Cuppa.tv founder Luke ‘Cookie’ Cook is on a mission to change how we talk about mental health and wellbeing in our work and personal lives. He tells his story to Kochie’s Business Builders.

In early March 2020, I received a call from a client who pulled $200k worth of revenue from my business due to COVID. What happened next almost broke me, but in the same sip also inspired me to make a difference.

You see, prior to COVID I was the founder of an experience and reward app called FUNLOCKA which I invested all my money into. Yep, I am one of those founders that backed themselves on an idea that I believed would work.

When I received that fateful call it wiped any future runway we had and ultimately shut the doors on that part of my journey.

It wasn’t only the business that was impacted, but there were weeks where I didn’t know if I could put food on the table for my family or pay rent. My internal noise was loud.

I sent myself on a guilt trip, asking ‘How could I put my young family in this situation at the age of 39?’

I hit the ground pretty hard. I cried most days.

Then one day, I took a walk to my coffee shop and had a phone call that would not only change my life, but also the lives of many thousands of people across the world.

After getting my only ‘treat’ for the day, a double shot latte, I called FUNLOCKA’s head of experience, Jill Covitz, and said to her, “If my mental health was bad, I am guessing many others would feel the same… what if we launched a virtual café and created a safe place for people to come to feel positive, inspired and learn something new?”

So, Cuppa Of Life (now Cuppa.tv) was born.

I downloaded a café image online, spent $40 at Officeworks to get it printed as a backdrop and we opened up our virtual doors of the café (free of charge) on April 10, 2020 with our first guest – Gus Worland, Triple M radio host and founder of mental health charity Gotcha4Life, where we spoke about mateship, mental fitness and wellbeing.

In an instant, we received emails of thanks. More than I could’ve ever expected from my little idea. In all honesty, it just felt good.

For over a year, each and every weekday, we opened up those virtual doors free of charge to interview personalities, experts and incredible storytellers. We spoke to amazing people like surfing legend Layne Beachley, MasterChef‘s Jock Zonfrillo, former Aussie rules coach Paul Roos, OzHarvest founder Ronni Kahn and The Block and Selling Houses Australia‘s Shaynna Blaze, who popped in to candidly share their stories, vulnerabilities and their support tools and insights.

 

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Pictured: Cuppa’s conversationalists including Ronni Kahn, Simon Wiggle, Deborah Hutton and more.

But Cookie, how did you make money if you did it for free?

As 100s of people started to join our morning conversations, they could immediately see the impact it was having and would book us in for private conversations for their teams around topics like mental health, diversity and inclusion, sustainability, leadership, mindset and many more.

That’s how we came up with Cuppa.tv as a subscription platform – a valuable resource for businesses and individuals to tap into meaningful conversations, both on demand and live, from Australia’s most respected voices.

Today, we’ve spoken to more than 300 experts, personalities and storytellers and facilitated more than 350 virtual conversations, masterclasses and experiences. We’ve reached more than 50,000 people globally, and worked with more than 90 different organisations like Google, Mirvac and NBCUniversal to help their teams. And as the ultimate cherry on top, we have raised $40,000 for charities.

My biggest learning: Our conversational muscle is weak

The biggest thing I’ve learnt from Cuppa is that as a society, and particularly as businesses, our conversational muscle is weakening when it comes to having meaningful conversations.

We spend too much time on email, Slack channels, and other ‘productivity’ tools that we have lost the ability to truly connect. While these tools have been a necessity during lockdowns and hybrid work arrangements, we can’t lose sight of meaningful person-to-person connection.

As leaders, if you are worried about your business’ culture in this modern way of working, then you need to focus on improving how you have authentic, real and vulnerable conversations in as many ‘impact’ moments you have in a day with your team.

If our conversational muscle is weak, the following things will be impacted: culture, ideas, retention, leadership, mental health, productivity, inclusivity and problem solving.

I will 100 per cent admit that before Cuppa, I took a helicopter view on many conversations of significance and importance in the community. I knew that conversations involving First Nations people, transgender and gender equity existed, but I never took the time to land the helicopter and get out to learn more about what was happening around me.

This journey of understanding has shown me that the more that we continue to step out of our conversational comfort zone, take the time to listen and open our eyes to the world around us, the more we can learn as individuals and ultimately support future generations.

A movement of connection

I truly feel as though I have found my purpose through every conversation I have had and now I want to share these conversations to the world.

Cuppa.tv has recently launched and is a live and on-demand original content platform for businesses, featuring 100s of global experts designed to help employees with their personal welbeing, performance and belonging. As I like to say, “It’s like Netflix for businesses who want the most for their people in work and life”.

Before I head off, I want to dedicate this piece to my co-founder of Cuppa.tv, Jill Covitz, who suddenly passed on January 25, 2022, while on holiday (three weeks before launch). Jill was my wing woman in my entrepreneurial journey, and I wish she was here to be a part of our success.

The wave of support I have received from 100s of our Cuppa community has shown me that what we have created is more than just a business.

It’s a movement of connection.

Join the Cuppa.tv movement today.

This article is brought to you by Kochie’s Business Builders and Cuppa.