sandor: 4:23

So when you say. Passionate about making, um, or changing the lives of children. What, what does that mean?

Carlyn Cooper: 4:33

So we work with a range of kids. So we would work with kids that have, um, so as OTs, um, our job is to enable like an OT in general. Lots of people don't know what OTs do, um, is that, uh, when we, uh, do our Bachelor of Science, the whole aim of the theory and so on is enabling people to function at their, Um, base level. So, for example, um, if there are adults, we work in stroke rehab, we work in mental health. So the same thing would be functionally getting them back to where they were and independent. Um, in children, it's a bit different. It's more about their development. So ultimately, if they aren't developing or there's gaps in their development, let it be. Just just a general delay or there is some underlying condition. Our goal is essentially to get them to as age appropriate as possible so that they can function very successfully in their environment that they should be able to functioning like kindy and school and home.

Steve Sandor: 5:33

So when you started the business you you would have had two choices, you know, stay as an OT at the coalface and and do that sort of work. Right. Um, and obviously, you know, the more impact that you want to make, the bigger you need to be to have that. So what were the choices when, when you decided, okay, I'm going to build a business, what was the vision for you?

Carlyn Cooper: 6:00

Um, I guess it actually pretty much started from when I actually started, uh, to study as an OTA, I always wanted to have my own practice. I wanted to be, um, the controller of my own destiny. Um, and when I moved to Australia, um, 12 years ago from Um, I was living in England and qualified in England. Um, I moved here and the type of, um, pediatric OT that they do in Queensland particularly is, um, Not the same as what globally is, um, more of a standard nowadays. Um, and so for me, the reason I started my practice is that I have a post certification in air sensor integration, which is more of that, um, development side of things, so understanding what is the. developmentally impacting a child versus just working on a specific skill. So the OT in this country or in Queensland particularly is very much a top down. So basically, if it's got a hand, if a child has a handwriting difficulty, you would just work on the handwriting. You wouldn't necessarily work on the underlying reasons for it. And why hasn't that child developed that as our job and my postgraduate certification is to, Is we've learned to assess and do standardized assessments and understand clearly where that child is with regards to the norm and all facets that would impact their, um, development. And then we would treat that and it looks like a lot of fun and it just looks like a little play. So for me, I love that. And that's what I came from, but it wasn't the norm here. So I decided I would go on my own. Um, I was very much the black sheep because it wasn't, um, At the time, particularly within the universities, it wasn't the therapy approach that they advocated for. in Australia and it was very much, um, lots of talk about lack of evidence and so on. I mean, it's in essence, it's, it wasn't true at the time, but I think that was something I was so passionate about because my family's, it made a big difference to those kids lives and what we did. So that's where, uh, why I went to my own, um, was one of the main reasons. And also just, I wanted to have a little bit control of my own destiny when I had children. So I could actually pick my hours and so on. So that was the initial step.

Steve Sandor: 8:20

So you mentioned that you started the business about the same time as you had your first child. Yep. So you've got, not only have you got starting a business, You've got dealing with, you know, being the black sheep or the bleeding edge of, of industry as I call it. Um, you know, so you're dealing with government issues. You're dealing with obviously there's compliance and all the rest of it. So what were the biggest and then, and then obviously, you know, running the business and then growing the business. What were your biggest challenges? At that early informative stage.

Carlyn Cooper: 8:55

In some ways, I feel like it was the easier phase, um, in the sense that, um, I already was. known for the difference I make, um, in children's lives. So from a referrals point of view, um, in different places that I'd worked and the structure I did when I went on my own, people just found me. And that was pretty awesome. Like, um, I had a full caseload for myself and already needed clients to be seen by other people. So probably the biggest challenge, to be honest, at that time was the lack of training in what I did in Australia. So being able to train up new staff was probably the biggest challenge because they couldn't do the postgraduate certification. Um, because it wasn't offered at the time in Australia, and I had to do a lot of that, um, training that I would have received from institutions, um, globally. So that was, that was probably a bigger challenge, where I'm not only growing a baby and, and, um, looking after a baby, but also ensuring that. Um, new members of team were supported and they were, um, educated and we were able to provide the same quality of service as I was able to give based on my training.

Steve Sandor: 10:14

And, and, and as you grew. You moved, if I understand it correctly, you've sort of moved away from the clinical work and you've had to move into sort of a more managerial, um, uh, aspect of, of the business. And before we started recording you, um, you know, I asked you how things were going and you're saying, well, I'm back on the desk, you know, sort of, which is, uh, you know, you can't do both. Um, so, so what I'm interested in here is as you transitioned from the client, you know, clinical work and you moved into sort of that managerial space, what, what were some of the things that you didn't expect that occurred and you went, Oh, gee, I didn't, I wasn't prepared for that.

Carlyn Cooper: 11:05

I guess when you're a clinician, um, you're really passionate about you, what you do, you know, we really care and our health professionals, we, we get into the field because we care. And so you really, um, love what you do. Most, most of the time, you really, really, really love what you, what you do and, and the difference that you can make, you can see, you can change people's lives and it's amazing. Um, I shifted away from clinical work when I had my son, um, about five years ago. Um, and that was more of a capacity of knowing that I could not do everything really well. Um, so I, as a clinician, I want to be an exceptional clinician. As a business owner, I want to be an exceptional business owner. As a mother, I want to be a good mother. So it was the realization that. You've got to pick your battles. And for us, for my vision of being able to reach as many families and be able to make enough difference, I realized I needed to step back because that enabled me to be able to grow in sync and be able to support the clinicians so that we can reach more families and so on. So that was, um, A good decision to make, but it was hard to, to, to step away. I remember one of my team leaders at the time was just like, Carlyn, you shouldn't be doing, um, assessing, you can't do it all. And I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's all good. Um, but eventually when I did take that step back completely, um, it was good. It enabled me to focus a lot more on the growth and the strategic planning of the business. And you didn't have to switch your brain to between clinical and business. Um, now, as you said, um, I have gone back into clinical for a short while this year because I've had lots of my OTs go on maternity leave. And, um, so, that's, um, Always a joy, like the joy of being, doing clinicals, the easy stuff. I often say to people, this is the stuff I know I was trained. That was, um, you know, you, you know what to do. You could do it with your eyes closed, but, um, business is different. No one trains you. You don't go to four years of university to figure it out and you learn. The hard way sometimes and you figure out the little mistakes or you reflect a lot. I find as a business owner, I reflect a lot. It makes me know, you know, realize, oh, that didn't work. Or maybe I'll do this. And there's always in the back of my head, that constant element of improvement. How can we do things better? How can we be more efficient? How can we support? So that's That's tricky when that's always going on your head and then you go back into clinical because your clinical is all consuming and all focused and all client facing. So your ability to jump between the two is probably a little bit more challenging. So, but in some ways that it's good to be in it to understand what needs working on also. Yeah. So it

Steve Sandor: 14:09

gives you, it gives you some experiential. Um, potentially what's changed over the last five years facing, I'm really interested in the mindset that you had. So let's go back to when you actually made the choice of not doing clinician work and then being more management focused or, you know, strategic focus. you know, you said it was, it was difficult to, to do that. But. What was the thing that you, you felt that you'd lost because of not doing the clinical work and what replaced it in terms of the passion?

Carlyn Cooper: 14:47

I think it's almost like, um, a control element. So I lost. The control of knowing the standard or the front front facing. So that was a hard adjustment. I would say on reflection that I always worried that we were providing the standard weather. So that was that loss was, um, But then to almost mitigate that, uh, it was like, okay, how can we make sure that we provide the best standard of training for our team? How can we make sure that they're the most competent clinicians? How can we make sure? So that sort of changed my strategic because. My to enable good retention and good consistency and so on. I needed to make sure that the team itself so you went from focusing on your clients. Um, which were your joy. Um, and and what you did to focusing on team. And, and just making sure that team were sort of ported in the way. And you learn those things in, you know, at that five year mark, there were certain things that I was like, Oh, this will work well. And I'm probably that typical entrepreneur at the time where I was probably a lot more impulsive in my decisions, um, more in that every day, but that, that jumped to management. Was very much that one. I had another newborn baby and the ability to be consistent and communicate with the team was easier than having client load that I had to constantly face with and so on and wouldn't be doing when I was on maternity leave.

Steve Sandor: 16:22

Was there a, a, a specific culture in mind that you had when, when, you know, so really what you were talking about there is I, you know, I talk about business advisors sometimes say you need to let go of control. I don't, I don't agree with that. I think you actually need to be in control as the business owner. You can be less controlling. In what you, how, how you communicate with people, um, be less autocratic, um, you know, put systems and processes in place that enables you to observe from afar what's going on in your business so you can, you know, you can be strategic. So what was the culture that you were trying to create and, and, and how did you go about, you know, making those in influencing the culture of the business?

Carlyn Cooper: 17:15

When, um, In Sync started and the team that we, we had at that time, they were like, we're a small little team and super passionate clinicians they are, and most of them I'm still very much in contact with now. And, um, They, um, they made it a lot of fun because our, because our actual work is so much fun. We are kids at heart, essentially. And um, and so that's where in the team, that's important for me to like, I want people to collaborate and have fun and, and discuss and have peer, cause it was an experience that I had in a team that I'd worked in in the UK. And I just thought this was so cool. You're just collaborating. They're always present. They're lots of fun. We like to have a go on our equipment and all those sort of things. So I think the culture I wanted was them to feel like they were supported, but they could also be autonomous. Um, and that's, that's a hard line because When I hired contractors, they were always very autonomous and very capable individuals. But, you know, it's a different ethos as you grow a team and that sort of stuff. And that just that autonomy comes with experience and competency. So at the end of the day, it was making sure that they felt supported so that they Came to work, passioned and inspired and so on.

Steve Sandor: 18:44

Um, so you were bringing up a baby and you were bringing up a baby. One had a name, one was a call the business, right? Yeah. Um, so, so from, and, and as we know, you know, I've got four kids as well. And. And we the conversations that we have with our children as a, you know, three and or a toddler, and then as a, as a, you know, teenager are very different. And now my kids are in their sort of 30s and plus, and so the conversations I have with them is very, very different. so how did you create a language internally within the organization so that when A challenge presented itself that it was able to be discussed internally, um, with a purpose in mind.

Carlyn Cooper: 19:44

Um, and I guess that's probably, um, lessons learned. I think when you start your business, you are the one making most of the decisions. It's very much, you're the directive of everything that happens over time. It's very much more of a team, let it be leadership team or team as a whole. Um, it was at the time of the size of the business, but it was very much that constant communication within our regular meetings and so on, or senior meetings of what is working, what isn't, you know, what can we improve? What do they feel confident bringing forward? What changes need to be making? And as the. As the director, my job is to evaluate, you know, what is our mission and our values, what do we aim to achieve, and is this, if we add this, or keep this, or adjust this, is that in keeping with that, because ultimately, um, you know, not everyone likes change, but sometimes change is completely necessary, um, and sometimes it's not, and I think I've only learned that one lesson. Thank you. Later in, in life, in late, later in business life, um, that, you know, sometimes we don't need to, if it's working, just work with it. It's working well. So,

Steve Sandor: 21:01

We always like to hear the success stories and that's, you know, that inspires us and something to aspire to. My contention is that the lessons are in the mistakes that we made and the lessons that we learned from those that, that Without those lessons, if it was just success, I'm not sure that you would actually get success without mistakes, but that's, you know, hopefully, you know, we'll find that, um, that Holy Grail one day. Um, so from your point of view, what will, what do you think? What was a, like at the time felt like a massive disadvantage or massive mistake or a situation that was really difficult to overcome at that time. And then in hindsight, when you look back from it, uh, to it, you, you, you see the, the lessons that were learned either from you or from your team.

Carlyn Cooper: 22:02

Um, I guess that's a really hard question because I think sometimes it's not really one like mistake that you go, Oh, I should not have done that. But more, as I said, I reflect a lot on, on that. And our big growth was probably about five years ago, um, just after, um, COVID lockdown. And I think it was. We went from a very typical healthcare model where we face to face with clients and that sort of stuff. We went, um, to an adjusted model, um, and influenced by lockdowns and all those sort of stuff to a wait list of hundreds of children. And it was, so my brain as the business side was like, Oh my gosh, we need to meet the needs of these kids. So I hired and hired and hired more, um, OTs and we grew and we grew and we added more clinics and stuff like that. And I think my reflection on all of that was the fact that it was, um, I would have probably done it more strategically. I think I would have actually, although my instinct and that from an allied health professional is like, well, we've got all these clients, we need to like meet their needs, blah, blah, blah, let's go. Um, the impact it had, Was on the team. It was, um, a lot of growth very quickly and they didn't not all coped with it. Um, it probably wasn't communicated consistently. Um, and I think, you know, um, as people say, there's lots in my head, but sometimes I don't bring it out and I feel like I've got. Like, that would be my mistake on reflection, is that just that ability to clearly communicate what I'm thinking, where we're going and what we're doing, um, because I think, um, I might be three steps ahead, but everyone else is still just seeing the kids, um, so at the end of the day, I think that would be, um, a mistake or just a reflection of how I would have done something differently.

Steve Sandor: 24:07

Business is an experiment. Like sometimes, you know, when, as, as, as a parent, you know, the, the first time a child walks is the first time a child walks and the first time they speak and the first time they get drunk at a pub, all right, is the first time they get drunk at a pub. And, you know, you, you, you're hoping that the decisions that you've made along the way have supported, you know, that, that whole experience for them. Um, So yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's enjoyable, but it's also stressful at the same time. Right. Yeah. So, so with that in mind, um, you know, one of the things that I'm finding. Uh, amongst business owners at the moment is that the narrative is that it's getting harder and harder and harder to run a business, you know, compliance, uh, government interference, financial concerns, the economy, the world situation, all of that, right? And reclaiming the joy of business is, you know, my mantra is what I'm trying to say. Yes. Yes. All of that is true. However, it's the context that you provide, right? That's the context that you, so, so what is it that is, is inspiring you to continue doing what you're doing? So for you, Carlyn, what's over the next 12 months, what, what brings joy to your world that you can see that you either make a distance difference in at a professional level or at a personal level?

Carlyn Cooper: 25:44

Uh, it's a great question because I think, um, I, I do agree that it is more challenging, um, to run a business. It's definitely harder in the last couple of years. But you joke, if you spoke to my husband and business manager, he's He's got it definitely probably a glass half full, um, sort of philosophy, but that's, you know, his job is fine. He needs to look at the finance and all that sort of stuff. I'm ever the optimist. Like I'm always thinking that there's going to be something great and I can make a bigger difference and all that sort of stuff. So I think, um, I am a very determined individual and I also have a lot of things in my, um, that I wanted to go for In Sync and myself personally. Um, and so the joy is, you know, now what we do and the, the, um, type of OT that we do is we've set up an institute, um, uh, Association for, um, in Australia and we set up a not for profit and that's a huge deal. Like, I don't think I would have been able to do that as just a sole practitioner and so on, but having the business I have now, I've got the ability to do that and actually have a much greater reach than just within my own business, um, which will only benefit the business, but also benefit my growth, um, and being able to make a difference in the world. Um, and so I think that was, that's, that joy needs to be there. And I found that sometimes in business, it can be quite, um, particularly if you're ever the optimist and, and the bills are only getting higher and the government changes how they, um, Fun things and, and, and we look like the, um, money grabbers, but really we're just trying to pay people and provide a service. Um, and so I think what I realized is that I actually need something more sometimes, because as I don't have that passion of making a difference with the clinical, cause I don't see those clients, but I need to see that I can make a difference in other ways. So I think that that enables me to continue and I need to be able to know that we are. Have a bigger vision for that and and because if we just stagnated where we are, I don't think that would personally fulfill me and the vision that I have in general.

Steve Sandor: 28:06

Yeah, that's wonderful. And you know, the businesses that I've seen that have got that entrepreneur at the forefront, who's making hay, and the people in the back are going, Can you stop coming up with ideas, please, because we haven't even got the last one bedded down. But without that tension, the bridge slackens, you know, so you actually need both sides of those to, to bring back, you know, to enable that. that chasm to be to be bridged. It's fantastic that you have that it's it's when the it's when you're not focusing on yourself, I think was when the real humans come out in us and we're looking for, you know, that making an impact outside of ourselves. So, um, Um, thank you for doing that. Um, I, is, is, if someone's interested, the, uh, you know, the listener is interested in that specific, you know, is there some way that they can help and support you in that cause?

Carlyn Cooper: 29:09

Yeah, yeah. So our new not for profit is, um, ASI Australia. We're actually hosting The global conference in Sydney in, um, October. Um, um, which is super exciting. Most of, we have a huge international contingent that is coming over and it's so exciting. But, yeah, um, we are going to be establishing a member's organization. So, um, definitely reach out. Um, head onto our website. asi-aus.org. Um, and yeah, we would love the support and if you wanna know more, please reach out.

Steve Sandor: 29:45

Wonderful. We'll make sure, uh, in the promotions that we include those links and also in the show notes. Um, Carlyn, thanks so much for one, taking the time, putting up at the technical stuff that we had at the beginning. It's great to hear your story, ire. I really do. Um, love the the energy and passion that you obviously demonstrate. Um, so, you know, congratulations, well done. And I hope the future brings some joy to you.

Carlyn Cooper: 30:10

Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Steve, for your time also.