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[Music] Suzanne Paul welcome to my podcast thank you D great to be here we we were
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talking just out before I I um I feel like I know you so well but I I'm not sure if this this might be the first
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time we've met I know I was thinking about that and I thought well surely we
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must have met before we've both been around for ages haven't we so that's
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very odd that we have never met before yeah yeah I amum I've done so much uh
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research for this chat and I'm so excited to get into it because um your life story it's just such to Rich
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tapestry um and I think there's I'm really keing to try and tap into your
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brains and figure out um from your experiences the good and the bad what the rest of us can get out out of it
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because you know there's been so much adversity so many very big Highs but very big rock bottoms as well and you're
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just so resilient and you just keep keep bouncing back I do it's a hell of a
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story um by the way on the car on the way here did you um say Happy Happy Joy Joy sparkle and shine I did yeah yes
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that's an actual thing you do that yeah yeah and a lot of people I work with now
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in the film industry they'll say it as well now ready Suzanne Happy Happy Joy
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Joy sparkle and shine I'll be like yeah sparkle and shine here we go so that's
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that's your Mantra um so I guess there's a degree of fake it to your make it in
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there which is something that has um I think been a thread through your entire life um how long have you been doing
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Happy Happy Joy Joy sparkle and shine oh my gosh more 40 years 50 years yeah always and you do it when when you wake
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up in the morning or just when you're in a car about to go to something yeah if
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I'm about to do something if I'm about to walk into a room with people I think
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to myself and sometimes I'll just cut it down to this is it sparkle and shine
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sparkle and shine I do a lot of keynote speaking so I'll say that to myself before I go up this is it happy happy
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joy joy sparkl and shine Dancing with the Stars I said it before that backstage um yeah sometimes I say out
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loud sometimes to myself sometimes I'll say it to other people come on come on
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sparkle and shine um and to me encompasses a lot of things it really means this is it do your best that you
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can give it your best shot be happy do you know what I mean lift your game up you know be the best version of yourself
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that you can be sort of thing so it's all in that to me and sometimes I've
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only got to think it and that's it I'm like switched on ready to go and and
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it's worked it might seem a little bit woo woo for some people but um you just despite all the knockbacks
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you've had in your life you just keep getting back up and you're 6 68 in
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November something like that it could be 67 the reason I don't know is I've got
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something called discal culia which is probably not on your notes but we could talk about that later I'm not very good
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with numbers but I'm in the late 60s yes right right and and you're still um you
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know enthusiastic and you've got a lot of drive and oh I do yeah yeah so like
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it's yeah you're not putting on the slippers oh God no although I do have
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lots of nice slippers pink fluffy sparkly ones generally yeah all right so let's go right back so sue Barnes from a
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place called wolver Hampton um tell her about her it it was a it was quite a [ __ ] early few years wasn't it yes it
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was I was from well they used to call it a broken home then I'm sure they don't
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use that expression now and it was very unusual back in the day for you to grow up without two parents now it's common
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place they got two parents three they got four aren't they two moms Two Dads
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you know anything's going Modern Family but then it just wasn't done and um and
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my my mom left well she left a few times but she went for good I don't know I was
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about seven and my brother was eight so it was quite a big thing that we only had a dad and he worked in a factory and
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it was shift work so there was a lot of times he was there and a lot of times he
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wasn't there so we were also known as latch key kids because that meant you came home with you we had a door key you
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know and a piece of string let yourself in get a jam sandwich for your tea go out and play till it got dark come in
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light the fire I don't know how we didn't burn the house down I mean it's
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probably illegal now but me and my brother you know I don't know if you've
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ever done it but you have to put the wood on then the coal on then light it and then hold a piece of newspaper in
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front it they call it drawing the fire to get the wi don't know H we didn't set
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the place Al light so that was you you and your brother so s of seven and eight so what's um did you have much to do
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with your mom after that uh I did later on in life yes and I actually went to live with her when I was 16 um so she
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reconnected when I I don't know when I was about 11 I think uh but for several
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years it was mainly just me my brother and my dad and we were very poor so we only had that one income which a factory
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income wasn't much I had the same school uniform the day I left as the day I
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started it was and we were just very scruffy and I had National Health milk bottle
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glasses and it was very different world back then teachers didn't really know
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you know I don't know when I look back now I think it was actually very cruel
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how I was treated because I wasn't allowed to take part in a lot of things that were going on in the school and um
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but it put a fire in my belly you know it gave me that resilience so I was never allowed to take part in the
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cookery class CU I didn't have the ingredients we couldn't afford it so I
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had to just stand and watch the other girls cooking I stood and watch the other girls play tennis cuz I didn't
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have the right outfit I still on watch them play hockey cuz I didn't have and
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they just wouldn't let you take part in anything if you didn't have the right
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things and then I was never allowed on any school trips and I remember one when I was 11 and that probably even at that
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age changed my whole life because the one day the teacher said to me no you are going on this trip and she there she
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was with the clipboard she says I've got your name it's on here we're going the
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uh Yorkshire potteries I'm like really oh this is amazing we're going on the
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coach I go to the Ora potc I was like beside myself and then when we got there we pulled up and us they all filing off
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the coach she literally went oh no hang on stop no I've got it wrong no your did
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Dad didn't pay no I made a mistake you'll have to stay on the coach right I wanted the floor to
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swallow me up it was humiliating degrading uh I've just felt you know it was the worst thing ever and all these
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kids went in and I stayed on the coach with the driver who gave me some of his sandwich oh I know so did it did it feel
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like you look you look back now and obviously that's so entirely inappropriate but did it did it feel
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humiliating at the time you remember it yeah I remember thinking this is humiliating I'm ashamed I'm ashamed I
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haven't got the money to do what they're doing and so I made my mind up at a very
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early age this isn't right I'm not having this you know I'm just being not
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being able to take part in life properly because I don't have the money so obviously going forward I need to do
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something about that I need to get the money yeah yeah I I amum yeah I read about you somewhere and I can relate to
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this cuz I'm the same I also have an unhealthy relationship or an obsession even with money like I think um my
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upbringing was very different to it was just very middle class New Zealand but it always felt like we were we were poor
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we never had the things that um you other families or other kids had and I don't know I don't know if a lot of
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that's in my own head or how it was but for me it's um it's established like an
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unhealthy relationship with money and I listen to podcasts and people say oh you
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you know money's just money it's no big deal and I'm thinking well [ __ ] it's
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easy for you to say it you've got ha I know people used to say to me back in
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the day you can't let money motivate you I'm like why not it really gets me out
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of bed cuz I've got to earn this money because I've got to pay my I've nobody
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to look after me here I've got to somehow get enough money and pay rent and buy food and get electricity there's
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nobody coming to save me this is you know just up to me I knew that from early age yeah and I like to be quite
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altruistic as well I you need money to do that like and to look after your friends and things like that so so um
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your your parents like did you did you know did you end up having a good relationship with them or did you sort
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of have a chip on your shoulder I mean you did obviously did the best he could with the limited means yes that's what I
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always thought and when you brought up in that workingclass environment nobody expects anything else nobody else did
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expect there was a lot of kids down our street so I'd say they were the same as
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us except they had the two parents you know um but nobody had much nobody had a car no you had a telephone um but then
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you could see but we everybody always had a television of course and so you could see on the television well people
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do live a different life when they've got money but no I wasn't resentful in
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fact I I the other way I thought when I've got the money I'll make sure you
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know my dad's all right my mom's all right my brothers all right I wanted
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everybody to you know be all right sort of thing well that's the good thing about being successful you can share the
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success it's part of the fun um yeah just where did that come from like that
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that that goal setting and that that drive cuz I read from you were a goal Setter from like the age of 12 right
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yeah and you had like a a list of plans and um your number 39 on the plan list come to New Zealand we'll get to that
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later but it' be very easy for you just to go well this is my lot in life I mean
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I get a job in a factory like everyone else and I know I just don't know why I
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just thought no I'm not having it I just always long and it was very difficult to
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escape that workingclass environment cuz even if you were to say to people which
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I did people down our street or various Aunts Uncles my dad yeah no I'm not working in the factory I'm not doing
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that um and I'm not going on the doll um I might go to London be a secretary and
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they'll be like have you heard yourself go with London go to London l you can't go to
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London why not how are you going to get to London it was like I well I could go on the train on the train have you heard
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is going on the train now oh you got a bob on yourself what you think you're
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better than us it was on them all like oh calm down calm down you know what I mean it's it was just out of the
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question for them and they thought there was something wrong with me you think you you know you you're better than us
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is is it um is there an element of tall puppy syndrome you must have heard that here in New Zealand is is that thing
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it's different they don't want to knock you down I don't know they just it's
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just out of the that possibility that's where you're born that's you know their
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family was born there born poor and you die poor they didn't know of anybody
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else that had made it so they had no reference no oh like he did he went off and made a fortune or did that thing
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it's all like you can't do it you're you're working class and everybody knows
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you're working class because of the way you speak you can't suddenly go and be a
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doctor's receptionist you know hello if you come for an appointment what's wrong
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with you they be all like oh my God so the accents it does sort of keep you in your place well it used to in those days
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C and people saying oh you've got a bob on yourself and H do you think they're
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like managing your expectations or is it like well get maybe a bit of Envy because they they're seeing you trying
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to make something of yourself and they're trying to sort of hold you back I don't know I don't think they did it
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deliberately and over the years as I came and went and came and went oh I'm off to Black pool I'm going to do this
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that and the other you know plan number six or something and then a year later I'd be back and they' be like didn't
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work out then told you it's just nonsense you can't just be gallivanting
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off around the country why not because look what's happened now you put your
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name down for a council house get married have a child you know be sensible you're just being silly and it
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was all of this and I'll be like no well I know it didn't work out in Blackpool
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but I've got another plan I've going to Brighton I think where I ended up living everywhere for 3
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months 6 months a year and then if it didn't work out I never thought it was
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me for some reason I always thought right I'm in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong product CU I
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was selling stuff so I thought just a matter I'll just move somewhere else and
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then I'll probably I could be in the right place so it was all I I couldn't
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see how people looked at things in there below what if it all all goes wrong and
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I'll be like what if it all goes right see even when I went to Australia I went
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for an interview which my dad thought was ridiculous going to Australia for an interview I've never in had a conip he's
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like what if you don't get the job and I'm like what if I do what if you don't
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earn any money yeah but what if I do what if you can't find anywhere to live
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what if I can find somewhere to live and it's great what you don't know anybody
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there what if you don't have any friend what if I do and I could always I just
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kept going the other way it's like a glass half full attitude it's funny that
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you say that though um Rich there was a movie made about Richie mcco the old black a few years ago and he said that
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exact same thing he was talking about the 2011 Rugby World Cup which New Zealand won in the final after not
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winning it for years and years and years and he said people would say to him all
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the time oh what if you don't win and he goes yeah but what if we do yeah it's
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amazing I know he stole it from you so was it with with every failed plan um was it embarrassing going back
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to wolver Hampton sort of but not really I a failure never worried me if for everybody else it was a big thing it was
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that oh you're a failure I'm not no I'm not a failure I failed I failed at that
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in that place you know and so I can have another go and try something else it's
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not the end of the world nobody died you know it just all went wrong that's all
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right can have another go and I was always I don't know of a minding somebody up there knows what they're
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doing that's what I would say if that wasn't meant to be it just means there
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somewhere better than I'm supposed to be you see and so I was always very philosophical about it you just knew you
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were decent firm I just knew I just knew if I carried on I kept saying don't
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matter how many times you fail does it you only got to succeed the on just carry on absolutely and um yeah I've
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sort of re reassessed my my personal um thoughts on failure over the last few years and I see I do see it now as a
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stepping stone to success and the the only time you absolutely truly definitely fail as when you give up yeah
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people I used to be saying to people it's not the end of the road you know oh
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I failed that's it okay give it give every that it's just part of the journey
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if you're successful that's part of the journey you fail that's part of the
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journey and the journey doesn't end till you die so you were 35 when um you got to
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number 39 on your list of plans yeah um [ __ ] that that's a lot that's that's a
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lot of a lot of knockbacks so 35 years old and you arrive in New Zealand um I've heard two different stories $15 or
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$18 to your name yes something like that again numbers with me but I had actually
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been here the final time I settled was 1991 but I had been once in 1989 and stayed for a while and it
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didn't work out and went back to England save the money to come back and I was
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here for about a year that time I was trying to get my vibrating massage pillows going I stayed for about a year
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and it was always a visa thing I'd lose all my money and lose my Visa and have
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to go back so it was about the third time and that's why I didn't have much
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money I'd gone back to England again right I've got to earn more money to get
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the airfare to come back and then I was toying it was really one way or the other at that stage cuz then I was
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starting to think uhoh maybe everyone else is right and I'm wrong that's I
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never thought that till I was 35 all of a sudden I thought you know what maybe they are all right because the only
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thing I've been you know successful at so far is failing and I was real really successful
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at that and I'm 35 and I've just about got enough money for the airfare back to
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New Zealand that'll be it or I've got enough money to buy a car and they're
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not could be a sales rep which was another thing I was thinking then I could drive all over England selling
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stuff and probably make loads of money doing that and it was really a tossup and I thought oh just go so once i'
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bought the plane ticket and you had to buy a return because of the Visa status um that's all it left me with and I went
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in to a um what you call them where all young people stuff oh like a youth hostel yeah like a hostel yeah yeah yeah
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I've heard this about the Susan Paul story so you arrive at the you got very
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little money to your name and there's like a cork board or a notice board yeah
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and you you you what was and and they had like a free shuttle so you're like
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this is how I can get to the the city but what were you going to do otherwise seems like very poor planning on your
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part arriving here yes a lot of times when I do things I don't have a full plan laid out cuz I think that can
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Scupper you sometimes that you're so busy planning it you don't ever get
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around to doing it I know a lot of people that get stuck planning you know analysis paralysis and I've always been
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the other way around I've always been it'll be all right I'll find somewhere
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to live and I'll find some job when you're in sales or if you're willing to
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do anything oh God love him look at um it's amazing the jobs you can find to do
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when you've got no money you know people say there's no jobs I've never been out
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of work I've never been out work in my life in whatever country I've been in
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yeah you've done all sorts um like selling selling lollies um engraving Combs is a job yeah a job something to
00:19:05
do with oranges what were you doing with oranges yes I lived on the kabot for a couple of years picking oranges in
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Israel um what was the job you you're like a like a Playboy Banny at a nightclub or something at a Holiday Camp
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you know holiday camps are very big in England like Butlins hidey High I was like a bunny girl and I was a photog the
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camp phot what a b what do you do just well I used to take pictures right through there was two photographers and
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we'd take take pictures all throughout the day for the Mr nobl D and the Glamorous grandmother and the you know
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all this that and the other the Kids Entertainment photos all day long that's
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what the British like to do when they're on olid the donkey Derby take pictures
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of everybody doing everything and then at night i' dress up as a bunny girl run
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around and sit on all the men's knees and the other photographer take a picture of me sparkling sh hey heyy
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happy joy joy yeah and then they'd buy the photo right um but yeah I did a lot
00:20:01
of jobs and when I came here uh different times different jobs I forget what I was the last time I got it
00:20:09
actually I was selling Kirby vacuum clean door to door so I literally I think I arrived on a Friday you know and
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I get the newspaper and they were advertising for salese and the training was Saturday and Sunday so I went for
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the interview got the job they gave everybody the job actually that went for the interview and then train me how to
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sell the vacuum clean the Saturday Sunday and the Monday I was out selling it cuz the the money that you had to
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your name everything you owned I guess that was maybe enough to cover the hostel for a few days yeah it was yeah
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so I had to money quick oh yeah that that wasn't your first like door to door
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you did a lot of door to door stuff over the years you must have seen some memorable things what' you say lots of
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naked people I gu yeah the vacuum cleaner is the worst because you're vacuum in people's houses but then once
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You' vacuumed the carpet you used to the big selling point was can you take your
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sheets off your bed and I'll vacuum the mattress for you and show you all the
00:21:07
dead skin and the fleas that you're sleeping on disgusting smiling yeah Happy Happy Joy Joy how do
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you not when you you um I mean you look back now and all these little sales jobs
00:21:24
you had and bits and pieces they they they were leading you somewhere they were taking you somewhere yes but at the
00:21:29
time were you crying yourself to sleep or no no no no I always thought everything would lead to something and
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I've always believed that if you do the job even if it's the worst job if you do
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it the best that you can do it somebody always notices that's what I've always
00:21:46
thought somebody always has noticed and it's led to something else um and I just
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think you know that you just do the best with what you've got and in the situation that you're in MH that's my
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always been my plan and do the best with what you've got until you can do what do
00:22:04
what you've got to do until you can do what you want to do until you make it to
00:22:08
the next level really yeah jeez this I mean we've been going 20 minutes there's
00:22:12
already so many good takeaways and that's like you it's a really inspiring
00:22:15
story I'm sure it's exhausting being you and reliving some especially some of the
00:22:19
lows that we'll get to but um yeah I mean you've done so well okay so you you
00:22:24
get here so this is 1991 at the age of 35 selling vacuum cleaners you're real
00:22:29
famous here within a few years though right like it's almost exponential the I
00:22:33
did yeah I met the right person at the right time and he was an entrepreneur like me but he doesn't like to have his
00:22:40
name out there he's very you know quietly gets on with business um but we were both what they call sales
00:22:47
demonstrators so that's what I'd been since I was 18 I demonstrated products
00:22:52
and gadgets for all sorts of companies in shopping malls exhibitions you know um um and found we found each other we
00:23:01
were both working at an exhibition um and um you know realized that we both wanted the same thing so when I from
00:23:11
there I worked with him and because I had no money and but we met up and he said to me what's the best thing you've
00:23:18
ever sold if you could sell one thing now what would it be so I said the vibrating massage pillow because I don't
00:23:26
need much space I can set up in shopping mall with one chair doesn't take up much
00:23:31
room to rent that bit of space and I can stop men and women with it and everybody's got aches and pains you know
00:23:39
whether it's in the feet or the knees or the back or the or whever it is and it
00:23:44
you know so he said all right leave it with me and I gave him a phone number of you know somebody and 3 months later
00:23:50
that was it he said I've got your vibrating massage pillows where do you want to sell them and I I have no clue I
00:23:56
don't know um so rang around some shopping shpping malls and I got in Henderson Square shopping mall so that
00:24:01
was how it started I started selling the vibrating massage pillows it went really
00:24:06
well so I trained up another girl to do it and she went in another Mall St Luke's I trained up another one and in
00:24:12
the end there was 8 10 12 of us in shopping malls everywhere and then I said to Paul another product we could do
00:24:20
the suzan CP okay we'll get those so it went like that so what was it what was
00:24:25
it so he was like an importer um he was but he was great demonstrator as well but he had all the contacts and the
00:24:31
money to get the products made some products were made here some he got in from China and I would say get that in I
00:24:38
know how to sell this I've done a demonstration for This I Know It uh back in you know 1982 I did a demonstration
00:24:45
for this at the ideal home show it could be metal polished it could be carpet cleaners it could be a window washer a
00:24:51
slicer dicer I know the I know the products you mean you see the demonstration and the demonstrator such
00:24:56
as yourself does a really good job you take it home and you realize it's [ __ ]
00:25:00
cuz you make it look so okay so um the Suzanne clip um yeah that was one of your memorable products
00:25:07
was it called the suzan clip we called it the Suzanne clip after me yeah after you okay yeah so it's just was just a
00:25:13
clip it was a clip and me and the girls traveled everywhere again shopping malls
00:25:18
exhibitions you know trade shows demonstrating them and then it was the Natural Glow that changed everything the
00:25:25
famous makeup you know with thousands of yeah so how did the TV thing start then
00:25:31
how do you go from selling in more well we had the uh Natural Glow we launched it and we were doing that in the
00:25:38
shopping malls and it was all a bit ass about face really because we both agreed it
00:25:45
this makeup needed to go in the pharmacies it was a great makeup the women loved it so I went around thees
00:25:52
and said this is a great makeup I've got demonstrators can and they were all like
00:25:56
is it advertised on TV no well we don't want it then they didn't want any makeup that nobody had
00:26:02
heard of you know made notah whoo whoo who they were like no we don't want it
00:26:07
so we were like we'll have to advertise this on TV so we can get it into the
00:26:12
pharmacies um and the plan was so um was that because I did the the demonstration
00:26:19
I'd invented the makeup I made up the demonstration so I wrote the TV advert
00:26:24
and we were going to get Jude Dobson or Lana coof to do it cuz they were on the Telly at the time and we thought you
00:26:31
know get somebody famous but in the end we couldn't afford either of them so
00:26:36
Paul literally said to me no you'll have to do it you'll have to film it with no
00:26:40
money left to pay anybody and I was like oh Jesus I don't want to film this uh
00:26:44
but I had to and so you know and I was like don't ever make me do this ever again this is the worst I was throwing
00:26:51
up all week I dreaded it Paul really yeah I want to do it why did Paul think you'd be the best person for it just
00:26:58
because you you you had so much sales experience and yes he said you you it's
00:27:02
your makeup you know it you invented it just you know and and the script that I was doing in the shopping malls was
00:27:09
working I just had to do the same on TV instead of doing it live on a woman in the mall I just had a model then and you
00:27:17
know I was the only one that could do it there was nobody else that was you know
00:27:21
ready to do it you ended up being a master stroke too didn't it yeah so it did when the advert went on it just
00:27:28
simply stopped everyone in the tracks you know and it worked so well we were like oh my god let's put the vibrating
00:27:36
massage pillar on TV and the suzan clip and then all sorts of sports equipment you know was very popular at the time
00:27:43
then it was Fitness in the early '90s you know we had the Ab Flex and the abdominizer and the ab King Pro and the
00:27:51
ab Queen Pro and the ab twister it was everything to do with your abs and getting fit just one exercise thing
00:27:58
after another and then it was followed by a fad on everybody wanted juicing and chopping the veggies and juicing their
00:28:05
veggies and slic in the veggies so there was all that we we never ran out of product it just went on for years and
00:28:11
years so did you did you did you just have like normal like 30 second commercials or was it in the morning
00:28:17
television where it's like a yeah so we only advertised during the day because I
00:28:22
couldn't get enough information out to make people pick up the phone in 30 seconds so when I used to say Port I
00:28:28
can't get all that information out so that's why it became the adverts were 2
00:28:34
minutes long and inadvertently we launched what was the first um direct marketing company in New Zealand and we
00:28:44
had Offices here and then we had offices in Sydney so we had it going but at the
00:28:49
same time the ads were all over Australian and all over TV here and was it was there a third third business p
00:28:58
that pulled out because you were doing um there was eventually yeah yeah in the beginning there was a a a third partner
00:29:04
and when he saw that first ad he said no if you put this ad on I won out you'll
00:29:10
have to buy me out or I'll buy you out so Paul and I bought him out and the ads
00:29:15
went on and that rest as they say is history yeah and so when the ads started how long did it take before you noticed
00:29:23
um they were having like a real sort of impact in cut through um we knew straight away immediately because of the
00:29:29
phone ringing the phone ringing we were just like oh my God the phones are ringing off the wall and we were
00:29:34
answering the phones and then we'd be shouting to Paul's mom cuz we were
00:29:38
working out of his mother's basement can you come and help us answer the phones
00:29:42
it's going mad here and then we'd shout to his brother can you come so it just
00:29:47
uh it just went Bonkers and pharmacies of course which is what we wanted in the first place Pharmacy started ringing up
00:29:55
saying women keep coming in the shop asking for this Natural Glow could we have some please could we order it uh
00:30:02
and then I'd put demonstrators in the stores so we kept it all going we had demonstrators at all exhibitions in
00:30:09
shopping malls we had the TV going on and I was slepping backwards and forward to Australia going on the good morning
00:30:17
shows over there with Bert Newton and selling it live on TV over there so the so the dream that Sue bans had as a
00:30:26
little girl was finally SED com to fruition yeah at the age of like how long after you got to New Zealand like
00:30:32
36 37 yeah so quite quite instant really quite quickly well in finally the newspapers I was like yeah after 30
00:30:40
years of slepping about all over the world penniless you know they declared me an overnight success the TV I was
00:30:47
like well you didn't see what went on before you know it's like the iceberg
00:30:51
the iceberg photo isn't it people see the the bit out out of the water but they don't see the bit underneath yeah
00:30:56
yeah but must have been nice finally having a bit of money and you did the money start coming in straight away or
00:31:01
yes money was straight away yeah yeah [ __ ] that must have felt good yeah I did
00:31:07
yeah it was the first time in my life I never had to worry about money I didn't
00:31:11
have to worry about paying the bills I didn't have to worry about anything um
00:31:16
and I bought my mom over to live put her in a um there was a Retirement Village um bought her apartment in a retirement
00:31:24
village bought myself somewhere we had about eight years years of this treadmill um but what also happened at
00:31:31
the same time was that I became famous here of course and then I started having different dreams because that's what
00:31:39
happens with your dreams isn't it they keep changing also like at the um this
00:31:45
the I suppose Taste of Fame from having being on TV selling these products yes did it give you like a like a clue that
00:31:51
oh maybe I can do this or maybe I can do that yeah yes so how did how did that start you becoming like a at first it
00:31:57
was different um people on TV getting me onto their show you know I seem to be the guest on everything I was just
00:32:05
everywhere as the guest and then the magazines and the newspapers I was always being interviewed for something
00:32:12
and then I started you know and I was watching New Zealand television and then I thought H I think I could have my own
00:32:19
TV show don't see why not so and it took 5 years from when I first thought of
00:32:24
that and I went up to tvnz and TV three dozens of times with dozens of shows over the years I know there TV and Zed
00:32:34
went through three changes of bosses in that time and I would go up and Pitch this show I would just go right to
00:32:41
whoever was in charge at the time and just look I could do this and go there and this would be a great show and they
00:32:47
be like no I don't think so right okay I i' go off you know you um all previous
00:32:54
guests on the podcast include Matt Watson you know the the itm fishing show oh yes and leeart who's got a show
00:33:00
called TV they've got similar sort of stories they ended up having to basically do make their own shows and do
00:33:06
their own [ __ ] because the decision maker was telling them no keep going up and they keep saying no no nobody's
00:33:13
going to watch that and I'm like I think they would would they that's going to be
00:33:17
so good um and then why was it do you think it was like sort of racism in a way or because of your voice or they
00:33:25
seem to think why would anybody watch the show they they watch you all day long you're on the TV every five minutes
00:33:31
they're going to be like oh no here She is again and switch off you see um and
00:33:37
sometimes again you are in the right place at the right time and this is a true story I've been going backwards and
00:33:42
forwards to TV and Z backwards and forwards and then uh one day I went to a party at TV3 because we were spending so
00:33:51
much on Advertising you know and I went along to this party just me did a bit of
00:33:57
I thought I might meet somebody there I didn't I got out there was a taxi there
00:34:02
I said oh he said REM you we I said yes that's me this is a true story I got in
00:34:07
the taxi shut the door next minute the door came flying open and this woman said I think you've got my taxi and I
00:34:14
said I know I asked him if was remu and he said yeah that's me she said well I'm
00:34:18
remu as well and I had booked this taxi but if you want we can share so she got in and she said um I know you you're
00:34:26
Suzanne Paul aren't you TV I Su she said I'm patina Hollings head programmer for
00:34:31
TV3 I went here we go I've got you all the way to remuera 20 minutes 30 minutes
00:34:38
after the traing I got an idea for you and I picted to a show called style challenge that I'd come up with which
00:34:46
there was no reality shows on TV then and it was about me meeting these women going to the house getting them to show
00:34:53
me what they normally wear and me saying oh God you look like a sack of potatoes
00:34:56
in that level whatever taking them shopping and giving them a makeover and she said yeah I like it I like it yeah
00:35:04
let's do it by the time she got out the taxi and I got out I had a TV show style
00:35:12
challenge again so inspiring most people would would would I think most people New Zealand doesn't particular give up
00:35:18
at the first no they do yeah yeah and I I think being in sales you get used to people saying no to you you fail every
00:35:28
day dozens dozens hundreds of time and for most people they don't get that in
00:35:33
their everyday job they do their job and it's all going great but when you're in
00:35:36
sales when you're stood in a shopping mall and you present this product and do
00:35:41
a 20 minute de demonstration of look at this it's beautiful and it's this and
00:35:45
it's just going to make your life so much better and then they all buger off
00:35:49
and it's like what the what a waste of time that was yeah yeah yeah no we don't want it right then
00:35:56
got to start again you get used to it that's a no that's a failure okay sparkle and shine here we go again hello
00:36:03
come and try so to me I was used to nose go up to TV and Zed no we don't like it
00:36:08
don't like it and then it happened they add a new but I went up to TV and Zed
00:36:12
again no then they had a new boss at TV andz um he's passed away now and I went
00:36:19
to him and pitched him the idea for a show and again I'd had know so many times but there I was and we could do
00:36:26
this and I'll do that and he went it sounds like a good idea let's do it I
00:36:30
literally went I'm sorry what did you say I beg you pardon cuz I thought I must have you know misunderstood you
00:36:37
just expecting it to it's always no yeah yeah come in next week we'll do the and
00:36:42
I did I went in the next week and everybody was there and and um we came up all put our ideas together and we had
00:36:50
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner oh I remember that that was very successful went for many years successful that was
00:36:56
you and um Anthony R par is your limo driver and um what was what was the premise of the show
00:37:02
yeah so we literally people would nominate somebody so they would literally I would knock on the door and
00:37:09
they would go oh my God what are you doing here and I'd say yay we're coming
00:37:13
in Surprise Guess who's coming to dinner and I would go in with the chef and with
00:37:17
Anthony Ray always give the woman a makeover the chef would cook something with whatever he found in the cupboards
00:37:25
or the fridge and we'd get everything all looking nice lay the table and then
00:37:29
a surprise celebrity guest we had Joon alomo wow Kevin Smith God Rest Your Soul we had every all black we had David Tour
00:37:38
on there it was really top-notch celebrities that would then come and have dinner with the family is that why
00:37:44
the show ended you ran out of we practically ran out of celebrities yeah God it's probably time for a reboot um
00:37:51
yes would you be ke to do it again do you think do you think you could do it again yes something watch this space
00:37:56
that's all I'll say Dom oh space yeah [ __ ] how good okay so the the so the
00:38:02
business so um you sold that company after 5 years yeah it was about eight I think years okay and um that sold for 39
00:38:12
million so how how much of that do you get I think I got about 3 million okay uh because but then there was uh Paul
00:38:20
and then um his brother was the other partner cuz he was running things in Australia um but we had a lot of money
00:38:27
in stock and shares which we didn't have any choice about um but unfortunately within a short space of
00:38:35
time they were worthless but anyway we don't need to go all ins and outs it all
00:38:41
turned to custard yeah yeah yeah yeah but then you you bounce back well yeah we can talk about that as much or as
00:38:47
little as you want because um what I like about this is um the bounce back after the adversity like it's not how
00:38:53
many times you get knocked down it's how many times I think it's Rocky that said
00:38:55
that out there oh not too L but okay so you so you're 40 or your early 40s um I
00:39:02
was 50 no no when you sold the company oh yes thought I was bankrupt from was 50 so you got yeah so you sell the
00:39:09
company got a few million dollars and then then what what do you do with that you what whyn't you just like um put
00:39:14
your feet up then like back then like the year 2000 you could have like bought a nice house out right I actually built
00:39:20
a house on a cliff in you know which so I had that exactly what I wanted exactly
00:39:26
as I'd said from I was a child I wanted it on the cliff and I wanted that view
00:39:30
and I wanted the swimming pool and I wanted a gym and I wanted a this and I wanted seven bathrooms in the house and
00:39:37
it was very precise though do some excessive but you manif exive it was what I wanted so that's what I had and
00:39:44
then of course you can't be you know successful up there when all your family
00:39:49
and friends are not so bought houses for family and friends and um as you do and
00:39:56
um yes and had people in charge of the money to invest it for me um but I'm not
00:40:03
good with money I'm not good with numbers it's why I'm not in business now
00:40:08
I don't want to be it's an absolute nightmare for me uh because I do have
00:40:13
something that nobody's ever heard of which is called discal culia and I never
00:40:18
talk about it but now I do talk about it cuz people are they can't understand how
00:40:23
could you have not be in charge of your own money you what does that mean exactly just so yes because dyslexia is
00:40:29
when people have a problem with letters yes and discula is a problem with numbers I was expelled from school when
00:40:37
I was 15 because of it because so it's like a learning difficulty it is but just with maths just with numbers can't
00:40:45
keep numbers in my head can't keep times in my head I have to write everything
00:40:50
down and everything gets all jumbled up and I can't make sense of it and so I
00:40:56
stopped going to the math class cuz I couldn't do it I couldn't do the homework they put me in one of those
00:41:01
remedial maths class I couldn't do that either and in the end I stopped going
00:41:06
and in the end I got expelled um but it's been like that all my life which is
00:41:11
why I've had a lot of problems um and I get really stressed out about money and
00:41:18
numbers and people can't understand it so a lot of people would say to me oh
00:41:22
I'm the same I hate it when I have to do my tax and I'm like no it's it's not
00:41:26
that I couldn't do it even if I wanted to I would I'd have no clue um and so I've always put somebody
00:41:34
else in charge of my money um ex-husbands have always been in charge of the money not me I never even looked
00:41:40
at the bank account um and it sounds ridiculous so for instance I'm going to
00:41:44
tell you what happened to me yesterday and this took an hour and a half of my time yesterday and I still didn't get it
00:41:50
sorted out I've got some tablets that I'm on for cholesterol statins and and I
00:41:57
could see that they were running down and I thought to myself I need to get a repeat prescription and I'm taking one
00:42:04
every other day so I'm writing this down on a piece of paper right how many tablet this was like being back at
00:42:09
school how many tablets have I got left yeah and how many do I take every other day and when do I how long does it take
00:42:18
for I get the prescription three days and then they give me that so I need to add that to that no I don't I need to
00:42:26
minor it no that's not right no I need to add it then take away what I've got
00:42:31
no I need to my mind just keeps doing that I can't even get to go so then I say to myself calm down how many tablets
00:42:38
have you got now this many and you're taking one every other day how many is
00:42:41
that a week this is literally me one so I need four tablets a week or do I so do I
00:42:50
honestly it's like that's as basic as it is and after an hour and a half I still
00:42:56
couldn't work out how many tablets I had and how many I needed to get and how
00:43:00
many I should so in the end I just thought I'll just order them anyway that's literally hour was after an hour
00:43:06
and a half the funny thing is that that hour and a half is probably still going to be more fun than what this hour and a
00:43:10
half is even though I'm doing it on the calculator and so um yes so that's back
00:43:16
in the day was the same it was I was my first husband I left him in charge of all of the money and all of the
00:43:23
Investments and when we split up it was quite a shock to me when I'm like so how
00:43:29
much money have we got and he's like no none because I invested some in that and
00:43:32
this and it didn't work and then I bought that property and sold it for less and this one and sold that for less
00:43:37
then I bought the boat and sold that for less and I'm like so is there any money
00:43:41
no oh right so were you sort of like swindled in a way or well I should have had yeah then my second husband was the
00:43:51
same I'd be like where's the money well I bought this and I was going to open
00:43:55
that and do this that the other and all of a sudden did Gone the um the first two
00:44:02
husbands were they like Consulting you on these sort of decisions and puras um not very often no and because I've have
00:44:09
no concept of it I would just be like well can we afford it yeah no it'll be
00:44:14
fine we'll get that and we can get the bank to do this and we can get an investor to do that okay so I'm really
00:44:20
good at getting ideas I can see a gap in the market it's what I've done all my
00:44:25
life there's a gap in the market there we need a product to fill it and I know
00:44:29
how to sell it but everything else with numbers do you know I can remember scripts things that I sold right in 19
00:44:38
you know 70 if you said if you got a script for this metal poet you can remember it but if you said you know how
00:44:45
much tax did you pay last year or how much did you earn I would be like no have no clue and and that'sa and that's
00:44:51
fine because it's like you have your strength everyone has their strength yes
00:44:54
accountants accountants could never get in front of a camera and do what you do no but even so with account that
00:45:00
stresses me out it does with my husband now we always end up arguing he does all
00:45:04
uh you know book work and he'll say to me and even that panics me out right I've got this on your bank statement
00:45:11
here $225 can you remember what that's for and I'm like I don't know don't ask
00:45:15
me stop talking to me I don't want to know I just have to switch off um I don't want to be in business anymore and
00:45:22
I don't want to have to cope with that anymore oh sounds like you you've been
00:45:27
worn down by it yeah it has worn me down and it and people can't understand itat I fully understand I can't imagine
00:45:35
how tough it was so we um so the bank crack rupsy came after um the raer restaurant yeah um and and we'll get
00:45:43
into that as much or as little as you want but in hindsight was it was it a good idea in the wrong timing was it
00:45:48
it's still a great idea it was the right timing it's still a great idea so
00:45:54
rwalker was a a multicultural restaurant and a great location as well so if you're in Oakland and you're in the city
00:46:01
side and you drive over the bridge when you drive over the bridge towards teap you can see a little s of restaurant on
00:46:06
the left hand side of the bridge and that was going to be rwalker yes um Why didn't it work um well again I wasn't in
00:46:14
charge of the money but we had quotes for everything it needed a lot of work doing I think we spent you know two
00:46:22
three million on it again don't quote me just getting the F out done yes because
00:46:25
when they get up to fix the Roof oh this has happened now it's got this or it's
00:46:29
got asbestos or it's got a leak or now we need to redo the floors and then just
00:46:34
when you think you're done they're like no the council say we've got to put a
00:46:37
lift in now a disabled lift oh there wasn't one there before you know it's
00:46:41
been operating as Fisherman's Warf the restaurant they didn't have a lift no
00:46:45
well apparently you've got to have a lift now okay you didn't budget for that
00:46:49
and for you know where you are we had bookings we taken bookings right through for this uh the summer for all the
00:46:56
Cruise Ships coming in we' done all this work we'd sold it in cruise ships would
00:47:01
come in we would pick them up on our raaker bus bring them out to us they could see a cultural show they we did
00:47:08
the hungi everything um and we were supposed to open in the summer but with all the delays on the building and the
00:47:16
permission and this that and the other we actually couldn't open and we had to
00:47:20
contact everybody all the cruise ships we had schools that we got booked that from America that were coming out over
00:47:27
and that was all booked in we couldn't open in the summer we ended up opening
00:47:31
in the winter there was no tourist we just managed to stay going for a few months
00:47:39
we had an investor put some money in again I didn't do that side of it to me
00:47:43
I was I've had a great idea and I just thought it's up to those people you know
00:47:48
to keep the money going and sort that side of it out God so did that feel like a like a like a slow moving train crash
00:47:56
or something it must I felt like you were just like hemorrhaging money slowly bleeding to death financially yeah that
00:48:02
was a nightmare for me oh I'm so sorry about that is is that where is that where you ended up bankrupt yeah so
00:48:09
you're 50 at this point so yes and I didn't declare myself bankrupt I went to
00:48:14
all of the creditors you know the building people and the roofing people and electricians or whatever it was and
00:48:21
said no I don't have the money now uh but I've got this company here who
00:48:26
started in employ me to sell stuff for them and you know I can sell stuff I'm
00:48:29
going on TV selling their stuff for them I'm doing shopping malls for them selling their stuff I'm training girls
00:48:36
to sell this stuff so I am going to have the money if you could just hold on no so they force the bankruptcy on me
00:48:45
surely you creditors would want even if it's 50 cents in every dollar or something you'd want some sort of return
00:48:51
so what does what does bankruptcy mean exactly well the H it meant anything that you had so the house was sold the
00:48:57
just take whatever they can to pay off the creditors and somebody comes through your house and if there's anything that
00:49:03
you've got that's worth any money cars can be taken or boats or paintings or
00:49:08
anything but literally everything you know was gone and we had nowhere to live did you at that moment did you again in
00:49:17
some way sort of feel like Young Sue left on the bus I felt very yeah I felt very down I did get very depressed
00:49:25
around that time because my mom was living with us then she'd lived with me for a few years and um I just thought
00:49:33
I've let her down and I've let myself down and and I think it was an age thing
00:49:39
as well being 50 having to start again just start again that's I'm I'm 51 now
00:49:45
and I can't I couldn't you I could imagine how daunting and exhausting and
00:49:50
hard that would it was I just thought oh I think this road ahead's too long and I
00:49:55
think it's too hard and um you just focus on I just kept focusing on what I'd lost what I
00:50:04
had and what I'd lost you know and um and the the life I thought I was living
00:50:11
I wasn't living you know that life anymore and that I didn't have time I
00:50:16
kept thinking to myself I've wasted time I don't have the time left to start
00:50:21
again I don't have the energy left I didn't have the inclination I didn't
00:50:24
have the motivation and it's quite because when you're when you're 50 um I suppose 67 or 68 whatever
00:50:32
you are now seems like bloody old yeah and then you get to 67 68 and you realize okay I'm still yes back now I
00:50:41
think oh sh was 50 now I I you still had a lot of runaway left um and so it took every ounce of
00:50:50
strength every ounce of courage that I had I had to be very strong in my mind every day and I knew I knew what I had
00:51:02
to do I didn't want to do it but I knew what I had to do and I think that's it
00:51:07
in life people know what they've got to do it's making themselves do it is the
00:51:12
problem is that is that discipline or is it something else what is it it is and people I think they hesitate and they
00:51:19
leave it too long I don't know and so it's all the what if you know again and
00:51:24
what if this and what if it goes wrong and what if I don't make it and oh don't
00:51:29
they'll be able to do it and I don't want to do it and also what people are
00:51:33
waiting for they're waiting for some sort of energy and motivation to strike them like lightning
00:51:42
people think they can sit at at home and be all depressed and think soon as I get
00:51:47
the energy and the motivation I'll do something and it's completely wrong it's
00:51:52
absolutely the wrong it's not going to happen there's no way that never happens
00:51:57
to anybody not on this Earth it's not happening what happens is you have to start doing something and I don't care
00:52:05
I'm saying to myself I don't care I say people say to me all the time but I
00:52:09
don't feel like it and I'm like I don't care if you feel like it or not I don't
00:52:15
care if you don't feel like standing in the shopping mall I don't feel like it
00:52:19
either but you're going to do it anyway it's the Nike isn't it it's the just do
00:52:23
it stop thinking about how you feel I say to sales people all the time I don't
00:52:27
care how you feel I don't feel like it either I'd rather be lying by the
00:52:31
swimming pool having a peanut colada do you think I want to stand in this shopping mall no but we're here let's
00:52:37
make the best to it let's sparkle and shine happy happy joy joy for God's sake
00:52:42
let's just do it yeah and that's what it is so every day I didn't feel like doing
00:52:47
it I knew I had to go back in the shopping mall and sell stuff for anybody that would pay me enough um of course I
00:52:54
didn't want to do it I was humiliated I was embarrassed I was exhausted I cried
00:52:59
every morning getting ready I cried every night when I got home sometimes I'd cry when I was actually standing in
00:53:05
the shopping mall but then I would just say to myself just do it you know just get on
00:53:11
with it just do it I don't get how you're feeling just do it anyway and somewhere along the way then the
00:53:17
motivation comes but you've got to take the action first then you start getting
00:53:21
motivated and what happened with me is people kept coming up to me all day long in the shopping mall saying good on you
00:53:28
Susan good to see you back out there that would set me off crying again I'd be crying they'd say don't cry don't cry
00:53:35
you can do it love and I'd say thank you I'm going to do my best this was me in
00:53:39
the shopping mall you know in manaca or otoo or wherever it is and people would come by all day and say you can do this
00:53:46
Suzanne you've got this my husband's been made bankrupt and he says if you're
00:53:49
going to get out there and do it again he's going to get out there and do it
00:53:53
again and I say okay we'll do this together again if your husband's going
00:53:57
to do it I'm going to do it as well and then people started emailing me saying
00:54:02
what is the secret then because we've just lost everything or this has happened to us and we can't find our way
00:54:08
through it we can't pick ourselves up we're too down and we don't want to do
00:54:12
anything and so I started emailing everybody this is what you must do this is what you've got to think stop
00:54:19
thinking about what you've lost think about what you've still got okay let's
00:54:23
forget about yes that's gone and you can't move forward if you're going to
00:54:27
keep looking back all the time so what have you actually got you know and then I started thinking to myself I can't
00:54:33
keep writing to all these people it's take it so many hours every day and that's when I wrote the book I thought
00:54:40
if I put everything I know in the book of how I'm doing this I'm at Rock Bottom
00:54:47
I can't be any lower but I'm going to write about in this book about what I'm
00:54:52
doing to pick myself up and if it works then that's it's great because everybody
00:54:57
that reads the book if it works for me and it's going to work for everybody that reads the book so bit by bit I
00:55:03
wrote the book about how I was thinking and feeling and what I was doing to pick
00:55:08
myself up yeah there's so many valuable lessons in that so so around this time
00:55:13
um obviously the the seven bathro house had gone um where were you living were we just renting a place we were renting
00:55:18
in fact we couldn't afford to rent um and who had previously been some great
00:55:23
guys who were my lawyers they said look we've got a house that we normally rent
00:55:28
out it's vacant you can live there until you can free until you can afford to pay
00:55:34
I lived there for about months or nothing and I did pay them eventually I paid everyone everybody I um I went got
00:55:43
dress his all on the Paul home show and I said even though I'm bankrupt and I
00:55:47
don't I now don't have to pay anybody back cuz I've been bankrupt and that
00:55:51
means you don't have to pay anybody back but I did I started earning and started
00:55:55
earning money and I paid people off and So within two years I think the bankruptcy is gone there yeah you got
00:56:03
discharged discharged early did it did it add um by the way were you getting em like a little emotional just before just
00:56:10
yeah it's a lot it's yeah in terms of like your mental health was this like
00:56:14
the lowest in your life I do keynote speaking now and I have to talk through it about the loss and how I picked
00:56:20
myself up and I cry every time I do every time I do the talk I cry because I feel the emotion that I felt when it was
00:56:29
happening I still feel it now and did did it um because you were very famous at the time did that add an extra layer
00:56:35
of layer of humiliation to it I just know what the New Zealand media is like and there's a lot of people that would
00:56:40
that would have been rubbing their hands together with a Glee the demise of someone that's been Su in Sunday paper
00:56:45
every week and um I'd open the door and there'd be a reporter on the step you
00:56:52
know with the microphone and the camera clicking away I'd have I'd had car pull
00:56:56
up on the pavement in front of me with photographers leaping out what does it feel like to have lost everything and
00:57:02
you know you've you've got nothing and it was and that's when I found out
00:57:07
there's worse things you can lose than your money and your home and your possessions because I lost my dignity
00:57:15
you know I lost my self-respect and worse than that I lost all hope and there's not much left after that did you
00:57:22
how did you what do you mean what do you mean you lost hope well that anything would ever change you know that's when
00:57:27
you go into the depression because you've no hope how can I change things I've got nothing how can you start again
00:57:34
with nothing who's going to trust you what you going to do you you can't see a
00:57:38
light at the end of the tunnel it's too difficult and you don't have the energy
00:57:42
you know but luckily because I'd failed so many times before or bait not in such
00:57:50
a huge way and in a public way in a public way but I'd always had these small failures and I was say to myself
00:57:57
you know well remember what you had to do that time when you was living there and you couldn't pay the electricity
00:58:03
what did you do you know remember when you did this and you were homeless what did you do when you do anything you do
00:58:09
what you've got to do that's what you do yeah and and um and and you did it's
00:58:15
like you put your pride on the shelf and like getting back out there in the mall
00:58:18
like uh I feel like there were tears of gratitude before we knew were talking about people going past and saying yes
00:58:23
for that I thank the New Zealand Public every day they they saved me and I saved
00:58:28
some of them you know people would say to me all the time you've saved us we
00:58:33
had given up but we're going to try again because you know we're only 60 or
00:58:38
50 or whatever it was um and um yeah it gave me the strength to carry on yeah it's it's life as and as you get older
00:58:46
you realize you know [ __ ] happens to everyone and sometimes um sometimes you deserve it sometimes bad things happen
00:58:51
to good people and uh it is yeah you just Li but and you can you can lie and be it all day but the the sun's going to
00:58:58
going to rise whether you rise or not yes and it's that thing of you know nobody's coming to save you that's why I
00:59:06
kept saying to myself nobody's coming to save you they never came to save you
00:59:10
before and you've got to do this yourself and so that's it just work hard
00:59:16
and that's what hard work is it's doing stuff you don't feel like doing to me hard work isn't being on a
00:59:22
TV show it's not being on guests who's coming to dinner it's not sitting here
00:59:26
talking to you it's not being in a stage show which I love do that's not hard
00:59:29
work if you can earn money like that that to me is wonderful it's long hours
00:59:35
uh but it's not hard work hard work is you know going door Todo selling vacuum
00:59:41
cleaners when you don't want to do it it's standing in the shopping mall when
00:59:45
you you know don't want to even even you even people saying no to you repeatedly
00:59:49
has had all day long yeah um when when did you start to see the light light at the end of the tunnel again when when
00:59:56
did you start last week yay yeah it turned out the light at the end of the tunnel was an oncoming
01:00:06
train you know that one um no you you're in a good place now aren't you um a
01:00:12
better place yes you content I am yes and I think that's what changes over time as well um but there's been a lot
01:00:21
of Heartache you know along the way when I thought I'd made it and then it all
01:00:25
turned to C I launched a clothing range you know and I thought that was going to be the
01:00:30
savior of me I had a clothing range uh this was after I Was Made bankrupt and I had it in stores all over the country
01:00:38
and I had my own shop and it was for vertically challenged women women 5 foot to and under and that was going great
01:00:45
gunsman then my mom died suddenly and that just pulled the rug out from under me and then I had to have we were
01:00:52
talking about this earlier my dog was 16 and a half and I had to have her put to
01:00:56
sleep and then my cat and then my other cat and it was just like too much and my
01:01:02
marriage started breaking down you know so I went through a bad patch there for quite a few years when I was only
01:01:10
surviving really yeah it's just like that compounding effect I mean all all that
01:01:16
stuff even if you hadn't lost your money it would still be very difficult to deal
01:01:19
with yeah but I suppose it just adds another layer of complexity to it yes I just kept trying and doing my best until
01:01:26
one day that you know it didn't hurt as much and yeah um financially how are you
01:01:31
now are you okay yes I'd say I've got enough money to last me the rest of my
01:01:36
life if I die next Tuesday that's a good line um and so I don't seem to worry
01:01:44
about that anymore because I'm in a good place I've got a wonderful husband and
01:01:49
when you've got somebody by your side it's always a lot easier than having to
01:01:52
go It Alone you know and um he's wonderful and I don't worry about it after what I've been through I don't I
01:02:00
think if I want the money I can get the money um and I'm just making new more
01:02:06
plan I haven't given up I'm making new plans I'm talking to people I was
01:02:11
talking to a production company yesterday I was talking to one the week before that and so I'm always still
01:02:17
pitching still selling still pitching me still selling me but I don't want to do
01:02:21
a 9-to-5 job no I don't want that anymore and I think you're at the age and stage of
01:02:28
life and I think you've earned the earned the luxury of not doing that yeah and I've I've only just recently I'd say
01:02:35
in the last year started giving myself permission and even more so in the last six months to not do something because
01:02:43
for all of my life life every day didn't matter if it was a weekend I was working
01:02:49
thinking of an idea how I can do this idea who I can contact how I can make it work what's going to happen and what's
01:02:56
the plan every day I felt it was lazy if I wasn't doing that and so that's how
01:03:03
I've been all my life and then you know now I've got my pension and I've got a
01:03:07
bit of money and I've got the husband and so sometime I still feel guilty though like before I came here I thought
01:03:14
to myself right I've been working and then I thought get ready and then I thought I am ready what shall I do now
01:03:19
then now I'll do some more work then I went hang on hang on why don't you just
01:03:24
get a book and sit down for half an hour I've got the beach there I've got red
01:03:30
Beach why don't you just sit and look at the beach a bit and read your book give
01:03:34
yourself permission to do that you've earned it but yeah and so I did but even
01:03:39
then I'm a bit what time is it I should really be I'm still in that I should
01:03:43
really be I'll just check my emails cuz maybe you know it's is this is this just
01:03:47
in your D DNA is this how you were raised or is this just you is your brother much the same or no was just
01:03:54
me have you got have you got ADHD do you think maybe um I don't know I don't know
01:04:01
I mean it was never I reckon I do but it was never diagnosed when I was a kid was
01:04:04
never diagnosed um I've always been the same jeez we' how much time do you have
01:04:11
we've been going for just over an hour but there's so much the Suzanne poory
01:04:15
okay um yeah oh so you mentioned your husband number three now husband number three and you're you're his third wife
01:04:22
yeah do you think have you been would you say you've been Lucky in Love or unlucky in love how would you frame it
01:04:27
oh yeah I think still lucky in love you can't change things can you know when
01:04:33
you look back sometimes I think I'd wish I'd done things differently but at the
01:04:37
time I think each husband was the right person for that time for who I was at that time and for what was going on I
01:04:44
think they were the right husband but some people just I think you know then they don't have to be in your life
01:04:51
forever yeah there's a saying I really like people come into your life for a
01:04:54
reason a season a lifetime yeah yeah and so and we're in a good place um you know
01:05:02
I'm not going to slag anybody off or say they did this or did that um I'm glad I
01:05:08
met my husband when I did and you know uh and as you say he's had two Ex-Wives
01:05:13
before and what I love and he had children to both of those Ex-Wives and um we all get together we was all
01:05:22
together the other week they all came to our house so the be two EX wives there and the you know the kids that they had
01:05:28
the four kids between them and then a couple of the grandchildren and I love it it's like I you don't have any kids
01:05:35
of your own age no you went through IVF I went through eight IVF did you me that doesn't help does it you and
01:05:44
JJ yeah JJ and I yeah yeah very very expensive I think we got two rounds of government funding and then after that
01:05:49
it was like I don't know I want to say like 10 grand or 12 Grand a pop yeah um
01:05:53
yeah I think we gave up after six rounds again the that's the resilience of Suzanne Paul eight rounds I know and
01:05:59
that was a hard one because I don't give up on anything you really wanted I wanted
01:06:05
somebody to say to me that's it now stop give up cuz then you could say okay I've
01:06:11
don't but nobody did you know if I have another one could it work could do so like yeah hard to give up like a
01:06:19
gambler's mentality they putting one more coin in the in the slot machine in
01:06:23
the end I think um Richard Fisher the Embry the um fertility associat guy um he he more or less told us to to give it
01:06:32
up yeah um yeah it's probably what you needed as well yeah do you um does that
01:06:36
make you sad that you couldn't have your own um it did for a long time and I
01:06:41
definitely it did change my relationship with a lot of friends as well as my um the husband that I had at the time cuz
01:06:50
he had three brothers and they all had kids and at any one time either somebody just got pregnant was pregnant or just
01:06:58
had a baby and I just felt left on the sidelines you know any family function it was talking about babies had in the
01:07:06
bit and I'm just I can't even join in nothing I just felt left out and heartbroken all the time so in the end
01:07:14
he'd say oh got the christening next week of his fourth one I'd be like I
01:07:19
actually can't go cuz it's causing me too much pain yeah to be there I'm going
01:07:25
it's breaking my heart you've got to go family I don't have to go I've got to
01:07:29
look after myself now cuz I'm losing the plot you know and it's so painful I
01:07:34
can't go to a christening I'm sorry yeah a lot of like a lot of people choose not
01:07:39
to have kids and that's fine but when that sort of when you're trying and that
01:07:41
choice has sort of been made for you it does it makes it makes it hard and then I got friends um You probably heard it
01:07:47
as well friends with the young kids are like oh if you really want one you're
01:07:50
going to have mine and it's like I know it's not helpful not helping no and you
01:07:55
have to to grieve again for that life that you thought you was having you know that I thought I would be doing with
01:08:03
these child or more than one the life that I thought I was been living you have to I had to learn to let it go and
01:08:10
and that that's not the life I was going to be having yeah I can so relate to
01:08:14
what you're saying so you have this mental picture of how well for me how the second half of my life was going to
01:08:19
look and then suddenly you have to like re re know me with my plans all plannned
01:08:24
out exact what was happening there right up then all of a sudden no out my control that's yeah so so why um so why
01:08:33
did uh Duncan he's your current uh no so he was the second one yeah so this is
01:08:39
Patrick Patrick yeah um you why did you guys decide to get married like surely beasy to go no we've we've done it got
01:08:47
the T-shirt I know you you would think that I would think especially coming from that broken home you know which uh
01:08:54
I didn't get married for the first time till I was 40 That's How against
01:08:58
marriage I was after my parents I was like marriage doesn't work I'm not doing
01:09:02
it um but then when I got to be 40 I don't know I I realized even though it didn't work out and the second one
01:09:10
didn't work out I like being married I like thinking that that someone is there
01:09:15
just for me and is going to have my back and look after me and I like knowing he's there and that he's my husband but
01:09:23
also it just makes me feel for me more loved that he was willing to go the extraor to ask me to marry him and to
01:09:32
actually marry him and be my husband that must to me I think that must mean he really really loves me that's how it
01:09:40
is with me good you're a romantic I am yeah and so yeah and you um you slid into his DM that's how you yeah we did I
01:09:48
did yeah it was the humor um because I was doing a lot of Facebook posts not so much Instagram then and every post I did
01:09:57
he would put a funny comment and they I'd put a funny comment and and it went
01:10:02
on like that for a while and people used to say you two should get a room because
01:10:06
it was just one after the other this this ridiculous thing going on so yeah so then I thought I did a bit of
01:10:12
Facebook stalking um which is good for that CU I thought I'll have a look if there's
01:10:18
photos of him all over his Facebook page with flues you know I won't bother I
01:10:24
know the in a very long time I think Jackson the cameraman out there I don't
01:10:28
know if he's ever heard the word flues before yeah I thought no there was no
01:10:33
flues I could see that he you know his children were grown up and he was so proud of them and and that he was a
01:10:40
musician and an actor you know and um so yeah then I did uh and then it was when
01:10:48
he was when we got a bit closer we were still sort of just following him on Facebook and him and his dad who was
01:10:55
like late his late 80s then I think his dad was about 88 and wanted to do this ancestry search in England and Scotland
01:11:03
and Ireland and Patrick said you know well you're not going on your own dad I'll go with you so then I started
01:11:08
seeing these lovely posts of him with his dad in Scotland and Wales and um and that and then I sent him a message one
01:11:17
day and then so we were privately messaging what was the message asking about on a date or no he was uh he was
01:11:24
in a place called tral and I sent a message saying oh my nan taught me how to play the rose of tral on the piano
01:11:33
know of TR and um yeah The Story Goes he says to his dad dad suzan Paul just sent
01:11:41
me a message and his dad said you better message it back then a you you know and
01:11:46
so he did um and so there was just nice message backwards and forwards but then I saw he was with in a band and he was
01:11:54
playing somewhere so I said to the girls at work where I was at the time you know this guy I've
01:12:00
been messaging and he's a drummer in a band and they're playing on Friday night
01:12:03
shall we go along so they were like yeah we'll come with you so that was it and
01:12:08
we were like two silly teenagers it was ridiculous because the the girls were saying to me oh he's looking he's
01:12:16
looking don't look now he's looking and I'd say is he looking is he looking now
01:12:21
yeah not looking oh you look now up and apparently the the band was saying the same to him Suzanne Paul's in she's
01:12:28
coming Patrick suzan Paul's in she's here then she's looking at you don't
01:12:32
look so he's like yeah I'm not going to look then but in the interval he came
01:12:35
over and I said to the girls I just want to see if there's a spark there we get
01:12:39
on well laughing and joking on Facebook messaging but in real life let's see if
01:12:45
there's any spark there and there was a spark woo there was like great big flight I just knew as soon as I met him
01:12:52
I thought yeah this is it this is the man for me m i just it's wonderful it was lovely that's great he treats me
01:13:00
like a queen yeah does he yeah how old his is his same age a little bit younger seven years younger so not much in it
01:13:07
and he he's um is he in his own band he's played in some famous bands he like
01:13:10
um yes he does I mean he's doing a lot now he's working with Eddie rer and
01:13:15
split ends and Jordan luck and you know Peter ER and when the cats away so he's
01:13:21
like the go-to drummer um and sometimes it's all the other week it was very exciting um he was with a band called
01:13:28
The Magnificent Seven and they were on before Tom Jones there were the support act for Tom Jones in napia WoW uh so if
01:13:35
I can I'll go and see him but he does a lot of corporate functions if people are
01:13:40
Wan a drummer for their band uh and he does acting as well he's in a lot of TV
01:13:45
things yeah so so are you you've um you've been in my life as murder with um
01:13:50
Lucy Lawless yeah how how did you connecting Ro I I would have thought it it would be impossible for you to get
01:13:56
acting role in New Zealand just because Suzanne Paul were you playing yourself or no was no I wasn't but um
01:14:04
but I was playing somebody that sold stuff you know it was like a market store and easy easy you did it
01:14:11
convincingly yeah so I like that and I was on drag race down under I was a judge on that for a couple of years
01:14:17
which was great um and that's it you know the other one we could didn't you see we we can't do
01:14:27
that can't talk about oh the other oh can we can we mention that you're on it
01:14:32
no no okay but you are going to be on TV uh later yes so my plan is so that is my
01:14:38
new plan I don't want to be doing office work I don't even want to be selling
01:14:41
stuff to be honest I've sold stuff since I was 15 I'm over it yes I can do it if
01:14:46
I need the money I'll just find somebody that needs something to sell so I know
01:14:51
that I'll always be all right because I can sell stuff um but I'd rather not I'd
01:14:56
rather just go on telly and enjoy myself and have fun and um the show that I wanted to go on was traitors oh the Paul
01:15:06
Henry one oh they um they're doing another season of that they might do a third one you might cuz the first one
01:15:12
they did have celebrities on it but the one they're doing now they didn't want
01:15:16
celebrities on it uh but things like that I'd like to be presenting shows or
01:15:21
be guests on shows have my own show things like that or stage shows I have done two comedy stage shows which I
01:15:28
loved yeah and didn't you do Dirty Dancing no it was called Dirty dusting which was a comedy but I did I did a
01:15:34
show called stepping out for the Oakland theater company which was a tap dancing
01:15:39
show yeah and of course I did Dancing with the Stars same as JJ did Dancing With The Star yeah that's um that's on
01:15:45
my my list of things to talk about so this this was when it was um when JJ did it and she did very well it was on TV3
01:15:51
you were on the original run when it was on TV 1 and it was a b prodction and they had a live band they did so that
01:15:58
was uh 2007 the second I think was the second time they did Dancing with the Stars and you were on it and you won I
01:16:04
did so who else was on that season yeah oh the late Paul hes yes he was Paul hes
01:16:10
was on it he did that awful Thriller dance oh he did yes God love him you bless him Michael LS yeah and um Megan
01:16:17
altini from tress and you were in the final too in the final yeah yeah yeah what are your what are your
01:16:22
Recollections of that time you enjoy the whole Dancing with the Stars loved it I
01:16:26
had a great dance partner stfo olivieri who came over from Sydney and it was just the same as I do with everything I
01:16:35
said to Savana if I'm going to do this I want to do it 100% so um I said it's not two hours a
01:16:44
day not three this is fulltime for me uh we were dancing eight 10 12 hours every
01:16:50
day I dance till my feet bled I danc till I couldn't get me shoes on anymore
01:16:56
and I had to dance barefooted I danc with a fractured rib I danc with a torn ligament a pulled muscle I just get
01:17:04
carried on it was ridiculous and you won yeah and it's I I feel like that show
01:17:11
maybe it was different back then but um definitely when it came back on TV3 it was uh the winner was always partly
01:17:17
because they're good at dancing but also it's a popularity contest as well yes
01:17:21
was it like that when you w yes and I expected that would relaunch my TV career because it was a couple of years
01:17:28
after I'd been made bankrupt I was still trying to get on my feet I was selling
01:17:33
this for that one I was in the shopping malls and um then I got on Dancing With the Stars and I thought this is it this
01:17:42
is going to catapult me into woo I'll get my own show again that's why I
01:17:47
carried on dancing dancing like a lunatic in extreme Agony like with the broken rib and all sorts cuz you saw it
01:17:54
as a way like ding yourself out of thisle if if I win this this is it because I'd seen it in Australia I'd
01:18:00
seen it in England you know and the winners they always get their own TV show they get a range of clothes sh they
01:18:07
get all sorts of great opportunities so I kept dancing I said to you know everybody this is it if I can just win
01:18:14
this if I can get the public on my side to vote for me and they want me to win it and I dance with all my heart and
01:18:21
soul and sparkle and shine all over the god damn place if I win this I'm back on
01:18:27
the Telly that's me you know and I did win it and I'd all these show ideas a
01:18:34
week later I was up tvnz with my agent I'm sitting there and this is literally how it went I said
01:18:43
right here I am I've got plenty of ideas for a new show one I think you'll really
01:18:49
go for on the back of this and I'm sure you've got ideas yourself let's you know
01:18:54
white board let's all see what we can come up with cuz at the moment I'm the
01:18:58
most famous woman in New Zealand I'm the most popular woman in New Zealand I've
01:19:02
had hit TV shows before so it makes sense doesn't it they went no that's not
01:19:08
how it works in New Zealand I literally was going I think it does I I think it does work like that doesn't it cuz I've
01:19:17
won so everybody loves me at the minute so let's do it nothing unbelievable I couldn't believe it I
01:19:27
feel like you would have like if you if you were if you were just coming through
01:19:31
now I feel like it' be the perfect time for you CU you you could have your own
01:19:34
um YouTube channel your own Tik Tok and stuff um back then in the in what what I
01:19:39
call I suppose towards the end of the golden age of Television you had like a couple of Executives making all the
01:19:44
decisions that's why you had a Dominic B hosting every show or the same faces
01:19:49
being recycled over and over again that wouldn't take any I was going to say
01:19:52
they wouldn't take any risks but hiring you I would not see that as a risk at
01:19:57
all I think you're spot on by and yeah you'd be on the feel like you're on the
01:20:02
cover of woman's weekly or woman's day every other week I was yes and still am
01:20:06
I can I still get two front covers a year it was to me I was like it's a no risk for you people are at least going
01:20:13
to tune in you know because of those hit shows of mine that they enjoyed plus the
01:20:17
Dancing with the Stars and you know all that so but nothing so that did throw me
01:20:24
for quite a l long time because I thought not going to get back on TV then I better get that notion out my head if
01:20:33
this doesn't get me back on do you um what do your thoughts on agism is agism
01:20:37
a problem yes I do think especially for women and I did think then it's an agism
01:20:43
thing they said to me at one stage I won't tell you it was but one of the top
01:20:47
Executives said to me and I quote you're not exactly a dolly bird are you I was 50
01:20:55
you should name them it's like right okay think we could have a court case about that now yeah you couldn't never
01:21:02
say that now I see unbelievable um I what about um Blue Monkey um you had a song this was in 1994 so was this at the
01:21:12
peak of your sort of infomercial F yes it was yeah it was so you had a like a dance song it sounds almost like um a
01:21:19
CNC Music Factory sort of song uh like a dance song called get down get funky run
01:21:24
the Blue Monkey mon that was a big F how did that come about were you just like you know what I want to do a song well I
01:21:30
was with a British girlfriend of mine and she was staying with me and um we drank a bottle of port and it seemed
01:21:38
like a good to you um and yeah we just were like oh well give it a go so and I was able to
01:21:47
do it I was in a position where I could do it I said we could film a video I could get it recorded there and here we
01:21:52
go and it was everywhere and people still remember it people still talk to me about it in fact I was just contacted
01:22:00
um on Monday uh and somebody's asked me if they can use it in big company I will
01:22:06
say a very very big company if ask if they can use it in a commercial oh sh so you get a Payday out of it
01:22:12
yes it's the gift that keeps on how much did it cost you at the time like oh like
01:22:17
what the video cost five grand yeah nothing we had the studio anyway and it was me and you know it was just nothing
01:22:23
so you just how how did you get out at the time because this was pre YouTube yes uh I think it was um Mikey
01:22:31
havoc and all the bfm radio they really for some reason got behind it and it was
01:22:36
all over the student radio and then was it really yeah it was all over Mikey havoc and and Jeremy Wells yeah news boy
01:22:45
was called then and they played it all the time and uh and then so it was picked up by the radio stations and then
01:22:52
I was going on the TV show I was on the news doing it I was on 7even Sharp or whatever it was called then doing it
01:22:58
honestly it was just ridiculous cuz it' be so so much easier now like in terms
01:23:02
of distribution andu well exactly it would be easier now and then yeah the record shops had it which that's how it
01:23:08
was then like CD singles andz singles oh my God we show our age here how good when you look back on that now like um
01:23:17
are you proud of it you do you cringe a little bit what you I sort of cringe I can see the humor in it now you know and
01:23:24
people always you know especially if I do a radio interview they'll always probably play a couple of lines of it
01:23:31
I'm just like did you have to you can go off people you know but you can look
01:23:36
back it's so long ago it's like oh yeah is funny uh but I did a wrap with scribe
01:23:41
as well that you can look up one day which is quite funny yeah I was going to ask you about that because um yeah like
01:23:47
a was that for C4 what was that it was like a stranger danger thing you guys had a rap battle yeah we did how did
01:23:53
that how did that come about and that was for uh jonno and Ben so they were always doing crazy things on their TV
01:24:00
show I did a few crazy things for them and that was one of them and he gave me my um scribe gave me my uh name he gave
01:24:09
me that which is s see that's my thing and Susie P so some friends for a joke
01:24:15
they go yo Susie p in the house that's my good I like I like scribe I want to
01:24:20
get him on the the podcast he he's had an interesting story as well he yeah yeah but one thing I've learned with
01:24:26
this podcast everyone no one knows what anyone's going through but everyone's everyone is
01:24:31
either going through or will go through some [ __ ] all will go through yes um what what about stand up comedy you you
01:24:37
debl on stand up comedy I did I did that for a year and I did that because I thought that would get me back on TV as
01:24:44
well see I I love this stuff it's just this Relentless um Rel Relentless drive
01:24:49
you know this keep hammering yes one from time and probably still is I thought God they've got these stand-up comedians
01:24:56
just presenting everything which they didn't used to have back in the '90s and
01:25:00
all of a sudden I thought here's a nice show I could have presented that oh they've got a stand-up comedian who
01:25:06
apparently you know does the circuits I thought okay that's what I'll do then if
01:25:10
I become a stand-up comedian and I can you know go places and be a standup comedian then I can go to TVN Zed and
01:25:17
say hey guess what I'm a stand comedian now put me on seven days and I One Dancing with the Stars and I've had hit
01:25:24
TV show so now what are you thinking he no uh but yeah I did I went to the rang the comedy club Queen Street yeah the
01:25:34
classic yeah the classic and I said I want to be a standup comedian what shall I do and they said well we have a you
01:25:39
know a night where you new guys can come along uh and you've got to do I don't
01:25:45
know it was about 6 minutes felt like an hour 6 minutes you've got to write yourself you know and then know it and
01:25:52
then do it and then uh do it live on stage oh my God I think that is probably the most terrifying thing I've ever done
01:25:59
in my life worse than dancing live on TV standing there and all those strange people plus I didn't get to be on I
01:26:07
think I got there at about 9:00 and I didn't even get on till about qu past 12 or something and I'm thinking
01:26:15
to myself I'm usually in bed by now you I mean I was doing a N9 to-5 job as well
01:26:21
you know going to work for this company so you were you were held when you tried
01:26:25
the stand up comedy like in your 50s or 60 50s yeah yeah late 50s yeah that's so
01:26:31
cool I know so I did it so Not only was I the only woman there you know backstage in a little green room I was
01:26:37
the only woman I was the oldest person there and you know and and it was just yeah scummy back room with bits you know
01:26:46
sofa fall into bits go on at qu past 12 but I did really well and the guy said to me come back come back next week and
01:26:52
do it again and after about 3 weeks he said I think you're good enough to enter
01:26:56
the the talent Quest that we do every year oh um so but for the qut semifinal you've got to have new material so I
01:27:04
wrote new material got through the semifinal then they said yeah you've got through to the ne you know quarterfinal
01:27:11
it was then the semifinal have wrote another act and that was at the Q theater so I didn't win it but I thought
01:27:18
I did quite well and I got a lot of booking so I traveled quite a lot for about a year all over the place doing
01:27:23
stand comedy what what did what was your routine like can you what were the jokes
01:27:27
about were they like well I was more talking about you know this happened it wasn't jokes it was more I don't know
01:27:34
personal stories yeah I was talking a lot about menopause at the time CU I was going through it and so there was a lot
01:27:40
of talking about that and how it's making me feel you know because if there was any hecklers in I'd be like don't
01:27:47
[ __ ] start with me mate I'm going through Mena and R your head off it's
01:27:52
all like that with with him in sort of hickers or not really they'd laugh they'd mainly be
01:27:59
like yay go Suzanne yeah you're doing that and I'd be always like I'd be
01:28:03
calling the audience for everything I'd be like you know you've all bought a lot
01:28:08
of exercise equipment off me over the years what the heck are you doing with it look at the state of you what are you
01:28:15
doing hanging your washing on it or something you know and it was all like so I was just just slugging them all off
01:28:22
I like that it was yeah they loved it did you say what the heck or did you swear no I'd swear yeah even that cuz I
01:28:28
don't swe that would get a laugh even not proper swearing I'd just say you
01:28:33
know what the [ __ ] are you doing with it all lazy bastards and and how's um how's your
01:28:40
health been how's your health been oh you you had um yeah what happened with
01:28:44
you you you were doing like a a zoom motivational talk and you passed out yeah cuz I do a lot of keynote speaking
01:28:49
but of course the covid was on so this company said you know you can do them over zoom and uh you know we can have a
01:28:57
few hundred people watching on the zoom and so I thought that's a great idea and
01:29:02
uh and I must have got about because I do an hour I do non-stop for an hour and I sort of tell my story and um you know
01:29:10
all the ups and downs like we have done now and next thing I know I thought to myself what am I doing on the floor
01:29:16
that's I don't remember but I think it was a lot of things it was for um Ryman
01:29:22
healthare right it was yeah so how long were you out for were you just play or something apparently I got up once and
01:29:30
they were all still watching all these people in their rooms watching me live and I got up picked myself up off the
01:29:37
floor and I was going oh I don't know what happened I said sorry I don't know
01:29:41
what's happened there and now I went and then I went again right off the back of
01:29:44
the chair and that was when whoever was in charge of the whole thing switched the feed off and um rang the ambulance
01:29:52
cuz they knew where I was sort of things and um my husband who was out Patrick who I'm with now he was out we had an
01:30:01
outbuilding that he used for his office yeah so I rang him and I said I think you better come you know come in cuz
01:30:08
there's an ambulance coming they thought I'd had a stroke that's why they rang
01:30:12
the ambulance Ryman Healthcare but it wasn't but it was a mixture of things I
01:30:16
don't know low blood pressure and this and that you know and your cholesterol
01:30:21
and your fluttering heart I don't know but nothing but you're good now yeah
01:30:26
have you got longevity in your family yeah although my mom was 75 which now you you say it if doesn't seem that
01:30:34
seven more seven more Summers but you seem very fit and I mean I don't know you from a barite but you seem very fit
01:30:39
now got a lot of energy yeah yeah I've always had a lot of energy so I can't
01:30:43
think I'm not a you know not a sickly person um okay we'll end with some final final
01:30:50
questions what lessons and advice for anyone starting out in business oh gosh so is a bit heavy bit of a heavy
01:30:58
T I feel like you probably covered covered it all off with your different messages and stories but I know because
01:31:05
I think the main thing is that things will go wrong but it doesn't mean you've
01:31:11
got to give up you know what I mean I think that's what business is is there's
01:31:15
going to be problems in your business and you've just got to think oh it is a
01:31:20
problem how can we get round this you know how can we do things a bit differently you got to S just think
01:31:28
outside the square sometimes and the other thing I thinking on is oh please don't faint on me we don't want to rhyme
01:31:36
an incident no we don't um sometimes you've just got to take that step forward even if you can't see
01:31:45
exactly where it's leading do you know what I mean you can't always have every
01:31:49
single step planned out right from A to B sometimes it's enough that you just know if I take this first step
01:31:57
you know and then see where that leads because that'll lead you to the next step then oh I'm here oh now I've got to
01:32:03
go here oh I see this is happening I thought this was going I mean I didn't think I was going to end up on the TV
01:32:09
you know but I just we just kept changing T quickly oh I'm in the shopping mall now I think we're now
01:32:15
we're in a pharmacy all the pharmacies don't want it let's get it on TV oh now
01:32:19
I'm on TV but now I want to be here I think sometimes you you just got to be
01:32:25
brave um so you know yes you might be feeling scared but you got to be brave and just
01:32:32
take the next step yeah you've got to push yourself outside your comfort zone
01:32:38
if you stay inside your comfort zone I don't think you'll ever be really
01:32:41
successful you've got to do something that scares you a bit to think oh I don't know where this is all going to
01:32:47
end I don't know if I'm going to be any good at it what's the worst thing that
01:32:49
can happen just try give it a go that's such a good attitude it's really good
01:32:55
and look where it's got you yeah I'm still going to be trying new things some
01:32:58
things I might be good at some things I might be rubbish at but it's the old
01:33:03
rocking chair test isn't it I don't want to be sat in a rocking chair thinging
01:33:07
wish I'd tried that do you know why a lot of time where they they could not get celebrities on Dancing With the
01:33:13
Stars and I used to try and talk loads of them into it I'd say go and Dancing
01:33:18
with the Stars you love it no I might be terrible oh here we go again you might not be and what's the worst that's going
01:33:25
to happen you can learn how to dance you might learn a new skill meet some new people let people see another side of
01:33:31
you I might fall over well you might you get up again can't you what's wrong with
01:33:36
you yeah yeah it's just fear it it is it is fear um I yeah I I probably found fear
01:33:45
crippling in my life and um you think oh what are people going to think of me but
01:33:49
as you get older you realize actually everyone's exact everyone's thinking
01:33:52
about themselves people aren't think about you as much as what you would like
01:33:56
to think they are Feel the fear and do it anyway and especially I think that's
01:34:00
one thing that you do get with age you do get that I can't care less can't care
01:34:06
less what they think to be honest I'm going to give it a go anyway but you've
01:34:10
always had a great relationship with um the word no yeah and with setbacks yeah what about resilience can can people
01:34:17
build resilience or uh yes you can do it's just a matter of again doing things
01:34:22
you don't feel like doing people are always hoping that I'm going to give them some big tip on how to sell
01:34:28
how how do I sell things cuz I don't like selling things and unfortunately in
01:34:33
business there's always going to be something you've got to sell you're
01:34:37
selling yourself you're selling your company selling your integrity you're
01:34:41
selling your product you're selling your idea aren't you all along if you're
01:34:45
going to have a business or company at some stage you've got to sell stuff and
01:34:49
they're all like I don't like doing it I don't like showing people my product I
01:34:53
don't like picking up the phone and that's when I'm always saying I don't
01:34:57
care whether you like it or not you don't have to like it you just have to do it I don't like it either I don't
01:35:03
like picking up the phone and saying hey guess what I've got this you no the
01:35:07
reason you've got to learn is nobody likes it it doesn't matter do it anyway
01:35:14
and once people realize that and we have an old saying the demonstrators saying is and it does always make you feel a
01:35:21
lot better I've trained thousand thousand of salespeople over the years to to sell stuff and I keep saying you
01:35:27
know somebody always says yes in the end they always have and they always will and once you accept that as like a
01:35:37
fact of life you can do anything you can just keep saying yourself I've just got
01:35:43
to keep trying then I just keep trying somebody will always say yes in the end they always have they always will that's
01:35:48
what I believe in totally 100% And if you go out there happy happy joy joy sparkle and shine eventually you will be
01:35:57
successful you will I know it yeah and a friend one that that's in sales he told
01:36:03
me that um every no is a celebration cuz it's getting you closer to the Year yes
01:36:07
we we always think that yeah but people yeah give up too easy I've had sales
01:36:13
people before then I've said go on I've been in the mall with them say it again
01:36:17
well I just said it twice and nobody bought anything so say it again and again and again and again and again
01:36:26
until you got no voice left somebody always says yes in the end and any regrets no not not even that joke you
01:36:34
made on TV about Chinese food Chinese food I didn't actually see this I I watched um uh in preparation for this I
01:36:42
I saw a thing you did on um TV with anik MOA and you referenced it there can you
01:36:47
remember it what I think I was this on live TV or yes the Good Morning Show used to be live
01:36:54
and I was selling the set of source spants and one of the crew or it could have been Alisa who I was with you know
01:37:02
and Mary lambi so back in the day you'd have to stand there and be quiet so Mary
01:37:06
lambi would be talking doing the good morning shows you'd be quiet and then they say over to you Suzanne I'd say
01:37:12
thank you and the set of pans and I lift the lid off and there was a stuffed it was a toy cat and Allison who was
01:37:21
presenting it with me leard yeah yeah she picked it up and cuz I screamed and went what the is that in the pan and she
01:37:29
picked it up went oh it and I she just held it up laughing and I said oh no not Chinese food
01:37:37
again I know just came out oh You' been canceled for that now oh know just came
01:37:46
out that's there was a lot of stories out at that time there was a reference
01:37:50
to it there been a St it was it was IAL there were stories out there at the time
01:37:56
um but yes live TV geez what a life it's been eh yeah what life it's been so and we're into
01:38:04
the like the final third now I guess yes and I'm more now um I enjoy life every
01:38:12
day now I've always been a big one for enjoy it no matter what you're doing
01:38:16
I've always said that to myself just have fun if you have fun doing it then it's going to work you know you got to
01:38:23
have fun doing what you do but now every day um more so the older I get I enjoy even more the simple things in life and
01:38:33
I say to my husband every night in bed and at first he you this is what I used to say I we' be in bed and I'd say oh my
01:38:40
God it's going to be a great day tomorrow and in the beginning he'd say oh why what's happening and I'd say I
01:38:45
don't know it'll just be a great day won't it whatever happens if we wake up
01:38:49
in the morning that's a great day but every day we are like this is great and
01:38:55
I have a thing all day long I keep saying oh thank you God thank you Universe for my health and
01:39:01
safety oh thank you God thank you Universe for this all day long I'm grateful for the sunshine or the rain or
01:39:08
a butterfly or the dog look at him your old dog there I know grateful for my little rescue dog Maddie and I'm just so
01:39:16
happy and grateful for everything especially for my health and my safety I just feel truly blessed
01:39:24
so I just I'm really enjoying life I think that's a great place to end it Susanne Paul thank you so much I I
01:39:32
can't believe this is the first time we've met not me but you're right we
01:39:36
should have met before we've both been you know doing this a long time yeah but
01:39:40
it's been great to S sit down and pick your brains today it's been about you
01:39:43
are you happy yeah yeah I've been under of gratitude juny juny as well and it's
01:39:49
like the there's that saying on I say this on the podcast quite often there's
01:39:52
that saying that comparison is the theft of Joy which is true but but you actually and this is something I read
01:39:58
about you like you did one of those intrepid journey shows and you went to China did you don't have to look far to
01:40:03
find people that are a lot happier with a lot less yeah so every morning now um this is something I got from um a guy
01:40:09
called Jay shitty that I follow um he said like you have to like decide it's
01:40:14
going to be a good day and like help it along you can't just hope it's going to
01:40:18
be a good day you have to make it a good day sometimes you're right that's me
01:40:20
every day I choose to be happy I don't wait and see what happens you know to
01:40:25
decide what mood I'm going to be in every morning choose choose to be happy also I've had um some people on the
01:40:31
podcast who have just been through some terrible adversity terrible M and Motu who you know had her on the podcast she
01:40:38
was in a horrible uh domestic violent relationship for a decade I've had um Kelsey waghorn who was a a guide on faka
01:40:46
white Island when the eruption went off got severe burns and oh my goodness had a lady around here yesterday who's um
01:40:52
yeah was ran a marathon last November then went in for some like routine blood tests the next month and now she's um
01:40:59
yeah found out she's got stage for colon cancer and um for for survival it's
01:41:04
going to be on chemo for the rest of her life and it's like these sort of things
01:41:08
give you a bit of perspective and yeah they do yeah they do yes thank you but it's been bloody great please keep in
01:41:14
touch yeah I I like that I love you and I love your work thanks thank you oh