57: Trusting Enough to Test the Boundaries by Franziska Iseli

Today, we continue the conversation with a social entrepreneur – one who likes to push the boundaries, test the validity of the rules and be a non-conformist – and she’s from Switzerland! This woman eats “contrasts” for breakfast!!  One minute, she’s dressed up for a speaking engagement in Sydney CBD, and the next, she’s riding her motorbike through on a dirt track in Turkey!  Franziska Iseli’s jump into entrepreneurship began in 2008 with a phone call from her brother Reto in Switzerland where he had to break the terrible news that their 58yr old father had suddenly passed away from a heart attack.  She broke down… As she began walking the cliffs of the Northern Beaches, the question that kept visiting her was: ‘If I was to die right now, would I be happy with my life?’ She had to confess that ‘No! I can do better than this, I can make a bigger impact.’ So she quit her career in advertising and started her current company Basic Bananas which is “small business marketing made simple”.Her main purpose in life is to have an impact, add value and make people smile. Whether its her “Ripple Effectors” brand or her new inspiration “Moments of Humanity” or her upcoming book launching early next year on Courage, this girl continues to challenge the status quo and somehow manages to be a non-conformist who FITS IN!Thanks Franziska for taking some time out of your day to share the adventures that make up your life so far…Meet Franziska:Franziska Iseli sat crossed legged on her living room floor eating breakfast after an early morning surf at Narrabeen on Sunday 17 February 2008 when her phone rang. It was her brother Reto calling from Switzerland. He told her their father had suddenly passed away from a heart attack—he was 58. ‘I have no idea how my brother made that call to me,’ Franziska says. ‘It must have been so hard to share such incomprehensible news with his little sister across the other side of the world.’Franziska’s world broke down for her. She spent a lot of time in the following months walking along a cliff top on the Northern Beaches. She was soul searching, questioning the way she lived her life. ‘If I was to die right now would I be happy with my life?’ was a question that kept coming up. ‘No! I can do better than this, I can make a bigger impact.’ So she quit her career in advertising and started Basic Bananas.Identifying a gap in the marketFranziska’s first step in setting up Basic Bananas was to identify a market need. She knew from working in advertising agencies there was a gap in the market for small to medium sized businesses to access marketing and advertising services on a smaller budget. Small businesses are the engine room of our economy and 44 per cent of Australians work in them. But most run on a shoestring and they can’t afford to pay advertising agencies for the marketing advice they need to grow and prosper. Franziska decided to take her knowledge from the corporate sector and a master’s degree in marketing to the small business world by providing entrepreneurs with marketing training and advice.Building a maverick brandAfter identifying a market need and an audience, Franziska set about building the Basic Bananas brand. ‘I wanted a quirky brand that stands out from the crowd,’ she says. ‘Back then I had a really smart business woman as a mentor. When I told her I’d decided on Basic Bananas as the name of my business she grimaced.’‘No! You’ve got to change it,’ her mentor insisted. She wanted Franziska to choose something more normal, less out there.‘No way!’ Franziska replied emphatically. ‘I can’t do that. I may not know how to run a business just yet but the one thing I do know is branding and I know Basic Bananas is the right name. It will take a little longer to take off, but it will go really far and create a loyal following. I am going to build a tattoo-wortThe Podcast's 7th SeasonWelcome to In the Game, a podcast where we aim to touch, move and inspire you to what's possible in life. My name is Sarah Maxwell and I am a self-proclaimed relationship engineer. Ever since I was a little girl, I was curious about how people work and how they interact with one another. With a degree in biopsychology representing my country of Canada in beach volleyball. With a degree in biopsychology representing my country of Canada in beach volleyball, retiring from sport into mindset and purpose coaching, I now spend my days running Chatta-box Media, where we aim to story-tell for brands through the medium of podcasting, all while raising an eight-year-old daughter with my partner of 24 years. We are now in season seven of this podcast, featuring a special series on women called who Knew that Was Work aimed at young women who want to broaden their horizon when it comes to career choosing. Go deeper into the pod and discover incredible stories of changemakers who manifest their dream lives. Gain tangible tools to apply to your own life by scrolling back to that initial season where we were more workbook focused. Have a laugh when we initially were coined the Nat and Sarah show, when my five-time Olympian partner, natalie Cook, and I bantered and had loads of fun interviewing and discovering our common passion individuals who rise to the occasion in life. Okay, now it's time to dive on in to this episode. Ge...