Where did it come from?
So I was formerly an English teacher and the vision came,
I had, Oprah Winfrey calls them an aha moment.
I had an aha moment on an island in Fiji called Kandavu.
Saw the beautiful swaying coconut trees.
It was a one second thought.
And the thought was I'd like to create as much positivity
in the world as I can.
I've seen since learned it's called post-traumatic growth
because I just lost my second parent
by the time I was 37.
So it was a very sad time, a very emotional time.
But out of that, there was a very strong desire,
I guess to positively impact as many people as I could.
So that's the in a nutshell version.
And then I had free-frating for four years.
I saw a school and I got advice,
but it really came from that one second thought.
Wow.
Okay, Fiona, let's talk about how you got started.
I'm gonna show a little bit about behind the scenes
because it's amazing what you've built.
It's amazing to see the transformation
that's taking place with it.
But how did Fiji Book Drive get started?
So it got started.
So moving on from that initial one second thought I had,
I then saw a school on the island of Kandavu
and all schooling in Fiji is compulsorily done in English.
Actually, that's the school there.
And they did have books.
They probably had about 20 books.
I saw that you're a Dr. Zeus fan.
So they had some Dr. Zeus books.
Nobody likes to see a Dr. Zeus book in bad condition.
That just makes us sad.
And yeah, it makes us sad, doesn't it?
And so there's an example there of a library that we've done.
So they had some books,
but they were just in terrible condition.
And that is not going to entice children to reading,
not enough books and very, very poor quality.
And in addition to that,
so English is the children's third language
and they're going to be no books in the home.
So they're already facing so many obstacles
before they get to school.
I had a conversation when I was back in Australia
with a friend.
It was a very interrupted conversation
while our children were doing swimming lessons.
So literally one minute grabs.
And she said to me,
Fiji, as my friends call me, don't you know where freight is?
I said, no, I didn't know your freight is.
And she said, well freight is.
So they freighted it.
And did the warehousing and logistics for about four years.
That gave me legs.
And so that's really kind of how it started.
Then we became, we had Clayton Newts,
like a well-known law firm in Australia.
They did all the work to make us into a charity.
So we're a registered charity in Australia and Fiji.
So it came from the vision,
then me having a conversation with someone.
And that someone backing me very early on,
which was pretty amazing because we were unproven
and then me driving it from there.
How can leaders lean into finding their vision?
Well, I think if you don't have funding,
it's pretty hard to get your vision going.
So if you believe enough in it
and you are unwavering in your belief,
then you will find, and the vision is good,
and people you're able to inspire them to jump on board,
then you will find funding.
I mean, separate to that,
asking people for money is hard, it's hard.
And I mean, I was raised,
I remember my father saying to me,
oh, the classiest people are the ones
that don't talk about money.
And I agree with that to an extent,
but if you run a charity or any organisation,
you do actually have to ask for money.
It's called the money story.
So you just have to get comfortable with that.
Now you can't just ask people
that you have no relationship with.
Asking for any significant amount of money,
it's a relationship.
And nothing big is gonna happen online over a text message.
It's gonna be lunch or a coffee.
And it's like putting compost in the garden over time.
They need to believe you're a person of integrity.
They need to believe in the vision.
They also like supporting, in our case,
sort of small yet big charity.
So how do they lean into it?
They've got to believe it
and maybe get a little bit of advice on how to do it.
So for example, we have to ask,
or I have to ask for matched funds.
So it's tax time now.
So our biggest donation time of the year.
And if we have a matched fund,
so people donate $5 and then their five becomes 10
because of a matched fund,
hugely attractive for people.
So you need to make it attractive to people to fund
the vision and they need to believe in the vision.
And if they say no, that's fine.
That's right.
It is.
It's honorable that they even listened, right?
That they even took the time to consider it.
And we've got to do a good job of inspiring people.
I think you use that word in there as well.
So I really appreciate the wisdom.
Do you remember where the sources that you learned
about the money story?
So, I mean, I really, yeah, it's a really good phrase.
I subscribed to lots of emails.
It was one of those emails.
It was an email that I get about fundraising.
I can't remember which particular one it was.
And it was actually a 90 second video.
And I showed it to all my board in a board meeting.
But in essence, what the money story video said was,
so let's say you've got a number in mind,
then you say that number
and that's what the person works with.
And I had an example of that where we had no warehousing.
Our warehousing partners pulled the pin on us.
It was just before COVID started.
It was completely devastating because as a book charity,
if you don't have a warehouse, you've got nothing.
And I said to someone who was very much a big wheel
in corporate Australia in the 90s,
I didn't know this person well, but I knew my father.
And this person said to me,
how much do you need for a warehouse?
And I said, 25,000.
He said to me, Fiona, right, I will write 25,000.
Now it was a gobsmacking moment.
And I think because he knew my father,
that was like an indirect reference to my character
and integrity, but it illustrated perfectly
the point of the money story.
You say the number.
Thank you for being here today.
I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live.
I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions
as these episodes continue to move forward.
This is gonna get more and more fun.
We'll have more and more engagement as well.
We'll invite people to participate in the show
and thank you for giving us your time and attention.
Have an excellent time building out your vision
and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.