Current situation: update July 2024

Personally….

To those who know me well, it will come as no surprise that I lead this update with complete candour and vulnerability.

This past year has been personally challenging due to the discovery of several autoimmune diseases, adding significant complexity to my life. As with everything I engage in, I've endeavored to handle it with resilience. Without dwelling excessively (a delicate balance, indeed), I've focused on understanding the root causes, navigating acceptance, and actively participating in existing communities or forming new ones where needed.

This journey has deepened my awareness of global health disparities, particularly here in Aotearoa. It strengthens my commitment to shed light on these issues and contribute to solutions that promote fairer outcomes and a better quality of life for those facing health challenges.

Business…
It has been a long time coming, but we are finally making significant in-roads on our global scaling project (USA and UK predominantly).

The distribution of Powered by Flossie software through the Aveda / Estee Lauder network is proving to be a valuable partnership. As we continue to grow, our team have de-coupled our core software and productised individual components, enabling a faster / smoother path-to-market with our corporate pipeline clients.

We have invested significantly in our infrastructure in the last 12 months, setting ourselves up for further corporate partnerships by implementing and meeting rigorous security protocols. Automation has featured heavily in our development prioritisation, with very obvious returns and cost savings, maximising our ability to scale quickly.

Each integration we undertake with partner POS vendors further enriches the capabilities of the Powered by Flossie API, and helps us identify additional use cases for the future. Alongside our BAU, we have identified several strategic pathways for future proofing technology positioning and growing ARR.

I still thoroughly enjoy our business, with a clear role to play in strategy - my happy place.

In Service…

With my recent 46th birthday celebration behind me (a very low key affair this year), I took a moment to reflect on the year that has been and the impact I have had on those around me (and them on me!)

As our kids start to depart from home and enter into new phases of their own lives, at times there’s been a vacancy of sorts…which has triggered my instinct to care for others and search for other ways to add value.

Inevitably, this has found us suddenly in the “thick of it again” with what some of my friends refer to as “waifs and strays”. I imagine we’ve all been that person at one point in time or another, where we’ve needed some extra support and a kind heart to look after us. We have taken immense pride in our home becoming a sanctuary to friends (and sometimes friends or family members of friends) in need of a bit of respite. At times that has also meant taking on a bit more responsibility for an individual needing support, for better or worse, that’s part of the deal.

Living in Piha, there’s a certain healing aspect to our village and I like to think in years to come those who’ve come and spent some time at “The Louises’s” (as we call it), they will pay forward this kindness to others. Slowly I’ve been identifying ways to get involved in the community and offer my skills and experience to help us where I can - such as the Cyclone relief and rebuild projects, plus the creation of the Piha Matariki Festival (this year managed by Lucy Moore, a wonderful fellow Piha-ian).

My involvement in the growing LCSA (Long Covid Support Aotearoa) has been a source of intellectual stimulation and resolve. We now look after 2,500 patients in our support network and continue to build out our assets to best help people who have found themselves part of this unfortunate club. The partnerships with various universities, in particular, The University of Auckland and Te Herenga Waka / Victoria University has led to my participation in the well-received PHCC briefing on Long Covid and the Long Covid Registry. I never would have thought becoming a published university endorsed medical researcher would be on my achievement list!

There’s still 6 months left in the year and given I’ve felt more than a bit held back from various surgeries in the first half that have slowed my progress. That said, now that I’m back on my feet - I’m itching for new horizons and opportunities to further extend myself into. I hope to find further funding for some of the philanthropic activities that we’re behind - one of my goals for this year.

I’ll keep you posted!

Jx