July 26, 2025 • 26 mins
Cut The Tie Podcast with Frances Schagen
What happens when your business starts running you instead of the other way around? In this episode of Cut The Tie, Thomas Helfrich sits down with Frances Schagen—a digital nomad, serial entrepreneur, and systems strategist—who traded a two-bedroom condo in downtown Toronto for a suitcase and a beachside work-life.
Frances shares the wisdom she’s gained from building and exiting businesses, ditching the unnecessary, and designing a life where her business supports her—not the other way around. If you’ve ever thought about cutting ties with your stuff, your schedule, or your stress, this episode will show you what’s possible.
About Frances Schagen
Frances Schagen is a serial entrepreneur and digital nomad helping business owners take control of their time, systems, and life design using AI and smart business strategy. With a background in project management, engineering science, accounting, and small business ownership—including a successful bookkeeping firm—Frances brings a deeply practical and human approach to business transformation. She currently helps overwhelmed entrepreneurs simplify, scale, and structure their businesses to support the life they actually want to live.
In this episode, Thomas and Frances discuss:
- The real cost of clutter
Frances shares how cutting ties with her physical possessions and home base helped her fully embrace a life of location freedom. - From spreadsheets to warm hugs
Despite her technical skills, Frances’s clients describe working with her as “a warm cup of tea”—a rare mix of structure and empathy. - Just-in-time learning for sanity
She explains how ditching “just-in-case” learning saves time and mental space for what really matters in business. - Freedom by design, not default
Her transition into digital nomadism didn’t happen overnight—but it did happen by choice and with intention.
Key Takeaways:
- Freedom starts with subtraction
Letting go of things—physical, emotional, or strategic—is the first step to designing a life on your terms. - You probably only need 100 clients, not 10,000 followers
Most businesses are chasing scale when they just need clarity and fit. - Don’t be owned by your business
Your business should enable your lifestyle, not consume it. - Life’s too short for just-in-case learning
Learn what you need, when you need it. Let the rest go. - The real work is deciding what you won’t do
You can’t do it all—and you don’t need to.
Connect with Frances Schagen:
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/francesschagen/
📧 Email: frances@francesschagen.com
🌐 Website: https://frances.business/
Connect with Thomas Helfrich:
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/thelfrich
📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cutthetie
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomashelfrich/
🌐 Website: https://www.cutthetie.com
📧 Email: t@instantlyrelevant.com
🚀 Instantly Relevant: https://www.instantlyrelevant.com
Serious about LinkedIn Lead Generation? Stop Guessing what to do on LinkedIn and ignite revenue from relevance with Instantly Relevant Lead System
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Cut the Tie podcast.
Hi, I'm your host, thomasHelfrich.
I'm on a mission to help youcut the tie to whatever it is
holding you back from success,and that success is something
that you define for yourself.
Today's guest is Frances ShaganI think.
I sometimes butcher your lastname when we meet Frances.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I'm great, thanks, it's good to see you, you as
well.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Take a moment.
Introduce yourself and what itis you do.
See you, you as well.
Take a moment.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Introduce yourself and what it is you do.
Sure, I'm a serial entrepreneur.
I'm a digital slow mad,currently in a small Caribbean
town in Mexico.
Been here for a couple months.
I'm working with AI to helpother business owners get the
(00:47):
life and business of theirdreams so they could live this
lifestyle or any other that theywant.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
That's me commitment to digital nomad.
There are a lot of people inyour space and I always ask this
question.
This is a way for you to umcenter, like to get people to
understand who you are, but likewhat it is it that makes you
unique yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
So what makes me unique is a I'm a serial
entrepreneur.
I've been in a lot of differentindustries.
One of my businesses was abookkeeping business and that
meant I got to dive deeply intohundreds of businesses, so I
know a lot about how people dodifferent things in business and
actually how they play out overtime.
(01:22):
I also have a projectmanagement background, so I'm
very good at being able to seethe systems in a business and
again seeing how things play out, which is kind of unique.
I've also got sort of anengineering, science and
(01:44):
accounting background, so I docome at things very data driven
very.
You know like I want to knowwhat it is very dispassionately,
but just like, what is thesituation here?
Okay, let's deal with that.
Having said that, I also havean alter ego called Lady Willow,
so there's a little bit of that.
(02:06):
You know we're all dichotomous.
We all have multiple sides, umand and finally, uh, when people
work with me.
So I own my bookkeeping business.
I'm I was really good atbookkeeping Very.
You know all thatmeticulousness and I asked my
customers what is it that youlike about me?
And I thought they were goingto say stuff like that and they
(02:27):
didn't.
They said coming to work withyou is like getting a warm hug.
It's like having a cup of warmherbal tea as we talk through my
numbers.
They say you know for the firsttime I understand what's going
on and I know what to do.
Say you know for the first timeI understand what's going on
and I know what to do.
So I've got that ability to seeit the way it is, look into the
(02:50):
future, see what's going tohappen and, at the same time,
talk to you in a way that makesyou feel like you can you can do
this, that you understand it.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
That's a that's great .
Having the insight intobusiness makes you definitely
much more effective when you'rehelping them you know,
understand what they need to godo next.
And not everyone has that.
Some people come from like amarketing background or
something else, but they don'thave that business of running
one, let alone a scene house.
You know several hundred ranand I love.
I think that's.
That truly is a distinguishingfactor when you work with
somebody is the insight theybring and that the distinguisher
(03:21):
then becomes you.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
So I like that.
How do you define success?
Can I just?
I'm just going to show you thepool.
Please, that's a good way to doit.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
She's buying it and she decided to go there a few
months for fun.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah.
So success for me is I get tolive life on my terms.
I told somebody a joke theother day.
I said do you know what myalarm clock sounds like?
I don't know either, exactly.
So I mean I live life on myterms and my business supports
(03:58):
my life.
Versus me, my life supportingmy business.
So that to me is success versusme, my life supporting my
business.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
So that to me, is success.
Right, and you know I've had aconversation offline but you're
working to deliver the lifestyleyou want, not working to have
the things you want Like it'smuch more an experience-based
versus.
I need a giant house and a nicecar and whatever else, so I
guess and you can have thosethings too it's just a matter of
(04:26):
not right now.
I want to experience life andbe nomad and meet people and do
this stuff, love it, and you'reup.
Tell me a little about yourjourney and tell me what the
biggest tie is.
You had to cut to achieve thatsuccess you defined.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Yeah, you know, it came in stages no-transcript.
(05:07):
Do some creative work, comeback, read another chapter.
And I found myself the next day, like Monday morning, in my
office and I'm kind of likedrumming my fingers because I
had cut so much stuff that Irealized wasn't important that I
didn't know what to do.
And so my first lesson was ifyou're going to save time in
(05:30):
your business and life, figureout what you want to do with it,
which is kind of the lifestylehere.
So you know, kind of like theshort of it is for me, travel is
really important.
My kids are grown, they'relaunched and it's all about
travel for me, and so I've hadto get rid of most of my things.
(05:53):
People, you know I'm in acommunity where there's a lot of
travelers and they ask me likewhere's your stuff?
Like in a suitcase in my Airbnb.
I don't have stuff anymore.
Having said that and one of thereasons I can do that is I have
literally schooled up ahousehold four times from zero
(06:17):
in the last 10 years.
Most recently, I rented anunfurnished apartment last fall,
near where my kids are, so Ihad to furnish it and then leave
.
After three months the buildingwas literally being torn down.
So there was no.
It just it had to happen thatway and it was just a real
(06:40):
interesting exercise in learningwhat's really important and
what's not like.
What do what?
What are the basic things youneed in order to live, and and
um, yeah, it was really.
It was so cool and veryempowering like you, like I,
like I.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
If I don't want this stuff anymore, I can literally
just go buy something new that Ido want.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Exactly that's what I learned those four times.
It's not that hard, especiallythese days with a lot of you
know there's a lot of recyclingand reusing, repurposing.
There's a lot of you know.
There's value villages andSalvation Armies and places like
that where you can get whateveryou need, like a lot of my
kitchen stuff.
That's exactly where I got it.
(07:28):
So, yeah, you can do it anddon't be owned by the things
that you owned, because that'swhat happens.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
What's that Neil Young song?
It's not the world that's heavy, it's the things that you save.
I'm drifting, I'm drifting away.
Yeah, it's a good line.
What was your moment, the ahamoment, when you knew you were
going to go do this?
Is it the quilt when you'redoing it, or was it something
before that that sparked youLike I don't want this life, but
(07:58):
I don't know what it's going tobe?
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah, I don't know that there was ever a moment,
because I've always known I wasgoing to do this.
I got sidetracked by raisingfour kids.
You know we did do some travel,but not travel like this.
I call myself a slow mag versusa nomad because, like I said,
I've been in this town now forfive months bumping up against
(08:22):
my six-month visa, so you'regoing to have to do something
about that.
So, yeah, I'm not sure therewas a real aha moment.
One of them was with thatfour-hour work week, that whole
idea of you know there's a lotof stuff in our lives that we do
that we don't have to do, dothat we don't have to do.
(08:48):
One of the business lessons Igot from that was that whole
idea of just-in-time learningversus just-in-case learning,
and I see so many businessowners do this where they think
they have to learn how to do allof it and you know, in case
they need it later on, orthey're looking forward and
they're saying, oh, I'm going tohave to know that and you know
it just slows you down.
You need to focus on what youneed to do right now and learn
(09:19):
it just in time, and or you know, find the people to help you do
it.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Yeah, I agree, it's solid advice because it's more
functional.
There's things you need tomaster you have to commit a
little more time to, but youjust got to know it.
It's different.
Yeah, so you said you did this.
Talk about the how, how youmade the move to for yourself of
things provide the, you know,the ability to travel where and
(09:43):
how you want yeah, well, um, soit started.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
I mean, like I said, I've known I was always going to
do this and so I've kind ofbeen moving towards it for a
couple of years by, you know,moving online for my work, by
not having too much stuff and bypracticing not having a lot of
things.
But, yeah, covid hit the lastof my kids moved out and I was
living in downtown Toronto in atwo bedroom condo, paying two
(10:11):
bedroom condo prices in downtownToronto and not being able to
enjoy it because of COVID.
And so that's when I started myjourney and what I did.
I had a Volvo wagon at the timeand I just put whatever I could
fit into that and that was whatI was going to have.
And I just started Airbnb-ingnear where I was.
(10:35):
So I was near family, you know,if anything happened I could
just pop home.
It was a really good way topractice what it would, what it
feels like, to like roll into anAirbnb and set up your home
office.
You know, set up a kitchen fromyou never know what you could
(10:55):
get in an Airbnb kitchen.
They're all very different, um,they all have a language, but
there's, you just never know, um.
So here's one tip if you'regoing to do this kind of thing,
have a budget to pick up a fewthings.
Um, I I just know that any,almost any time I'm going to
roll in, I'm going to need, I'llgo and I'll buy something, you
(11:18):
know, just just to make my lifeeasier.
Don't be afraid to to do thatand don't be afraid to ask.
Sometimes I'll just give it toyou too.
That's happened many times.
But that, yeah, small steps.
And then for me, I was reallylucky because when, six months
later, I decided I was going totry Mexico and I reached out to
(11:40):
a friend who's living in Mexicoand I said, can I?
She said, sure, we'll pick youup at the airport.
And they you know her, herhusband picked me up at the
airport.
They set me up in an Airbnbwith a friend that they knew.
They took me around to the bank, you know, got my SIM card, the
whole thing.
So soft landing ininternational travel nice.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
So you know, lean on your friends.
What's been the impact?
Speaker 2 (12:12):
oh, wow, um, I've always been pretty good at
making sure that my life isgiving me what I needed.
Um, impact is holy crow, I'mliving, I'm living.
You know, a lot of people havescreensavers.
I'm sitting on that beach orwalking through that colonial
(12:32):
town or, you know, climbing thatvolcano Like that's my life and
at the same time, I get to helpbusiness owners get their dream
life.
Like I'm literally living thedream.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
I love that you are too, and I think people should
realize like you don't need asmuch as you think to do that.
You've got that style.
Like you know, if you'remarried with younger kids, it
might be much harder to do whatyou're doing.
If you're married and you bothare on the same page page, you
probably don't need as much asyou think you need.
Still, um, specifically, do youever feel, uh, like I don't have
(13:14):
anything.
Like you know they do that.
Or creep into you like oh mygosh, I don't have anything.
Like you know what I mean.
Like like yeah, there's,there's no nesting.
Like I have nowhere to go, Idon't really have a home.
Like just, do you ever havethose kind of feelings, that
kind of pull you back and makeyou feel a little bit weird,
like no, that's not the point ofthis.
Like tell me about that a bit,because I think I had a feeling,
(13:35):
I think I could get around it,but then I'd feel like I don't
really have anything or I can'tbe like you know.
So how does that?
How do you deal with that?
Or how would you describe thatfeeling?
Maybe?
Speaker 2 (13:45):
yeah, um 100.
I do every once in a while.
You know I, you know I.
So some of the things I misswhen I'm traveling, you know,
obviously, family.
You know family right on thetop.
But certain foods you know,like mayonnaise and ketchup,
tastes different here, um.
(14:06):
So I get to a point where I'mmissing the food and I'm
thinking, okay, I'd like to goback to canada, but I don't have
a place, so that there's thatsort of like huh, I don't have a
place, um, so I have to make aplace and you know it's the same
as when I'm.
So I have to make a place andyou know it's the same as when
I'm traveling.
(14:27):
I have to make a place.
So, yeah, there is that timewhere it would be nice to be
able to go back to my kitchenwith all the things that I like
in the place, I like them in theway I like them there is.
You know, there is thatAbsolutely.
But I get over it prettyquickly when I look back out at
the pool or wander down to thebeach and, just to be clear,
(14:51):
like, this is my dream life.
It doesn't have to be the samefor everything else.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Like you, know it's like well, I, my wife I have
discussed this before.
I said, you know, when we getempty nest zone here about eight
years potentially I'm like it'dbe great to just go be able to
live somewhere for three monthswith remote work and do like a
work life, like, hey, what timehave you done today?
Two Great.
Let's go get a coffee, rock thebeach, go to the mountains
(15:19):
whatever we're going to be doingand just enjoy a place and then
come back to some kind of homewhere you can reset, get you
know, be grounded.
Kids can visit if they chooseto.
Ours would probably be a mix ofthe two, I bet.
But um, but my.
This comes back to a questionof kind of.
That was probably more logicalto ask, for.
I did my own littleautobiography there.
What are you most grateful forin this moment?
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Yeah, Um, what am I most grateful for?
At this moment I have agratitude practice where I you
know the Tony Robbins absolutelygrateful for the fact that I'm
in a place because I'm dogsitting for a friend.
(16:10):
So I'm grateful that I get tohang out with this wonderful
little doggy in this amazinghouse, in this really cool town,
surrounded by just the mostwonderful group of friends.
Like this is something I don'texperience anywhere else in the
world.
It's why I keep coming back tothis town.
(16:30):
It's this amazing group offriends and I'm grateful to
myself for having done what Ineeded to do to get me to this
place.
It doesn't happen on its own.
You have to make it happen stepby step and you just do it.
So grateful for all of that.
(16:52):
And, in memoirs, I'm gratefulfor my kids, because they think
I'm awesome and because of thatI don't ever want to let them
down.
Because of that, I don't everwant to let them down.
So it always it pushes me to bemy best self so that I can
(17:12):
continue.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
They may join you on this adventure at some point in
their lives, when they're ready.
Yeah, exactly.
Or at least get some advicefrom you.
So give me a lesson.
So what's the lesson you wouldgive to the listener?
Speaker 2 (17:27):
um, you don't need anywhere near as much as you
think you need.
Um, yeah, I made some notesbecause I wanted to make sure
that I kind of, and this is agood specific.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
So let's just give them like a real world.
If you want to come to mexicofor six months, what's the
financial what's?
Give me the high level on thatone.
I'm not looking at your details, but like, really, what can you
do to enjoy yourself and feelI'm fine?
Like this is easy.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Yeah, um, listen to people who who are here, not the
people who aren't.
Um, cause, everybody you knowthey, I, everybody you know I
can tell you so many peoplethink that I'm in danger when
I'm here, and I'm not.
You know, I'm not in dangerhere at all.
You need way less than youthink.
(18:13):
There's lots of levels oftravel, so pick the one that
makes you most comfortable andfits your budget.
It is pretty cheap to live here.
Be generous when you're here.
It just makes your life so mucheasier when you make the lives
around you easier.
That's just good adviceeverywhere.
(18:34):
The hardest part of the wholething is to make the decision to
do it and once you've made thatdecision, then work towards it.
It's like the infrastructurefor people coming here and
staying for months on end herein Mexico is really good.
So it's easy.
You know Airbnb, the rentals.
(18:56):
It's really quite easy.
You do need to be on WhatsApp,because everything is on
WhatsApp.
You can order pizza.
I contacted the vet on WhatsApp.
Be on whatsapp, becauseeverything is on whatsapp.
You can order pizza.
You're, you're, I, I call.
I contacted the vet on whatsapp.
Um, yeah, so just like, do itand and know that the night
before you leave or the weekbefore you leave.
(19:17):
You're gonna get that moment ofwhat have I done?
Speaker 1 (19:25):
oh no what am I about to go do?
Speaker 2 (19:29):
yeah, yeah and and it's okay, you're gonna get it.
Just know that it's gonna comeand you'll get over it.
And every time you do it, thatfeeling is going to become less
and less.
But yeah that that first timeit was like that horror in the
middle of the night that you getwhen you realize, oh my God, I
think I've done something reallystupid.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
What's up?
Who gives you inspiration?
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Yeah, you know what I'm going to?
Go right back to my kids.
They inspire me to live my bestlife so that I can show them
how to live their best lives.
Um, I don't.
I've always told my kids likeyou do whatever you want.
Whatever you do want whateveryou do in your life, I'm going
to be good with it.
So I kind of want to show themthat I can do that too, so that
(20:19):
they can do it.
Um, yeah, at one point, my, mydaughter, daughter, um, she was
in Paris for Paris Fashion Weekand decided because she's model,
and she decided she was goingto go to Barcelona.
And she messaged me and she saidoh, my god, I'm in Barcelona, I
just got here, I'm alone.
Um, the person I was supposedto got, the person who was
(20:40):
supposed to have gotten theAirbnb, I, I can't find them, I
don't know what to do.
And I said, okay, first thingyou do is go to a cafe, grab a
coffee, sit down and and take abreath, and then you'll, you'll
figure something out.
She contacted me like fourhours later and she said um,
yeah, well, I was having acoffee and I met some people and
(21:02):
they're staying at a hostel.
I'm in there, it's all good,we're all hanging out for dinner
.
Now it's like baby.
You know, that's so cool.
And she knew because she hadseen how I travel and she knew
that I could do it.
So she could do it.
And there's so many times whereI've wanted to do something and
(21:23):
had been kind of timid about itor thinking, oh well, it's so
much easier not to, and then Ithink, no, I want to be able to
tell her and tell her brothers,I did this.
So, yeah, they're the ones thatinspire me to live my best life
.
What's the must-read book, thebook that you need at the moment
(21:45):
, that you know.
Whatever book you need to giveyou what you need.
So you know there are some goodoverall books.
4-hour Workweek, e-myth, youknow those kind of things.
Having said that, bear in.
(22:07):
I'm a reader.
I, you know.
I read at least 50 books a year.
But the other day I came acrossa book and I can't even
remember what it was, but I knewthere were things in it that
would apply to me right now.
So I took the title and Idropped it into my, into Alfred.
That's my chat.
And I said Alfred, what do weneed to know from this book,
(22:28):
give me a quick summary and whatparts of it apply to me.
And and he did so even if youdon't read books, sometimes you
can do go that way.
Sometimes I'll also, like youknow, go on YouTube and watch
somebody's interview.
If I know that there's, they'retalking about something that's
(22:49):
relevant to my business rightnow.
Um yeah, don't read stuff justin case.
Read it when you need it.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
I like that, that's perfect.
If there's a question I shouldask you today and I didn't what
was that question and how wouldyou answer it?
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Yeah, so I came up with a really good question
should ask you today and Ididn't what was that question
and how would you answer it?
Yeah, so I came up with areally good question.
I'm not even sure about theanswer, but, um, how do you know
you've done enough?
Like I'm telling you like, dropstuff, drop stuff, drop stuff.
Um, but how do you like,especially in your business?
Because there's a lot of thingsthat we do in our businesses
that we don't need to do, butwe're told um.
(23:26):
So, for instance, you know, mostmarketing advice is around how
to reach a whole bunch of people, and most of us don't need to
reach a whole bunch of people.
We need 100 people or 500 or 50.
That's right.
Um, so there's a lot of stuffwe can cut.
But how do you know?
You know the stuff not to cutand I guess the way I do it and
(23:52):
I'm not recommending this, butwhat I will do is I will drop
everything and then just addthings back slowly and see what
results I'm getting, and if I'mnot getting results, I'll drop
it again and pick up somethingelse.
So you've got to be aware thatthere is an enough, and you know
(24:14):
it's hard to hit the exact, butyou know, just be aware that
there is't enough.
There is no such thing asperfection.
If you're aiming for perfection, you're not going to get there.
So it's just a way toprocrastinate.
Recognize that the last 10% ofanything can take as much
(24:37):
resources, time, energy, brainspace as the previous 90%, and
that a lot of times, getting to85 or 90 is perfectly the right
amount you don't have.
It doesn't have to be perfect,it doesn't have to even be close
to perfect.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
No, that's great, Frances.
Thank you so much for joiningon today.
How should someone get ahold ofyou and who should be the
person to contact you?
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Sure, linkedin is where I hang out mostly.
I've got a newsletter on therethat I write about AI.
Yeah, if you're 2 am in themorning and you're thinking, I
built this business and it'srunning me, it's running my life
.
I am not able to do what I wantto do in life.
(25:22):
Talk to me.
That's who should reach out tome.
That's who I help the most.
I've got a whole bunch ofreally practical things you can
do right away to free up sometime, which will then give us
some time to work on the thingsthat will make your business a
lot easier to run.
(25:43):
So, yeah, I can take you fromcompletely overwhelmed I don't
know why I'm doing what all thethings I'm doing to.
I've got this.
I know exactly where I'm goingand I can start reaving in those
things I want out of life.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Wonderful.
Thank you so much for joiningtoday.
I appreciate you always.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
My pleasure.
Yeah, it's always fun to hangout, yeah, awesome.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Uh, it's inspiring.
So anybody hasn't.
Anyone who made it today tothis point.
You rock.
If this is your first time, Ihope it's the first of many.
Get out there, go cut a tie tosomething, hold you back, find
the success of what you have tofind for yourself.
Welcome to Cut the Tie podcast.
Hi, I'm your host, thomasHelfrich.
I'm on a mission to help youcut the tie to whatever it is
holding you back from success,and that success is something
that you define for yourself.
Today's guest is Frances ShaganI think.
I sometimes butcher your lastname when we meet Frances.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I'm great, thanks, it's good to see you, you as
well.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Take a moment.
Introduce yourself and what itis you do.
See you, you as well.
Take a moment.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Introduce yourself and what it is you do.
Sure, I'm a serial entrepreneur.
I'm a digital slow mad,currently in a small Caribbean
town in Mexico.
Been here for a couple months.
I'm working with AI to helpother business owners get the
(00:47):
life and business of theirdreams so they could live this
lifestyle or any other that theywant.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
That's me commitment to digital nomad.
There are a lot of people inyour space and I always ask this
question.
This is a way for you to umcenter, like to get people to
understand who you are, but likewhat it is it that makes you
unique yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
So what makes me unique is a I'm a serial
entrepreneur.
I've been in a lot of differentindustries.
One of my businesses was abookkeeping business and that
meant I got to dive deeply intohundreds of businesses, so I
know a lot about how people dodifferent things in business and
actually how they play out overtime.
(01:22):
I also have a projectmanagement background, so I'm
very good at being able to seethe systems in a business and
again seeing how things play out, which is kind of unique.
I've also got sort of anengineering, science and
(01:44):
accounting background, so I docome at things very data driven
very.
You know like I want to knowwhat it is very dispassionately,
but just like, what is thesituation here?
Okay, let's deal with that.
Having said that, I also havean alter ego called Lady Willow,
so there's a little bit of that.
(02:06):
You know we're all dichotomous.
We all have multiple sides, umand and finally, uh, when people
work with me.
So I own my bookkeeping business.
I'm I was really good atbookkeeping Very.
You know all thatmeticulousness and I asked my
customers what is it that youlike about me?
And I thought they were goingto say stuff like that and they
(02:27):
didn't.
They said coming to work withyou is like getting a warm hug.
It's like having a cup of warmherbal tea as we talk through my
numbers.
They say you know for the firsttime I understand what's going
on and I know what to do.
Say you know for the first timeI understand what's going on
and I know what to do.
So I've got that ability to seeit the way it is, look into the
(02:50):
future, see what's going tohappen and, at the same time,
talk to you in a way that makesyou feel like you can you can do
this, that you understand it.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
That's a that's great .
Having the insight intobusiness makes you definitely
much more effective when you'rehelping them you know,
understand what they need to godo next.
And not everyone has that.
Some people come from like amarketing background or
something else, but they don'thave that business of running
one, let alone a scene house.
You know several hundred ranand I love.
I think that's.
That truly is a distinguishingfactor when you work with
somebody is the insight theybring and that the distinguisher
(03:21):
then becomes you.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
So I like that.
How do you define success?
Can I just?
I'm just going to show you thepool.
Please, that's a good way to doit.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
She's buying it and she decided to go there a few
months for fun.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah.
So success for me is I get tolive life on my terms.
I told somebody a joke theother day.
I said do you know what myalarm clock sounds like?
I don't know either, exactly.
So I mean I live life on myterms and my business supports
(03:58):
my life.
Versus me, my life supportingmy business.
So that to me is success versusme, my life supporting my
business.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
So that to me, is success.
Right, and you know I've had aconversation offline but you're
working to deliver the lifestyleyou want, not working to have
the things you want Like it'smuch more an experience-based
versus.
I need a giant house and a nicecar and whatever else, so I
guess and you can have thosethings too it's just a matter of
(04:26):
not right now.
I want to experience life andbe nomad and meet people and do
this stuff, love it, and you'reup.
Tell me a little about yourjourney and tell me what the
biggest tie is.
You had to cut to achieve thatsuccess you defined.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Yeah, you know, it came in stages no-transcript.
(05:07):
Do some creative work, comeback, read another chapter.
And I found myself the next day, like Monday morning, in my
office and I'm kind of likedrumming my fingers because I
had cut so much stuff that Irealized wasn't important that I
didn't know what to do.
And so my first lesson was ifyou're going to save time in
(05:30):
your business and life, figureout what you want to do with it,
which is kind of the lifestylehere.
So you know, kind of like theshort of it is for me, travel is
really important.
My kids are grown, they'relaunched and it's all about
travel for me, and so I've hadto get rid of most of my things.
(05:53):
People, you know I'm in acommunity where there's a lot of
travelers and they ask me likewhere's your stuff?
Like in a suitcase in my Airbnb.
I don't have stuff anymore.
Having said that and one of thereasons I can do that is I have
literally schooled up ahousehold four times from zero
(06:17):
in the last 10 years.
Most recently, I rented anunfurnished apartment last fall,
near where my kids are, so Ihad to furnish it and then leave
.
After three months the buildingwas literally being torn down.
So there was no.
It just it had to happen thatway and it was just a real
(06:40):
interesting exercise in learningwhat's really important and
what's not like.
What do what?
What are the basic things youneed in order to live, and and
um, yeah, it was really.
It was so cool and veryempowering like you, like I,
like I.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
If I don't want this stuff anymore, I can literally
just go buy something new that Ido want.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Exactly that's what I learned those four times.
It's not that hard, especiallythese days with a lot of you
know there's a lot of recyclingand reusing, repurposing.
There's a lot of you know.
There's value villages andSalvation Armies and places like
that where you can get whateveryou need, like a lot of my
kitchen stuff.
That's exactly where I got it.
(07:28):
So, yeah, you can do it anddon't be owned by the things
that you owned, because that'swhat happens.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
What's that Neil Young song?
It's not the world that's heavy, it's the things that you save.
I'm drifting, I'm drifting away.
Yeah, it's a good line.
What was your moment, the ahamoment, when you knew you were
going to go do this?
Is it the quilt when you'redoing it, or was it something
before that that sparked youLike I don't want this life, but
(07:58):
I don't know what it's going tobe?
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah, I don't know that there was ever a moment,
because I've always known I wasgoing to do this.
I got sidetracked by raisingfour kids.
You know we did do some travel,but not travel like this.
I call myself a slow mag versusa nomad because, like I said,
I've been in this town now forfive months bumping up against
(08:22):
my six-month visa, so you'regoing to have to do something
about that.
So, yeah, I'm not sure therewas a real aha moment.
One of them was with thatfour-hour work week, that whole
idea of you know there's a lotof stuff in our lives that we do
that we don't have to do, dothat we don't have to do.
(08:48):
One of the business lessons Igot from that was that whole
idea of just-in-time learningversus just-in-case learning,
and I see so many businessowners do this where they think
they have to learn how to do allof it and you know, in case
they need it later on, orthey're looking forward and
they're saying, oh, I'm going tohave to know that and you know
it just slows you down.
You need to focus on what youneed to do right now and learn
(09:19):
it just in time, and or you know, find the people to help you do
it.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Yeah, I agree, it's solid advice because it's more
functional.
There's things you need tomaster you have to commit a
little more time to, but youjust got to know it.
It's different.
Yeah, so you said you did this.
Talk about the how, how youmade the move to for yourself of
things provide the, you know,the ability to travel where and
(09:43):
how you want yeah, well, um, soit started.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
I mean, like I said, I've known I was always going to
do this and so I've kind ofbeen moving towards it for a
couple of years by, you know,moving online for my work, by
not having too much stuff and bypracticing not having a lot of
things.
But, yeah, covid hit the lastof my kids moved out and I was
living in downtown Toronto in atwo bedroom condo, paying two
(10:11):
bedroom condo prices in downtownToronto and not being able to
enjoy it because of COVID.
And so that's when I started myjourney and what I did.
I had a Volvo wagon at the timeand I just put whatever I could
fit into that and that was whatI was going to have.
And I just started Airbnb-ingnear where I was.
(10:35):
So I was near family, you know,if anything happened I could
just pop home.
It was a really good way topractice what it would, what it
feels like, to like roll into anAirbnb and set up your home
office.
You know, set up a kitchen fromyou never know what you could
(10:55):
get in an Airbnb kitchen.
They're all very different, um,they all have a language, but
there's, you just never know, um.
So here's one tip if you'regoing to do this kind of thing,
have a budget to pick up a fewthings.
Um, I I just know that any,almost any time I'm going to
roll in, I'm going to need, I'llgo and I'll buy something, you
(11:18):
know, just just to make my lifeeasier.
Don't be afraid to to do thatand don't be afraid to ask.
Sometimes I'll just give it toyou too.
That's happened many times.
But that, yeah, small steps.
And then for me, I was reallylucky because when, six months
later, I decided I was going totry Mexico and I reached out to
(11:40):
a friend who's living in Mexicoand I said, can I?
She said, sure, we'll pick youup at the airport.
And they you know her, herhusband picked me up at the
airport.
They set me up in an Airbnbwith a friend that they knew.
They took me around to the bank, you know, got my SIM card, the
whole thing.
So soft landing ininternational travel nice.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
So you know, lean on your friends.
What's been the impact?
Speaker 2 (12:12):
oh, wow, um, I've always been pretty good at
making sure that my life isgiving me what I needed.
Um, impact is holy crow, I'mliving, I'm living.
You know, a lot of people havescreensavers.
I'm sitting on that beach orwalking through that colonial
(12:32):
town or, you know, climbing thatvolcano Like that's my life and
at the same time, I get to helpbusiness owners get their dream
life.
Like I'm literally living thedream.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
I love that you are too, and I think people should
realize like you don't need asmuch as you think to do that.
You've got that style.
Like you know, if you'remarried with younger kids, it
might be much harder to do whatyou're doing.
If you're married and you bothare on the same page page, you
probably don't need as much asyou think you need.
Still, um, specifically, do youever feel, uh, like I don't have
(13:14):
anything.
Like you know they do that.
Or creep into you like oh mygosh, I don't have anything.
Like you know what I mean.
Like like yeah, there's,there's no nesting.
Like I have nowhere to go, Idon't really have a home.
Like just, do you ever havethose kind of feelings, that
kind of pull you back and makeyou feel a little bit weird,
like no, that's not the point ofthis.
Like tell me about that a bit,because I think I had a feeling,
(13:35):
I think I could get around it,but then I'd feel like I don't
really have anything or I can'tbe like you know.
So how does that?
How do you deal with that?
Or how would you describe thatfeeling?
Maybe?
Speaker 2 (13:45):
yeah, um 100.
I do every once in a while.
You know I, you know I.
So some of the things I misswhen I'm traveling, you know,
obviously, family.
You know family right on thetop.
But certain foods you know,like mayonnaise and ketchup,
tastes different here, um.
(14:06):
So I get to a point where I'mmissing the food and I'm
thinking, okay, I'd like to goback to canada, but I don't have
a place, so that there's thatsort of like huh, I don't have a
place, um, so I have to make aplace and you know it's the same
as when I'm.
So I have to make a place andyou know it's the same as when
I'm traveling.
(14:27):
I have to make a place.
So, yeah, there is that timewhere it would be nice to be
able to go back to my kitchenwith all the things that I like
in the place, I like them in theway I like them there is.
You know, there is thatAbsolutely.
But I get over it prettyquickly when I look back out at
the pool or wander down to thebeach and, just to be clear,
(14:51):
like, this is my dream life.
It doesn't have to be the samefor everything else.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Like you, know it's like well, I, my wife I have
discussed this before.
I said, you know, when we getempty nest zone here about eight
years potentially I'm like it'dbe great to just go be able to
live somewhere for three monthswith remote work and do like a
work life, like, hey, what timehave you done today?
Two Great.
Let's go get a coffee, rock thebeach, go to the mountains
(15:19):
whatever we're going to be doingand just enjoy a place and then
come back to some kind of homewhere you can reset, get you
know, be grounded.
Kids can visit if they chooseto.
Ours would probably be a mix ofthe two, I bet.
But um, but my.
This comes back to a questionof kind of.
That was probably more logicalto ask, for.
I did my own littleautobiography there.
What are you most grateful forin this moment?
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Yeah, Um, what am I most grateful for?
At this moment I have agratitude practice where I you
know the Tony Robbins absolutelygrateful for the fact that I'm
in a place because I'm dogsitting for a friend.
(16:10):
So I'm grateful that I get tohang out with this wonderful
little doggy in this amazinghouse, in this really cool town,
surrounded by just the mostwonderful group of friends.
Like this is something I don'texperience anywhere else in the
world.
It's why I keep coming back tothis town.
(16:30):
It's this amazing group offriends and I'm grateful to
myself for having done what Ineeded to do to get me to this
place.
It doesn't happen on its own.
You have to make it happen stepby step and you just do it.
So grateful for all of that.
(16:52):
And, in memoirs, I'm gratefulfor my kids, because they think
I'm awesome and because of thatI don't ever want to let them
down.
Because of that, I don't everwant to let them down.
So it always it pushes me to bemy best self so that I can
(17:12):
continue.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
They may join you on this adventure at some point in
their lives, when they're ready.
Yeah, exactly.
Or at least get some advicefrom you.
So give me a lesson.
So what's the lesson you wouldgive to the listener?
Speaker 2 (17:27):
um, you don't need anywhere near as much as you
think you need.
Um, yeah, I made some notesbecause I wanted to make sure
that I kind of, and this is agood specific.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
So let's just give them like a real world.
If you want to come to mexicofor six months, what's the
financial what's?
Give me the high level on thatone.
I'm not looking at your details, but like, really, what can you
do to enjoy yourself and feelI'm fine?
Like this is easy.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Yeah, um, listen to people who who are here, not the
people who aren't.
Um, cause, everybody you knowthey, I, everybody you know I
can tell you so many peoplethink that I'm in danger when
I'm here, and I'm not.
You know, I'm not in dangerhere at all.
You need way less than youthink.
(18:13):
There's lots of levels oftravel, so pick the one that
makes you most comfortable andfits your budget.
It is pretty cheap to live here.
Be generous when you're here.
It just makes your life so mucheasier when you make the lives
around you easier.
That's just good adviceeverywhere.
(18:34):
The hardest part of the wholething is to make the decision to
do it and once you've made thatdecision, then work towards it.
It's like the infrastructurefor people coming here and
staying for months on end herein Mexico is really good.
So it's easy.
You know Airbnb, the rentals.
(18:56):
It's really quite easy.
You do need to be on WhatsApp,because everything is on
WhatsApp.
You can order pizza.
I contacted the vet on WhatsApp.
Be on whatsapp, becauseeverything is on whatsapp.
You can order pizza.
You're, you're, I, I call.
I contacted the vet on whatsapp.
Um, yeah, so just like, do itand and know that the night
before you leave or the weekbefore you leave.
(19:17):
You're gonna get that moment ofwhat have I done?
Speaker 1 (19:25):
oh no what am I about to go do?
Speaker 2 (19:29):
yeah, yeah and and it's okay, you're gonna get it.
Just know that it's gonna comeand you'll get over it.
And every time you do it, thatfeeling is going to become less
and less.
But yeah that that first timeit was like that horror in the
middle of the night that you getwhen you realize, oh my God, I
think I've done something reallystupid.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
What's up?
Who gives you inspiration?
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Yeah, you know what I'm going to?
Go right back to my kids.
They inspire me to live my bestlife so that I can show them
how to live their best lives.
Um, I don't.
I've always told my kids likeyou do whatever you want.
Whatever you do want whateveryou do in your life, I'm going
to be good with it.
So I kind of want to show themthat I can do that too, so that
(20:19):
they can do it.
Um, yeah, at one point, my, mydaughter, daughter, um, she was
in Paris for Paris Fashion Weekand decided because she's model,
and she decided she was goingto go to Barcelona.
And she messaged me and she saidoh, my god, I'm in Barcelona, I
just got here, I'm alone.
Um, the person I was supposedto got, the person who was
(20:40):
supposed to have gotten theAirbnb, I, I can't find them, I
don't know what to do.
And I said, okay, first thingyou do is go to a cafe, grab a
coffee, sit down and and take abreath, and then you'll, you'll
figure something out.
She contacted me like fourhours later and she said um,
yeah, well, I was having acoffee and I met some people and
(21:02):
they're staying at a hostel.
I'm in there, it's all good,we're all hanging out for dinner
.
Now it's like baby.
You know, that's so cool.
And she knew because she hadseen how I travel and she knew
that I could do it.
So she could do it.
And there's so many times whereI've wanted to do something and
(21:23):
had been kind of timid about itor thinking, oh well, it's so
much easier not to, and then Ithink, no, I want to be able to
tell her and tell her brothers,I did this.
So, yeah, they're the ones thatinspire me to live my best life
.
What's the must-read book, thebook that you need at the moment
(21:45):
, that you know.
Whatever book you need to giveyou what you need.
So you know there are some goodoverall books.
4-hour Workweek, e-myth, youknow those kind of things.
Having said that, bear in.
(22:07):
I'm a reader.
I, you know.
I read at least 50 books a year.
But the other day I came acrossa book and I can't even
remember what it was, but I knewthere were things in it that
would apply to me right now.
So I took the title and Idropped it into my, into Alfred.
That's my chat.
And I said Alfred, what do weneed to know from this book,
(22:28):
give me a quick summary and whatparts of it apply to me.
And and he did so even if youdon't read books, sometimes you
can do go that way.
Sometimes I'll also, like youknow, go on YouTube and watch
somebody's interview.
If I know that there's, they'retalking about something that's
(22:49):
relevant to my business rightnow.
Um yeah, don't read stuff justin case.
Read it when you need it.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
I like that, that's perfect.
If there's a question I shouldask you today and I didn't what
was that question and how wouldyou answer it?
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Yeah, so I came up with a really good question
should ask you today and Ididn't what was that question
and how would you answer it?
Yeah, so I came up with areally good question.
I'm not even sure about theanswer, but, um, how do you know
you've done enough?
Like I'm telling you like, dropstuff, drop stuff, drop stuff.
Um, but how do you like,especially in your business?
Because there's a lot of thingsthat we do in our businesses
that we don't need to do, butwe're told um.
(23:26):
So, for instance, you know, mostmarketing advice is around how
to reach a whole bunch of people, and most of us don't need to
reach a whole bunch of people.
We need 100 people or 500 or 50.
That's right.
Um, so there's a lot of stuffwe can cut.
But how do you know?
You know the stuff not to cutand I guess the way I do it and
(23:52):
I'm not recommending this, butwhat I will do is I will drop
everything and then just addthings back slowly and see what
results I'm getting, and if I'mnot getting results, I'll drop
it again and pick up somethingelse.
So you've got to be aware thatthere is an enough, and you know
(24:14):
it's hard to hit the exact, butyou know, just be aware that
there is't enough.
There is no such thing asperfection.
If you're aiming for perfection, you're not going to get there.
So it's just a way toprocrastinate.
Recognize that the last 10% ofanything can take as much
(24:37):
resources, time, energy, brainspace as the previous 90%, and
that a lot of times, getting to85 or 90 is perfectly the right
amount you don't have.
It doesn't have to be perfect,it doesn't have to even be close
to perfect.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
No, that's great, Frances.
Thank you so much for joiningon today.
How should someone get ahold ofyou and who should be the
person to contact you?
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Sure, linkedin is where I hang out mostly.
I've got a newsletter on therethat I write about AI.
Yeah, if you're 2 am in themorning and you're thinking, I
built this business and it'srunning me, it's running my life
.
I am not able to do what I wantto do in life.
(25:22):
Talk to me.
That's who should reach out tome.
That's who I help the most.
I've got a whole bunch ofreally practical things you can
do right away to free up sometime, which will then give us
some time to work on the thingsthat will make your business a
lot easier to run.
(25:43):
So, yeah, I can take you fromcompletely overwhelmed I don't
know why I'm doing what all thethings I'm doing to.
I've got this.
I know exactly where I'm goingand I can start reaving in those
things I want out of life.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Wonderful.
Thank you so much for joiningtoday.
I appreciate you always.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
My pleasure.
Yeah, it's always fun to hangout, yeah, awesome.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Uh, it's inspiring.
So anybody hasn't.
Anyone who made it today tothis point.
You rock.
If this is your first time, Ihope it's the first of many.
Get out there, go cut a tie tosomething, hold you back, find
the success of what you have tofind for yourself.
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