Lisa Burling will be the next guest speaker at IWIB Networking Lunch. Photo: Supplied.
When Lisa Burling steps onto the stage as guest speaker at the Illawarra Women In Business (IWIB) Networking Lunch on Friday 21 March, it will feel like a return to home for the Wollongong entrepreneur.
Lisa, an author and founder of businesses Grass Is Greener Marketing Communications and Mabel’s World, will share her hard-earned wisdom and the power of authenticity during her talk, Beyond the Highlight Reel: 10 Business Lessons from a Decade of Doing.
She first spoke in front of an IWIB audience in 2017 after winning an IWIB award the year prior, and returned to the stage to launch her first book in 2019.
“It really feels like coming home,” Lisa said.
“I’ve been joking that it feels like the teenager that goes off and sees the world and comes back home to tell the parents about it.
“I know that when I step into that room I always feel so welcomed and supported.
“This feels like a chance to give back.”
She said this guest spot felt different to her previous appearances, because of being away from the networking space for so long.
“I haven’t really shared what’s happened between the last time I spoke and now,” she said.
“I needed some time just to get on with what I was doing, and I’ve got a really clear path for myself now, which I’m excited to share when I speak.”
In 2021, Lisa rebranded her award-winning public relations agency LBPR to Grass Is Greener Marketing Communications to better reflect the diverse range of digital and social services the team provides.
“That really kicked off putting my feet into that entrepreneurial world,” she said.
“Like a lot of people, I felt scared to step into who I knew I was inside and start to execute that externally.”
She then launched a second venture, Mabel’s World: For the Love of Words, focused on her passion for words and writing.
“Mabel’s World was almost an experiment to see if I could create something that could bring me joy and simultaneously make me money,” Lisa said.
“It’s honestly been the joy of my life for the last year.”
As a book coach, Lisa helps individuals write and publish their own books, with the goal of amplifying underrepresented voices through her imprint.
She’s already celebrated the launch of the first book under the label this month.
“The big goal with Mabel’s World really is to have books – mostly by women – that come through my imprint, that wouldn’t necessarily get shared or told without my push and the Mabel’s World backing,” she said.
“It’s to also have them in libraries, particularly in regional, and rural and remote areas.”
Lisa said this year she also launched the podcast, Unscripted, which took the lid off her personal and business life for a “no filters and no scripts” look at the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur.
She said it was a nice tie-in to her IWIB guest spot about “10 years of doing” in business, which was going beyond the polished success stories to share lessons learned, challenges faced and the things she’d wished she knew when she started.
“I’m putting myself back at the start thinking, what are the things that resonated with me most now I’m standing at another point on the mountain, to use that as an analogy,” she said.
“What do I wish I’d heard, seen or been told to help and inspire me to keep going in the moments when I feel like I can’t?”
Lisa said among those 10 lessons was the importance of being unapologetically yourself in business.
She believes too many entrepreneurs feel the need to conform to external expectations, stifling their authentic selves.
“We can tell when people aren’t being themselves,” Lisa said.
“Start as you are and carry on that way.
“If you’re happy and content with how you are in business, then the benefits will flow – and that’s not just monetary benefits.”
Learn more about Grass Is Greener Marketing and Mabel’s World.
Illawarra Women In Business Networking Lunch will be held Friday 21 March from noon – 2:15 pm at Centro CBD, 28 Stewart St, Wollongong.
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