July 29, 2024 • 39 mins
Gorgeous friends!
Holy fuck! Can you believe we’re halfway through 2024?! Before you know it, we’ll all be running around in ridiculously genius Halloween costumes (I’m considering a Bridgerton-inspired look……or, maybe a flamingo. DECISIONS, DECISIONS!!!). You won’t have to wait that long to see a ridiculously genius getup from me. I just released a NEW podcast episode today! YAY! Of course, I HAD to sport a ginormous rainbow squid hat. Me and my delectable strawberry-hat wearing co-host, Madi Beaufort chatted it up about our fabulous 2024 GOALS!!! We dive into some of our favorite stories and projects and I spill the beans about my plans for the rest of this year:
Workplace personality and fun activities
- Leonie's time as a government employee and the birth of a unique newsletter.
- Hugging competitions and why personality is everything in a team.
Caring for a high-needs dog and surviving a tough year.
- Why Leonie swear by Pilates over yoga due to hypermobility.
- Aiming for $1.5 million revenue while balancing family life.
Business goals, personal priorities, and creating an academy for entrepreneurs
- Academy Goodies -- Over 100 workshops and a digital co-working space for entrepreneurs.
Therapy and coaching preferences for personal growth and business expansion.
- Leonie's for kinesiology and intuitive healing for neurodivergent minds.
Travel plans, personal growth, and funny stories.
- Sending a package to Halle Berry
- Leonie's big girl goal to take a holiday more than 30 minutes from home this year.
Wildlife facts and experiences.
- Fascinating facts about hippos.
Watch, listen, or read this fun episode HERE.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Me. I just looked at the video
cameras and how it's set up and I'd realise like we've got this
(00:22):
Jack Links beef jerky right in the central.
Sponsor it. Actually, looks like we've like
got stuff. No, we've just got shit
everywhere. It doesn't matter.
And I just apologise to all the vegans out there, but I'm
currently having a hyper fixation with beef jerky, so
that's very right with that. Got to do what you got to do.
Yeah. OK.
All right, so finally we're going to talk about 20. 24202424
(00:49):
good energy this year I feel it good energy how you feeling?
Year of the Wood Dragon, I thinkit is year.
Of the dragon. Oh my goodness, yes, because I'm
doing. I'm making a display about
Dragons in the library. Oh.
My God. OK well I was wondering why the
fuck? About prosperity.
And it's all about like driven force and like, yeah, travel
moving around. Nice.
(01:11):
That's so good. It's so exciting.
Oh, that is so cute. And I love that you get paid to
just like, make these extreme painting displays.
It's the best thing ever. Yeah, You know, I go in
sometimes and they're like, whatcan I do?
And they're like, I don't have ajob for you.
And I'm like, I'll just paint. Then I'll just I'll make.
Something and they're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, please.
I'm like awesome, That's the latest.
Thing that's ever happened to me, like you gotta do that
(01:33):
right? Like I remember even the
government job, like just to make myself like amuse myself,
yes, I was like, you know what Ireally want to do?
I want to go around like everybody in this floor and I
want to interview them and profile them in a newsletter.
And like the the department evendidn't didn't even have a
newsletter at that point. I just invented it purely for my
(01:54):
own you're fabulous selfish game.
So I would just go and like interview people about their
passions and their like their interests and like everything
outside of work because I couldn't give a fuck.
And people were just like amazing and weird and funny and
great. And I would take photos and
write it all up. And my boss was like, Oh my God,
you're so, you know, you're justlike, so driven.
And I was like, I'm just trying to keep myself amused, you know,
(02:15):
look. At me, it's a it's a, well,
you're not, you're not this because you're also like an
incredibly hard worker. But I've been watching a lot of
people talk about personality hires.
Yes, I am that. And I'm that too, right?
I'm really just there and peoplejust love.
I always say, right, have a think about this.
If there's a zombie apocalypse, everyone sort of, you know, they
start dividing up. They have jobs, people are
killing people, you know, like, yes, I am the joker.
(02:38):
Like people just have me like there's no, I can't run very
far. I'm just the jester and you
know, I I would be happy in thatsituation.
Totally. Just dress up and just be there
and, you know, go Hey, how you going?
Like, you know, let's let's talkabout this.
Yeah, give a bit of a laugh. Give a.
Boost absolutely. I am like I I've sent those
videos to my boss going I was the personality.
(02:59):
I wasn't I she's like, yes, and we still talk about you 14 years
after you left. And they're integral.
They're integral. Important.
But a workspace without a personality hire?
What's it? Yeah.
Everyone hates it. Yeah.
Yeah. And like, the retention rates,
like in our team were huge. And that's not just because of
me, but because every. Yeah.
Well, who's just saying yeah. But when I left, everybody
(03:23):
didn't want it. No, I'm good.
But like also I would do things like I get bored and so I Deb,
who was our HR person, I was like, oh, you know what we
should do? We should have a hugging
competition and see many people we can hug in one day in this
office. And she was like, game on bitch.
And so that's what we did. We ran away, ran around the
whole day hugging people. I think I hugged like 300 people
(03:47):
and I won of course because as if that slack bitch whatever
beat me in. Of course A.
Competition, I mean, I got really sick afterwards because
there's, you know, like pre COVID days where we didn't
realise that like hugging a lot of people may just, you know,
give you infectious disease. But no, it's fine.
Oh well, worth it, Absolutely worth it.
Plus got some sick days off workand you won.
It's a win, win. Yeah, it's a win, win, win, win,
(04:08):
win all around for me. Win.
Win, win. OK.
So 2024, yes. Dragon Dragon.
Dragon. I am.
OK. So last year was a tricky,
trickier year for me. I would write like there was a
good year in lots of ways, but then it was also a tricky year
and that we're going through Angel, our dog, and she was
(04:29):
really high needs. And I remember so many times
like we would go have like our business mastermind or whatever.
And there was some days where I'm like, I can't come in or we
think she's about to die. And then she'd make a fucking
splendid recovery again. She was just this, just
constantly having these things. Very incredible.
It's very, yeah. Yeah, she just loved Chris so
(04:50):
much, and I get that. And she just wouldn't let him
go. And because she just wanted to
just be as like loyal to him as he was to her.
And it was beautiful to witness.And it was also really difficult
because it took so much out of Chris to care for.
And it was a long time. It's a long time.
To the point where you were like, this has to be the last
(05:12):
time. Surely she was 19?
Like fucking hell, she's 19 years old.
Like dog, do you not realise and.
And she wasn't, she wasn't like she was blind, wasn't she?
And. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And but like, she still looked. Yeah.
Normally, but yeah, just still doing her thing.
And, you know, it was just my husband really didn't want to
(05:36):
think about putting it down because in his books, he's like,
well, we wouldn't do it to a human like, you know, who's
elderly and she's not like you didn't have.
Still got the love? Yeah, she didn't have cancer or
anything like that. So he's like, why?
Why would we like. And that's the thing, Like I
just, I know that he's not the guy who's going to run away when
(05:56):
I get sick. He'll just be like, yeah, you
know, in every fucking part. Like he's so deeply loyal.
Yeah. So.
But I was really worried about his health because he was up
during the night with her. He didn't have, like, sleep for
three years. It was basically like looking
after a newborn. That's hardcore.
Yeah. And it was, it was stressful.
And also wondering like when is this going to happen and not?
(06:17):
Being able to go away all the things.
Yeah, yeah, we went away on holidays, but we always did it
within 30 minutes to the house and bring her with us because
she was too high, needs to foistunto anyone else.
And also she just wouldn't cope without Chris.
So I get it, I get it. Yeah.
So that was kind of the year of that.
And then she left us in November.
(06:39):
And so now, like, we've kind of gone through the healing process
and I'm just so relieved to see my husband getting some sleep
and coming back into himself. And so this year, I feels like
more of like an integration year.
I would love, if possible, for us to do a holiday more than 30
minutes away from the house. Oh wow.
(07:00):
Dreaming. Hello.
Maybe I don't know what we're going to do.
I mean, it'd be amazing if I could go to New Zealand.
Like we haven't taken the kids overseas yet and or even if we
just go visit like our beloved'sin Canberra or beloved's in.
Yes, the freedom now that you have, yeah.
(07:20):
Yeah, just to have more of that time and think about, OK, what's
what's next for me as well. Like definitely like I want to
develop more physical strength. Yes.
And it's not really about losingweight or anything like that.
It's purely for pain management purposes.
So I have hyperemesis gravity. No, sorry, I had hyperemesis
gravity when I was pregnant. I have hypermobility now and
(07:45):
it's possibly ELA's Danlos syndrome, which is a kind of
hypermobility syndrome, but means my bones dislocate really
easily. And I'm, you know, like
everything just falls out of place and the only thing to
prevent it from having more often is more muscular strength.
(08:05):
So Pilates doing that kind of stuff is and.
You're loving, you love Pilates.Hey.
No, what I love is talking shit with my Pilates instructor.
Yeah, and then going for tea andcake afterwards to reward
myself. That's what I love about
Pilates. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's hard,
man. Yeah, I started for the first
time this year and I I did not realise how strong women can be.
(08:29):
I thought childbirth was the hardest thing you could do.
And it's not. It's Pilates.
Wow. Yeah, it's like, yeah, it's,
it's just good shit. And I also like, you know, for
building strength, like I can't do yoga.
Like I'm basically barred from yoga classes.
Because of the hypermobility. Yeah, it'll just cause too much
dislocations. So Pilates is it for me.
(08:49):
And I can't really do like strength training outside of
that because I'll dislocate stuff.
And like, even now I'm working on a dislocated drawer, which I
did in a really on brand way which I won't be discussing
publicly, but you can absolutelyfucking guess what it was.
Not many options, is there not? Many options.
(09:10):
This is This is like #50 draw dislocation for me, but you
like. 1st. Yeah, 49 of those have been from
yawning. So we know this one's not from
yawning. That's correct.
That's correct. Not from yawning.
Worth it though. I 100% recommend.
So physical strength, that's a big thing.
(09:30):
Really like focusing spending time on nurturing my marriage
because it's been 23 years. We've just gone through a hard
patch with having an older dog and it's like so I have I do
kinesiology sessions with Kerry Rowlett, who's amazing.
You've met, Yes, beautiful, justthe most amazing human.
And she was like, you know, likeeven if you hit like the biggest
(09:51):
goals in the world, like if you're not feeling like really
connected with Chris in the waysthat you'd like to be, it's not
going to matter to you. Because it's such a like a
priority for me in the same way that it is for my kids.
Like if I don't have a great connected relationship with my
kids it means fucking nothing. Yes, Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah. That's why you do it all.
Yeah. So actually having that as a
(10:11):
priority is really. Big for me.
Oh, how beautiful. What about anything else?
Any other personal sort of things this year or business?
Oh. What are we doing?
So exciting. Well, I mean, fun memories with
the kids. I just want like in whatever way
that comes that'll be fun if we have like a little bit of travel
(10:32):
or just like little holidays, staycations, those kinds of
things. I just love that.
I love, I just fucking love school holidays and just
spending time with them. Even if it's just like laying
around playing Mario Kart with them and getting hyper fixated
on that. It's amazing, Beautiful.
Oh no. It's just like having two little
girlfriends, like, you know, just besties in the house with
me all the time. They're so sweet.
(10:53):
Yeah, and business. Business stuff.
Is so. Pretty simple.
So my goal, and this is like a loosely held goal in that I
don't want to beat myself up if I don't get it.
I don't want to tie my worth to it like.
Yes. My inner worth and I also wanna
be fluid in terms of like if it's 100 grand under that or if
(11:14):
it's more than that, great but this is sort of like a rough
framework for me to go for yes yeah.
So I'd like to hit 1.5 million in revenue with $800,000 profit.
Brilliant. So I think we're, we should be
pretty much on track for that ish.
Yeah. And just to continue have a
really strong like recurring revenue base for my Academy.
(11:36):
So like my brilliant Businesslife Academy basically,
if you haven't heard of it, is it's like all of my courses and
workshops. Oh, it's phenomenal, isn't it?
Yes, Yeah. And like my books, everything
and I just pile it all in there and I give it a really low
price. So it's $199 a year and you can
access every fucking thing that Ioffer pretty much.
(12:00):
And so there's like $8000 worth of workshops in there.
And then so we have new ones coming out every single month.
So I have I present a new workshop every single month.
I just did A1 on like creating digital art and then we have a
new template coming out, like done for your e-mail templates
and all sorts of stuff. And then we also have two guest
expert workshops a month as well.
(12:21):
So I think by the end of this year we'll have over 100
workshops in the Academy, which is amazing.
Oh. My gosh, how awesome.
I know it's so fucking fun and Ijust love like I just, I like
making it a no brainer for people.
Like if people are in a business, like fuck yeah, of
course I'll invest in that. It's such a doable price and I
get so much in it. It's like so people don't have
to like keep buying more and more.
(12:41):
And more so much, isn't it? It's not even just about, like
all hyperfix, It's, it's, it's everything.
Yeah. You could go in there and find
something about anything that you wanted to.
Yeah, we've got like to help money courses, we've got
business courses, we've got sales courses, we've got 40 days
to create and sell your E course, 40 days to finish your
book, How to work less, earn more.
(13:01):
Marketing without social media because I spent two years off
social media and earned over $2,000,000 in that time.
So there's all the different ways that you can market without
social media, how to hire a manager VA, how to deal with
trolls and criticism in your business.
Like all the fucking shit thing,it's in there.
And I like to be able to make more shit and just put it in
there and just like love up on my people.
(13:21):
So it's like always creating newstuff.
Hey, like, yeah, I, I think I once asked you.
I was like, where do you get it from?
You're like, it just comes like,like, I don't get it from
anywhere. It just like someone says, oh, I
need this. And you're like, oh, fantastic.
There's a course like, and it's,you know, and, and suddenly it's
there. Like you're so fast at it too
that it just, it just pops out of your head and it's brilliant
all the time. There's so much, so much good
(13:42):
stuff. And yeah.
And that fearlessness, I just love it.
Yeah, well, it's just like, I mean, you've been around for 20
years and I read like between 100 and 400 books a year.
And like my I, I already know the shit when people ask me
questions like, oh, OK, let me just put this together because
there's so much information thatI can tell you about this.
Yeah. So yeah, it's pretty fun.
(14:04):
So we currently have about 98% recurring revenue.
So that means wow, if you if there's 100 people that have
signed up a year later, 98% of them will keep their membership
for the next year. And then like they just keep on
keeping on. That says everything, doesn't
it? Yeah, and that's what I really
(14:25):
love. And so like, retention rates in
my industry are nowhere near that.
Like, you know, it's great if you've got 20% retention in that
kind of stuff. I just love being able to serve
people and like that's definitely like because I've run
the Academy before. I ran it for 9 years before I
took a four year hiatus and basically we had pretty similar
(14:47):
retention rates. People were just like, I will
never live without this because I feel like if I don't have a
Wow and. That's why you have that fan
base. Hey, that like, yeah, oh, it's,
it's, it's being part of a not even, it's, it is being part of
something rather than just like buying something and, you know,
using the resources. It is, yeah, because you offer
but you also meet. You have that, Yeah.
So you meet can meet with peopleand Co work during the week.
(15:09):
Yeah, so we and we have like a digital Co working space.
So that was a different mastermind.
So that wasn't part of the Academy, but I'm thinking about
adding something possible like like that in the future.
That was more like the prototypeof trying that part out.
And then we also have like I have group coaching calls every
month and then we also have likebusiness basics workshops which
(15:31):
run live. And so that's to like do a
certain party business, like if you haven't set up a mailing
list yet or a lead magnet or whatever.
And then people usually stick around after the call and Co
work together which is really fun.
How awesome. Yeah, and then I can send them a
little prize in the mail when they actually complete the
fucking thing. So now I'm just some little
points of stuff. It's really fun.
So forward. It's just so simple.
(15:53):
It just seems like, it seems so simple to me, like to create an
Academy like this and just turn up and like deliver everything
for people. And of course people are going
to be fucking stoked with it. Yes, yeah.
Oh, brilliant. Hey.
Is it that time? It's that time for ads?
Ads. I love ads.
(16:15):
La La la. Leon Dawson refuses to not give
away free shits, and so therefore she's giving away free
shit. Hey, if you feel like you're
walking around with a dark cloudover your head.
Also, I am wearing an umbrella on my head.
Thank you very much for noticingthat.
If you're watching on video, I appreciate you.
Otherwise, you can just imagine it along with all the other ways
(16:36):
that you imagine me in your fanfiction.
Look what I'm trying to say is before we got distracted by fan
fiction and archive of her own and like Bridgeton fan fiction,
it gets very erotic. I'm really into that at the
moment. Look what I'm trying to say is
I've got an anxiety releasing meditation for you.
I've really managed to keep on topic during this.
If you go to leonedawson.com/anxiety
(16:58):
meditation. This short powerful meditation
is going to combine two powerfulbreathing practices based on
Physiology. The designs like just slow down
your nervous system and quell anxiety.
It's something that I on myself and my kids all the freaking
time. leonidawson.com/whatever the fuck URL I've already said
because I can't remember it now I've got ADHD, can you tell?
(17:23):
Welcome back. Oh my God, I heard that was the
best ad that you've ever heard in your fucking life.
I think it was. Yeah, yeah.
So yeah, I'm, I just, I, I am still going to like this year
I'm doing kinesiology with KerryRowett every two weeks at least.
And then during a launch, I usually do a session with her
(17:44):
every week. And it's just to keep my mindset
going. And I've realized that if I
don't have that, I get along OK,but I don't, I can't.
It's better for me to expand when I've got that kind of
support. So for me, like I've tried
cognitive behavioural therapy, like which is the goal standard
(18:07):
for neurotypical people. Yeah, but I did it.
I did a stint of it last year and found that it made me kind
of like hyper fixate on my problems more.
And I was like, oh, this kind offucking me up more.
And I talked to Zeta about it, my assistant.
And this is the joy of having anassistant who has a psychology
degree. She was like, oh, I think
sweetheart, no, no, CBD is for new typical people for but when
(18:30):
you're a divergent people, there's no gold standard.
So, and it can exacerbate your symptoms to go to CBT.
So now if it's working for you, fucking keep going.
Like just keep going. You know, it's about the
relationship with the person andhow that person works as well.
And she's like, so it is 100% cool for you to do therapy or
coaching in a way that works foryou.
(18:50):
And what's always worked for me was doing it on more of a hippie
kind of way, like kinesiology orintuitive healing with Hiraboga
that I love. Like being able to like have
somebody go, I don't know, there's something deeper here,
even deeper and even deeper. And then clearing that out and I
feel like, oh, well, that's all taken care of.
So it doesn't seem to keep coming up as much.
(19:14):
Oh, that's so good. And like the biggest soul
lessons I've ever learned and about boundaries and, you know,
taking care of myself, all of the normal therapy stuff is
stuff that I've learned from Hero and Kerry anyway.
So it works beautifully for me. Yeah.
And I think as well, like I alsodon't work super well with a one
(19:34):
to one coach, but a healer in that realm?
Fuck yeah. Yes, Yeah, it's different.
Hey. And it's going to be so
different for others. Like I've got other friends who
like love coaching and can't consider doing business without
a coach, but not for me. Yeah, it's so essential, isn't
it, having that, that help. I love that you're doing it
every two weeks regardless. And sometimes I go to like a
(19:56):
session and I'm like, I have nothing to talk about.
And then I leave and I'm like, OK.
Yeah, you know, like, yeah, because there's still always
stuff. There's stuff undercover.
Yeah. Really.
Yeah. And if I went to like a just a
traditional therapist, I'm like,I don't really have much to talk
about. Yeah.
Meanwhile, like, carry your hero.
Be like, oh, really, really, really.
(20:16):
Let's. Look a little bit more, shall
we? Your.
Body says otherwise. Yeah, that's it.
Anything else that you're like taking from 2023, taking from
past years and bringing into 2024, like any particular
energy, anything? Yeah.
Last year I really felt like I was going to like I really
(20:37):
wanted to expand the business again.
And I was also insistent that I would be doing in a way without
adding any more stuff or anything like that because I was
so scared of getting into a situation that I've been before
with like lots of stuff and not enjoying it.
And then I so I was like, I needto work out the secret sauce to
(20:57):
making it happen. I got really rigid and started
developing quite low self-confidence because nothing
I was trying was working. And I was also like, just like
leapfrogging one from one thing to the next.
And finally, Zita, my assistant,was like, hey, intervention
time. You kind of drive me crazy
because you obviously are struggling and I hate seeing you
(21:19):
struggle. But she's very empathetic and
compassionate and she's like, and also like you just don't
seem to be getting any traction.Like, let's talk about therapy,
Let's talk about coaching. What do you need to do in order
to get out of this spiral that you're in where you just, like,
got your head? Suck up your own asshole.
So good to have like a business partner that you work with who
like sort of holds you accountable like that, yeah.
(21:39):
Yeah, and it's the first time she's kind of done it.
So I was like, oh, OK, shit. So.
It must be alright. We gotta move on, yeah.
And that was when I was like, oh, but CBT didn't really work
with me. And she's like, it was fun.
Go back to Carrie, go back to doing whatever works.
And so Carrie really helped me get out of that cycle and start
healing like the freak outs I had about having a big business
(22:02):
and start trying having more people.
And it's actually just felt really nice to have more people.
And it also because I was relying so heavily on Zeta
because, you know, it was her plus one person doing our
customer service emails. But if Zita is unwell or Zita
wants to go on holidays or Zita wants to travel, I kind of was
(22:23):
stuck in that. I didn't have my little help
mate to do all the things and things really grind to a halt
without her because we just can't get through the amount of
work kind of thing. And so I feel like that's too
much responsibility to lay on one person.
And so having other assistants underneath her can step up and
(22:46):
do her role so she can actually take holidays stress free.
You know, like I always was like, you always must take
holidays. You always like, I never like,
was that kind of nice? Absolutely.
But I'd be like, right, I'm going to have to like hold back
business growth while she's awaybecause we don't have the
expansion capacity. So having a bit more expansion
capacity is great. Yeah, fantastic.
(23:06):
Yeah. And also like, I think as as an
autistic person, like working out, like, oh, I'm not going to
be doing the managing of the people.
That's not for me. That's not my skill.
That's not what I was born to dothis life.
No fucking thank you. And Zeta's really good at it.
And Zeta's like. Bless you, Zeta.
Yeah, she's got social skills. That's amazing.
(23:26):
And she understands what people are saying when they say things.
And I go, Huh? Zoe, you do level, but I just
think. Yeah, I find it trickier and.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I think people are more
dishonest maybe when they're working for you, you know, like
or something like that. But it's not that you don't.
It's just that that dishonesty is really hard and that.
Yeah, and I'm such a people pleaser as well that I find it
(23:49):
hard to give feedback. It makes me feel very, very
anxious and like, bless you. Like I like at some point, like
I had to give her feedback and it was like, and yeah.
And I was like, I'm going to, I feel like spewing, I'm going to
have a ventilator. I'm just, I'm really upset about
having to like even just like say this thing about this
(24:09):
mistake I found. But I really love you and I
really want to keep working withyou because I previously have
had in the past when I've tried to give constructive feedback to
someone, they're like, fuck you.You don't know how to run a
business. I fucking quit and fuck you to
hell. And I will not give you
documentation. I will damage you as much as I
can on the way out because people can be totally like that.
And it's not just one person. Yeah, No matter how much I've
(24:32):
tried to lovingly frame it, likeI've had people just, like,
enormous egos that are so precious, they can't handle any
kind of feedback. And like when I told Zeta, like
I was feeling really anxious about giving her feedback, she,
like, and I sent the e-mail because I didn't want to, like,
I was. So this is years ago, and she's
very happy with me to talk aboutthis.
By the way, I have cleared it with her.
(24:53):
She immediately texted me and was like, hey, I just wanted you
to know that I've got the e-mailand I am so sorry you're feeling
so anxious. It's OK.
We're totally OK. And I love getting feedback.
And we will work on whatever needs to be worked on to make
this great. And it was like, holy shit.
Like this is incredible to have somebody who's got that level of
emotional intelligence to go, Ohmy gosh, my boss is really
(25:15):
anxious about having to talk to me about this.
Like all hands on deck for her. Oh, it makes your heart like.
I know. That's it.
I know, so it's just such a relief to be around.
How good to go into? 2024 with that beautiful team
and that that yeah, Co partner alittle bit like, you know, like
it's like a partnership. It's totally a partnership.
And so that's so nice because her heart's obviously in it as
(25:37):
well. And yeah, yeah, yeah.
And bless her, like we like to tease each other a lot.
Like we give each other a lot ofshit.
And I call her Gobbo or goblin because that's the she said me.
And to be able to troublemaker that like at her heart, she's
just the most golden fucking thing under the sun.
(25:58):
She went on a podcast because wedid this podcast with Laurie
Sterling where Laurie interviewed Zeta 1st and then
she interviewed me separately. Talking about the business you
go to perspective, it's very interesting.
It's the Growing Pains podcast, highly recommends.
Love it and Laurie's fantastic. We've done her CEO accelerator
program together. It was incredible.
(26:20):
But Zena on that call said that like Laurie said to her, oh, you
know, what's your aspirate like your job aspiration.
And she said, oh, well, I'll just work for Leonia until
Leonia retires, and then I'll retire from this industry
because I'll never find a boss like Leonia again.
Oh. My goodness.
I'm never letting her forget that.
(26:46):
Oh the jizz I got. I've got like shivers actually,
because that's like, that's incredible.
She'll retire from this industry.
Oh my God, her. Career at the moment is sort of
you do you know what I mean? Like that's.
Wow. And she's like, no, I'll just
stick with you till you you wantto shut the business down and
then after that I'll go do something else completely.
And I was like, oh, that's fucking noise.
(27:07):
That's fucking noise That feels good.
It feels good. Oh, I want the feels good.
Just fucking good. So that's noise.
That's really noise. So it's a good way to start the
2024 feeling like I've got a really solid relationship with
my right hand person and that she's got support as well so
that we can just keep on rockingout and creating things and
(27:29):
doing like crazy shit like this.Because we probably wouldn't
have had the capacity to build in like a video podcast with
reels and shit like that just because we didn't have the time
to do it. And now we do.
Look at us on the video please. Look at us going.
Maybe we should do something forlike the thumbnail like.
(27:51):
Nice, nice, that's. Going to be a good year.
It's good everyone. 2024 Leonie going to kick us and take names.
So if you have liked this kind of podcast, if you like the
video aspect, if you like me talking with one of my besties,
please let us know and we will book in more sessions like this.
(28:15):
I mean, here's the thing, I think we've had such a nice
time, we'll probably just do it.I give a fuck what anyone
thinks. I know.
I actually think we're incredibly funny too.
I know. I was just thinking, I was like,
well, other people find this funny and I was like, who fucked
the? Shit, I know, I know.
So we're so funny. We are the greatest things that
I've ever I've had like and I think as well we can like make
this space even more cluttered when we walked in.
(28:37):
So with a quick company, yes, we're filming at Havana House,
which is beautiful. Very Byron Bay.
Very Byron Bay. It's just so gorgeous.
She. Just watched us spring in these
boxes. She's like, oh, no one's ever
done this before. Yeah.
And I was like, this is, this islike nothing.
This is nothing. This is.
Bare bitch minimalism like this is, I think we can do a lot more
(28:59):
to like make this. You'd really, really cool if
it's just I wish we could build bookcases in here just like and
just fill it with books. Ah.
Yes. Yeah.
And then? I've always wanted to live like
have a bookshelf that you have like a little bed inside of.
Come close to the mic. Oh yeah, that you live inside of
a. Bookshelf that you live inside
(29:20):
of like you know. Like a tiny home situation.
It's a little and you're just surrounded by books.
Yes, 100 percent, 100% What's on?
Tell me about you, What's 2024 mean for you?
Travel. This is the year I change
everything up, I reckon. OK, yeah, I'm just the word of
the year. Do you have a word of the year?
No, but I want yours. I wouldn't know what yours is.
Bravery bitch get. Kicked.
(29:43):
I know. So, yeah.
So I've already organized two overseas trips.
Fuck off. OK, so you're going to Nepal?
Right. Yeah, that's in September.
OK, Nepal and Varanasi. Yes, and then?
Live in India and then come backand then I'm also doing Vietnam
with my like two best friends. I'm so excited.
The category, not the hierarchy.Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yes, yes. Because I'm not going to be and
(30:03):
just wanna clarify and best. Friend, but I'm not going to be
there with two of the best friends in the category That's
right again, I don't know if anyone from my work is no one's
going to know what it is, but I'm thinking of going over to
America Yes, but this like time.I just want to change shit up
right. I'm just like it's time to do
something different. I don't know, I felt like last
year was a really hard year. It's bullshit.
(30:25):
Yeah, And I also am so held in my fear and have been like I
started running this year, whichis something I would never would
have done because I wouldn't. I'd be afraid.
Yeah, like I've started Pilates.I've I'm currently week 1 into a
no sugar, no grains. No, which I don't like doing it
all, but like just like things that I'm actually like yes,
let's just try yes and be braver.
(30:46):
And I wanna go work in a summer camp over in America.
So I'm I'm signing up. Yeah, and I'm not telling
anyone. So I'm gonna do that, which is
gonna be fuck exciting. Oh my God, No one.
I know this is this, but anyway,by then it'll be yeah, it'll be
underway. Yeah.
And then I just want to do something crazy.
I just want to what my my sort of goal for this year was to
look like New Year's last that we just had to New Year's.
(31:08):
I'm going to be in a completely different place and go holy
shit, I didn't expect myself to be here.
That's that's sort of what I want.
Yeah, fuck you. I know.
So it's exciting. I.
Can so see you doing that? Yeah, we'll see.
Hey, it's. Actually I just read a graphic
novel. I'll lend it to you if you want.
It's called Camp Sunshine and it's about this cartoonist and
how he went and volunteered at asummer camp for kids with life
(31:32):
threatening diseases and it was like the most life changing like
3 months of his life. My nipples actually just.
That's how I know it's the rightthing.
When you're when your nipples dosomething, that's how I know I'm
like the right choice. To tell us when isn't it?
I saw all this touch and it's coming through my nipples.
(31:53):
Beautiful. Hey, hey.
Oh babes, I can't wait. I can't wait to see all of that
happen for you and. More I'm so excited I'm so and
different things like this I. Don't.
Yeah, that'd be so cool. Oh, and everyone you need to
like, go visit Maddie at the Humundi Markets.
Yes, come say hi. Oh my God, weirdest.
OK. Do we have much time left?
We actually have gone overtime. Oh, here's the fuck.
(32:14):
OK, we've got two more minutes. I don't think she might.
Stop us. Keep going.
Surely. OK so weirdest story ever but
like me and Maddie met for like 5 minutes at a coffee shop once
and she had to like race to go like send a print off in the
mail. Do you remember this story?
Oh. Yes.
Oh my God. And I was like, Oh my God, where
(32:34):
are you sending to? And she's like, oh, it must, it
was through my website, but she must have seen me at the markets
or whatever. And I was like, wow, we where
are you sending it to me? She goes, I don't know, some
fucking place called Prosserpineand I was like fuck off.
And she's like what? I was like daddy's my hometown
that is source like and. I was like, oh cool, and you're
(32:56):
immediate. Like who?
And then I was like, who are yousending to?
And you're like, oh, whatever, As if you'll know her.
And I was like, who were you sending it to?
Maddie. And she told me the name and I
was like, fucking hell, Maddie. Like I used to work beside her.
Like our families, our long termfriends.
Her brother used to work for my dad like her.
(33:17):
Not joking about that small town, no her.
Father used to be the counsellorof our town, like the like the
local government representative and like she is basically the
origin store of how me and Chriscame together because she got
the job for Chris at the council, but we all work
together at the council, I work beside her and it's just isn't
(33:38):
that. Incredible.
You know what? She didn't order the Leonie
print. I know.
What about bitch? We were like, Oh my God, Bitch.
She knows. Like to this day, right.
We're like, I know because you Iuse my aunt account to like.
Yeah, that would be crazy, that.'D be so crazy.
She's like one. Day, Sandra, if you're listening
to this, we're talking about youand we love you.
(34:00):
Thanks. For buying a print, Sandra.
That's right. Thanks for actually bringing me
and my husband together, Sandra.I appreciate you, doll.
I love it. I know.
Well, that's my roommate. Went to work at that school up
in Charter's towers. Oh, yeah.
Yeah. All right.
Like and and you. Yeah, I know.
Crazy. Small town barbs.
Don't. We were meant to be meant to.
Be look at this not. That I remember moving up there,
(34:20):
but you know, good. For you, I don't think you
should. You know what?
Like Maddie went OK guys, Maddiewent on a road trip up north and
Maddie loves swimming in the ocean.
And I was like, OK babes. And she's like, oh, I can't wait
to go swim in the ocean up there.
It'd be so warm. And I was like, bitch, what?
And she's like, swim in ocean. It's so warm.
(34:43):
Like I see if I'm a fucking idiot, it's and I'm like, no,
you don't do that. And you're like, what do you
mean? I was like the crocodiles bitch.
And she's like, they're not thatbig of a problem, are they?
Holy fucking shit. You look like a really stressed
jellyfish. I am a stressed jellyfish for
any person who's from North Queensland, NT, top of WA,
(35:06):
they're all going you crazy mold.
It is a no go zone. You do not.
But now they're out of the reefsas well.
Yeah, babes. Like where do you go scuba
diving? You know what I mean?
Oh, it's you don't. No.
Stay safe. Stay, you know.
Crocodiles. This is a really interesting
fact. OK, I love it.
(35:26):
You're gonna educate me about this?
I come from fucking cock country.
They could be alligators, but you don't come from anywhere
that ice is over. So if you have alligators or I
think they have a crocodile, I can't remember, it's one of the,
it's one of them. They're not that different.
No different. Animals.
So there's this zoo in America, I think it is, or in Russia
somewhere cold and ices, crocodiles basically freeze
(35:48):
themselves because they're dinosaurs.
So they put their little snout up in the water.
Yes. And the ice freezes, the water
around them freezes, they've frozen.
And just as long as their snoutsout, they'll just go into like a
like a coma state. I am Googling this.
Right, I saw a video fucking me that also Do you want to know my
other favorite fact? Sorry that this is where.
(36:09):
We no, no, no, I suppose feel like we should just.
Do a podcast about good facts. Yes.
I agree like and just fascinating.
You are absolutely right. I know.
This is insane. Yeah, frozen alligators
breathing through the ice and their little fucking nose
through the air. Yeah, yeah.
And they'll just freeze and likethat.
So no wonder, No wonder they're fucking dinosaurs.
(36:31):
Like, look, look at what they they survived the Ice Age, man.
They. Can do anything.
They're they're phenomenal. They're like who gives a shit?
Just. Next fact.
That should be you alligators. It's alligators that do it.
Do crocodiles can alligate can? I know crocodiles are pretty
Hardy, they're much bigger. Hey, OK, next fact.
Just. Oh, I thought they weren't that
different. No, I'm just, I'm fucking with
(36:52):
you. Carry on.
Somebody's from remote community.
She's she's pushing her knowledge of crocodiles.
Somebody's so much better. She's got crocodiles, See.
Hippos can't swim. What do they do?
What do they do? Hippos hop, so hippos actually
can't swim and they they hold their breath underwater.
(37:12):
This is a phenomenal fact. So they can't swim.
And what they do instead is theyhop like this on all four legs
and they come up and you'll see them rise to the surface.
And because they're so big and they're slow.
So the rise, when you see them at the top of the, it's because
they're hopping and then they godown.
But they technically they most of the time live in like water
that's not too deep or anything,but they can't breathe
underwater. And but they can be under there
(37:34):
for like 7 minutes or something and then they just hop.
So they hop and hippos are integral.
So after the drought or after, you know, the the Savannah sort
of is dry over the summer and all the water comes back in
ready for, you know, everything to breathe life into it again.
(37:55):
The hippo tracks of them jumpingis what the water follows to
come in. So hippos are essential to the
African like wildlife system in their ecosystem.
So how water comes like flows back into the Savannah is the
hippos tracks isn't. That great.
Did you know you telling me hippo facts and it's going
straight into my ears through these headphones and like
(38:18):
through this, it's actually likean ecstatic experience.
I'm just like, this is the best thing that's ever happened to
me. So cool.
Hey. And I was really close to the
microphone. I was like, whoa.
No, I was, and I was so investedtoo.
And did you know, like, hippopotamus is incredibly
dangerous? Yeah.
They fucking murder murder cows,that's what they are.
(38:38):
Crocodiles they'll they'll kill them, they'll just and they they
bang up too, which is good like they're like really loyal and
protective. So they'll if I saw this video,
because I watch a lot of hippo videos for some reason and
crocodiles these Louise, do you know a Jaguar?
There's a video in the in the Amazon rainforest of a Jaguar
attacking and having a fight with a crocodile.
Well. Yes.
(38:58):
And it it drags it out of the water, it death rolls everything
doesn't matter. The Jaguar wins.
This is the best thing that's ever happened to me.
I'm so glad we ended with the murder cows and. 2024 sounds
exciting. 2024. Bring it on, bitches.
This. Is the greatest thing I've ever
(39:21):
been in my life. I love you.
I'm obsessed with you. 10 out of10.
Boy boy.
Me. I just looked at the video
cameras and how it's set up and I'd realise like we've got this
(00:22):
Jack Links beef jerky right in the central.
Sponsor it. Actually, looks like we've like
got stuff. No, we've just got shit
everywhere. It doesn't matter.
And I just apologise to all the vegans out there, but I'm
currently having a hyper fixation with beef jerky, so
that's very right with that. Got to do what you got to do.
Yeah. OK.
All right, so finally we're going to talk about 20. 24202424
(00:49):
good energy this year I feel it good energy how you feeling?
Year of the Wood Dragon, I thinkit is year.
Of the dragon. Oh my goodness, yes, because I'm
doing. I'm making a display about
Dragons in the library. Oh.
My God. OK well I was wondering why the
fuck? About prosperity.
And it's all about like driven force and like, yeah, travel
moving around. Nice.
(01:11):
That's so good. It's so exciting.
Oh, that is so cute. And I love that you get paid to
just like, make these extreme painting displays.
It's the best thing ever. Yeah, You know, I go in
sometimes and they're like, whatcan I do?
And they're like, I don't have ajob for you.
And I'm like, I'll just paint. Then I'll just I'll make.
Something and they're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, please.
I'm like awesome, That's the latest.
Thing that's ever happened to me, like you gotta do that
(01:33):
right? Like I remember even the
government job, like just to make myself like amuse myself,
yes, I was like, you know what Ireally want to do?
I want to go around like everybody in this floor and I
want to interview them and profile them in a newsletter.
And like the the department evendidn't didn't even have a
newsletter at that point. I just invented it purely for my
(01:54):
own you're fabulous selfish game.
So I would just go and like interview people about their
passions and their like their interests and like everything
outside of work because I couldn't give a fuck.
And people were just like amazing and weird and funny and
great. And I would take photos and
write it all up. And my boss was like, Oh my God,
you're so, you know, you're justlike, so driven.
And I was like, I'm just trying to keep myself amused, you know,
(02:15):
look. At me, it's a it's a, well,
you're not, you're not this because you're also like an
incredibly hard worker. But I've been watching a lot of
people talk about personality hires.
Yes, I am that. And I'm that too, right?
I'm really just there and peoplejust love.
I always say, right, have a think about this.
If there's a zombie apocalypse, everyone sort of, you know, they
start dividing up. They have jobs, people are
killing people, you know, like, yes, I am the joker.
(02:38):
Like people just have me like there's no, I can't run very
far. I'm just the jester and you
know, I I would be happy in thatsituation.
Totally. Just dress up and just be there
and, you know, go Hey, how you going?
Like, you know, let's let's talkabout this.
Yeah, give a bit of a laugh. Give a.
Boost absolutely. I am like I I've sent those
videos to my boss going I was the personality.
(02:59):
I wasn't I she's like, yes, and we still talk about you 14 years
after you left. And they're integral.
They're integral. Important.
But a workspace without a personality hire?
What's it? Yeah.
Everyone hates it. Yeah.
Yeah. And like, the retention rates,
like in our team were huge. And that's not just because of
me, but because every. Yeah.
Well, who's just saying yeah. But when I left, everybody
(03:23):
didn't want it. No, I'm good.
But like also I would do things like I get bored and so I Deb,
who was our HR person, I was like, oh, you know what we
should do? We should have a hugging
competition and see many people we can hug in one day in this
office. And she was like, game on bitch.
And so that's what we did. We ran away, ran around the
whole day hugging people. I think I hugged like 300 people
(03:47):
and I won of course because as if that slack bitch whatever
beat me in. Of course A.
Competition, I mean, I got really sick afterwards because
there's, you know, like pre COVID days where we didn't
realise that like hugging a lot of people may just, you know,
give you infectious disease. But no, it's fine.
Oh well, worth it, Absolutely worth it.
Plus got some sick days off workand you won.
It's a win, win. Yeah, it's a win, win, win, win,
(04:08):
win all around for me. Win.
Win, win. OK.
So 2024, yes. Dragon Dragon.
Dragon. I am.
OK. So last year was a tricky,
trickier year for me. I would write like there was a
good year in lots of ways, but then it was also a tricky year
and that we're going through Angel, our dog, and she was
(04:29):
really high needs. And I remember so many times
like we would go have like our business mastermind or whatever.
And there was some days where I'm like, I can't come in or we
think she's about to die. And then she'd make a fucking
splendid recovery again. She was just this, just
constantly having these things. Very incredible.
It's very, yeah. Yeah, she just loved Chris so
(04:50):
much, and I get that. And she just wouldn't let him
go. And because she just wanted to
just be as like loyal to him as he was to her.
And it was beautiful to witness.And it was also really difficult
because it took so much out of Chris to care for.
And it was a long time. It's a long time.
To the point where you were like, this has to be the last
(05:12):
time. Surely she was 19?
Like fucking hell, she's 19 years old.
Like dog, do you not realise and.
And she wasn't, she wasn't like she was blind, wasn't she?
And. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And but like, she still looked. Yeah.
Normally, but yeah, just still doing her thing.
And, you know, it was just my husband really didn't want to
(05:36):
think about putting it down because in his books, he's like,
well, we wouldn't do it to a human like, you know, who's
elderly and she's not like you didn't have.
Still got the love? Yeah, she didn't have cancer or
anything like that. So he's like, why?
Why would we like. And that's the thing, Like I
just, I know that he's not the guy who's going to run away when
(05:56):
I get sick. He'll just be like, yeah, you
know, in every fucking part. Like he's so deeply loyal.
Yeah. So.
But I was really worried about his health because he was up
during the night with her. He didn't have, like, sleep for
three years. It was basically like looking
after a newborn. That's hardcore.
Yeah. And it was, it was stressful.
And also wondering like when is this going to happen and not?
(06:17):
Being able to go away all the things.
Yeah, yeah, we went away on holidays, but we always did it
within 30 minutes to the house and bring her with us because
she was too high, needs to foistunto anyone else.
And also she just wouldn't cope without Chris.
So I get it, I get it. Yeah.
So that was kind of the year of that.
And then she left us in November.
(06:39):
And so now, like, we've kind of gone through the healing process
and I'm just so relieved to see my husband getting some sleep
and coming back into himself. And so this year, I feels like
more of like an integration year.
I would love, if possible, for us to do a holiday more than 30
minutes away from the house. Oh wow.
(07:00):
Dreaming. Hello.
Maybe I don't know what we're going to do.
I mean, it'd be amazing if I could go to New Zealand.
Like we haven't taken the kids overseas yet and or even if we
just go visit like our beloved'sin Canberra or beloved's in.
Yes, the freedom now that you have, yeah.
(07:20):
Yeah, just to have more of that time and think about, OK, what's
what's next for me as well. Like definitely like I want to
develop more physical strength. Yes.
And it's not really about losingweight or anything like that.
It's purely for pain management purposes.
So I have hyperemesis gravity. No, sorry, I had hyperemesis
gravity when I was pregnant. I have hypermobility now and
(07:45):
it's possibly ELA's Danlos syndrome, which is a kind of
hypermobility syndrome, but means my bones dislocate really
easily. And I'm, you know, like
everything just falls out of place and the only thing to
prevent it from having more often is more muscular strength.
(08:05):
So Pilates doing that kind of stuff is and.
You're loving, you love Pilates.Hey.
No, what I love is talking shit with my Pilates instructor.
Yeah, and then going for tea andcake afterwards to reward
myself. That's what I love about
Pilates. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's hard,
man. Yeah, I started for the first
time this year and I I did not realise how strong women can be.
(08:29):
I thought childbirth was the hardest thing you could do.
And it's not. It's Pilates.
Wow. Yeah, it's like, yeah, it's,
it's just good shit. And I also like, you know, for
building strength, like I can't do yoga.
Like I'm basically barred from yoga classes.
Because of the hypermobility. Yeah, it'll just cause too much
dislocations. So Pilates is it for me.
(08:49):
And I can't really do like strength training outside of
that because I'll dislocate stuff.
And like, even now I'm working on a dislocated drawer, which I
did in a really on brand way which I won't be discussing
publicly, but you can absolutelyfucking guess what it was.
Not many options, is there not? Many options.
(09:10):
This is This is like #50 draw dislocation for me, but you
like. 1st. Yeah, 49 of those have been from
yawning. So we know this one's not from
yawning. That's correct.
That's correct. Not from yawning.
Worth it though. I 100% recommend.
So physical strength, that's a big thing.
(09:30):
Really like focusing spending time on nurturing my marriage
because it's been 23 years. We've just gone through a hard
patch with having an older dog and it's like so I have I do
kinesiology sessions with Kerry Rowlett, who's amazing.
You've met, Yes, beautiful, justthe most amazing human.
And she was like, you know, likeeven if you hit like the biggest
(09:51):
goals in the world, like if you're not feeling like really
connected with Chris in the waysthat you'd like to be, it's not
going to matter to you. Because it's such a like a
priority for me in the same way that it is for my kids.
Like if I don't have a great connected relationship with my
kids it means fucking nothing. Yes, Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah. That's why you do it all.
Yeah. So actually having that as a
(10:11):
priority is really. Big for me.
Oh, how beautiful. What about anything else?
Any other personal sort of things this year or business?
Oh. What are we doing?
So exciting. Well, I mean, fun memories with
the kids. I just want like in whatever way
that comes that'll be fun if we have like a little bit of travel
(10:32):
or just like little holidays, staycations, those kinds of
things. I just love that.
I love, I just fucking love school holidays and just
spending time with them. Even if it's just like laying
around playing Mario Kart with them and getting hyper fixated
on that. It's amazing, Beautiful.
Oh no. It's just like having two little
girlfriends, like, you know, just besties in the house with
me all the time. They're so sweet.
(10:53):
Yeah, and business. Business stuff.
Is so. Pretty simple.
So my goal, and this is like a loosely held goal in that I
don't want to beat myself up if I don't get it.
I don't want to tie my worth to it like.
Yes. My inner worth and I also wanna
be fluid in terms of like if it's 100 grand under that or if
(11:14):
it's more than that, great but this is sort of like a rough
framework for me to go for yes yeah.
So I'd like to hit 1.5 million in revenue with $800,000 profit.
Brilliant. So I think we're, we should be
pretty much on track for that ish.
Yeah. And just to continue have a
really strong like recurring revenue base for my Academy.
(11:36):
So like my brilliant Businesslife Academy basically,
if you haven't heard of it, is it's like all of my courses and
workshops. Oh, it's phenomenal, isn't it?
Yes, Yeah. And like my books, everything
and I just pile it all in there and I give it a really low
price. So it's $199 a year and you can
access every fucking thing that Ioffer pretty much.
(12:00):
And so there's like $8000 worth of workshops in there.
And then so we have new ones coming out every single month.
So I have I present a new workshop every single month.
I just did A1 on like creating digital art and then we have a
new template coming out, like done for your e-mail templates
and all sorts of stuff. And then we also have two guest
expert workshops a month as well.
(12:21):
So I think by the end of this year we'll have over 100
workshops in the Academy, which is amazing.
Oh. My gosh, how awesome.
I know it's so fucking fun and Ijust love like I just, I like
making it a no brainer for people.
Like if people are in a business, like fuck yeah, of
course I'll invest in that. It's such a doable price and I
get so much in it. It's like so people don't have
to like keep buying more and more.
(12:41):
And more so much, isn't it? It's not even just about, like
all hyperfix, It's, it's, it's everything.
Yeah. You could go in there and find
something about anything that you wanted to.
Yeah, we've got like to help money courses, we've got
business courses, we've got sales courses, we've got 40 days
to create and sell your E course, 40 days to finish your
book, How to work less, earn more.
(13:01):
Marketing without social media because I spent two years off
social media and earned over $2,000,000 in that time.
So there's all the different ways that you can market without
social media, how to hire a manager VA, how to deal with
trolls and criticism in your business.
Like all the fucking shit thing,it's in there.
And I like to be able to make more shit and just put it in
there and just like love up on my people.
(13:21):
So it's like always creating newstuff.
Hey, like, yeah, I, I think I once asked you.
I was like, where do you get it from?
You're like, it just comes like,like, I don't get it from
anywhere. It just like someone says, oh, I
need this. And you're like, oh, fantastic.
There's a course like, and it's,you know, and, and suddenly it's
there. Like you're so fast at it too
that it just, it just pops out of your head and it's brilliant
all the time. There's so much, so much good
(13:42):
stuff. And yeah.
And that fearlessness, I just love it.
Yeah, well, it's just like, I mean, you've been around for 20
years and I read like between 100 and 400 books a year.
And like my I, I already know the shit when people ask me
questions like, oh, OK, let me just put this together because
there's so much information thatI can tell you about this.
Yeah. So yeah, it's pretty fun.
(14:04):
So we currently have about 98% recurring revenue.
So that means wow, if you if there's 100 people that have
signed up a year later, 98% of them will keep their membership
for the next year. And then like they just keep on
keeping on. That says everything, doesn't
it? Yeah, and that's what I really
(14:25):
love. And so like, retention rates in
my industry are nowhere near that.
Like, you know, it's great if you've got 20% retention in that
kind of stuff. I just love being able to serve
people and like that's definitely like because I've run
the Academy before. I ran it for 9 years before I
took a four year hiatus and basically we had pretty similar
(14:47):
retention rates. People were just like, I will
never live without this because I feel like if I don't have a
Wow and. That's why you have that fan
base. Hey, that like, yeah, oh, it's,
it's, it's being part of a not even, it's, it is being part of
something rather than just like buying something and, you know,
using the resources. It is, yeah, because you offer
but you also meet. You have that, Yeah.
So you meet can meet with peopleand Co work during the week.
(15:09):
Yeah, so we and we have like a digital Co working space.
So that was a different mastermind.
So that wasn't part of the Academy, but I'm thinking about
adding something possible like like that in the future.
That was more like the prototypeof trying that part out.
And then we also have like I have group coaching calls every
month and then we also have likebusiness basics workshops which
(15:31):
run live. And so that's to like do a
certain party business, like if you haven't set up a mailing
list yet or a lead magnet or whatever.
And then people usually stick around after the call and Co
work together which is really fun.
How awesome. Yeah, and then I can send them a
little prize in the mail when they actually complete the
fucking thing. So now I'm just some little
points of stuff. It's really fun.
So forward. It's just so simple.
(15:53):
It just seems like, it seems so simple to me, like to create an
Academy like this and just turn up and like deliver everything
for people. And of course people are going
to be fucking stoked with it. Yes, yeah.
Oh, brilliant. Hey.
Is it that time? It's that time for ads?
Ads. I love ads.
(16:15):
La La la. Leon Dawson refuses to not give
away free shits, and so therefore she's giving away free
shit. Hey, if you feel like you're
walking around with a dark cloudover your head.
Also, I am wearing an umbrella on my head.
Thank you very much for noticingthat.
If you're watching on video, I appreciate you.
Otherwise, you can just imagine it along with all the other ways
(16:36):
that you imagine me in your fanfiction.
Look what I'm trying to say is before we got distracted by fan
fiction and archive of her own and like Bridgeton fan fiction,
it gets very erotic. I'm really into that at the
moment. Look what I'm trying to say is
I've got an anxiety releasing meditation for you.
I've really managed to keep on topic during this.
If you go to leonedawson.com/anxiety
(16:58):
meditation. This short powerful meditation
is going to combine two powerfulbreathing practices based on
Physiology. The designs like just slow down
your nervous system and quell anxiety.
It's something that I on myself and my kids all the freaking
time. leonidawson.com/whatever the fuck URL I've already said
because I can't remember it now I've got ADHD, can you tell?
(17:23):
Welcome back. Oh my God, I heard that was the
best ad that you've ever heard in your fucking life.
I think it was. Yeah, yeah.
So yeah, I'm, I just, I, I am still going to like this year
I'm doing kinesiology with KerryRowett every two weeks at least.
And then during a launch, I usually do a session with her
(17:44):
every week. And it's just to keep my mindset
going. And I've realized that if I
don't have that, I get along OK,but I don't, I can't.
It's better for me to expand when I've got that kind of
support. So for me, like I've tried
cognitive behavioural therapy, like which is the goal standard
(18:07):
for neurotypical people. Yeah, but I did it.
I did a stint of it last year and found that it made me kind
of like hyper fixate on my problems more.
And I was like, oh, this kind offucking me up more.
And I talked to Zeta about it, my assistant.
And this is the joy of having anassistant who has a psychology
degree. She was like, oh, I think
sweetheart, no, no, CBD is for new typical people for but when
(18:30):
you're a divergent people, there's no gold standard.
So, and it can exacerbate your symptoms to go to CBT.
So now if it's working for you, fucking keep going.
Like just keep going. You know, it's about the
relationship with the person andhow that person works as well.
And she's like, so it is 100% cool for you to do therapy or
coaching in a way that works foryou.
(18:50):
And what's always worked for me was doing it on more of a hippie
kind of way, like kinesiology orintuitive healing with Hiraboga
that I love. Like being able to like have
somebody go, I don't know, there's something deeper here,
even deeper and even deeper. And then clearing that out and I
feel like, oh, well, that's all taken care of.
So it doesn't seem to keep coming up as much.
(19:14):
Oh, that's so good. And like the biggest soul
lessons I've ever learned and about boundaries and, you know,
taking care of myself, all of the normal therapy stuff is
stuff that I've learned from Hero and Kerry anyway.
So it works beautifully for me. Yeah.
And I think as well, like I alsodon't work super well with a one
(19:34):
to one coach, but a healer in that realm?
Fuck yeah. Yes, Yeah, it's different.
Hey. And it's going to be so
different for others. Like I've got other friends who
like love coaching and can't consider doing business without
a coach, but not for me. Yeah, it's so essential, isn't
it, having that, that help. I love that you're doing it
every two weeks regardless. And sometimes I go to like a
(19:56):
session and I'm like, I have nothing to talk about.
And then I leave and I'm like, OK.
Yeah, you know, like, yeah, because there's still always
stuff. There's stuff undercover.
Yeah. Really.
Yeah. And if I went to like a just a
traditional therapist, I'm like,I don't really have much to talk
about. Yeah.
Meanwhile, like, carry your hero.
Be like, oh, really, really, really.
(20:16):
Let's. Look a little bit more, shall
we? Your.
Body says otherwise. Yeah, that's it.
Anything else that you're like taking from 2023, taking from
past years and bringing into 2024, like any particular
energy, anything? Yeah.
Last year I really felt like I was going to like I really
(20:37):
wanted to expand the business again.
And I was also insistent that I would be doing in a way without
adding any more stuff or anything like that because I was
so scared of getting into a situation that I've been before
with like lots of stuff and not enjoying it.
And then I so I was like, I needto work out the secret sauce to
(20:57):
making it happen. I got really rigid and started
developing quite low self-confidence because nothing
I was trying was working. And I was also like, just like
leapfrogging one from one thing to the next.
And finally, Zita, my assistant,was like, hey, intervention
time. You kind of drive me crazy
because you obviously are struggling and I hate seeing you
(21:19):
struggle. But she's very empathetic and
compassionate and she's like, and also like you just don't
seem to be getting any traction.Like, let's talk about therapy,
Let's talk about coaching. What do you need to do in order
to get out of this spiral that you're in where you just, like,
got your head? Suck up your own asshole.
So good to have like a business partner that you work with who
like sort of holds you accountable like that, yeah.
(21:39):
Yeah, and it's the first time she's kind of done it.
So I was like, oh, OK, shit. So.
It must be alright. We gotta move on, yeah.
And that was when I was like, oh, but CBT didn't really work
with me. And she's like, it was fun.
Go back to Carrie, go back to doing whatever works.
And so Carrie really helped me get out of that cycle and start
healing like the freak outs I had about having a big business
(22:02):
and start trying having more people.
And it's actually just felt really nice to have more people.
And it also because I was relying so heavily on Zeta
because, you know, it was her plus one person doing our
customer service emails. But if Zita is unwell or Zita
wants to go on holidays or Zita wants to travel, I kind of was
(22:23):
stuck in that. I didn't have my little help
mate to do all the things and things really grind to a halt
without her because we just can't get through the amount of
work kind of thing. And so I feel like that's too
much responsibility to lay on one person.
And so having other assistants underneath her can step up and
(22:46):
do her role so she can actually take holidays stress free.
You know, like I always was like, you always must take
holidays. You always like, I never like,
was that kind of nice? Absolutely.
But I'd be like, right, I'm going to have to like hold back
business growth while she's awaybecause we don't have the
expansion capacity. So having a bit more expansion
capacity is great. Yeah, fantastic.
(23:06):
Yeah. And also like, I think as as an
autistic person, like working out, like, oh, I'm not going to
be doing the managing of the people.
That's not for me. That's not my skill.
That's not what I was born to dothis life.
No fucking thank you. And Zeta's really good at it.
And Zeta's like. Bless you, Zeta.
Yeah, she's got social skills. That's amazing.
(23:26):
And she understands what people are saying when they say things.
And I go, Huh? Zoe, you do level, but I just
think. Yeah, I find it trickier and.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I think people are more
dishonest maybe when they're working for you, you know, like
or something like that. But it's not that you don't.
It's just that that dishonesty is really hard and that.
Yeah, and I'm such a people pleaser as well that I find it
(23:49):
hard to give feedback. It makes me feel very, very
anxious and like, bless you. Like I like at some point, like
I had to give her feedback and it was like, and yeah.
And I was like, I'm going to, I feel like spewing, I'm going to
have a ventilator. I'm just, I'm really upset about
having to like even just like say this thing about this
(24:09):
mistake I found. But I really love you and I
really want to keep working withyou because I previously have
had in the past when I've tried to give constructive feedback to
someone, they're like, fuck you.You don't know how to run a
business. I fucking quit and fuck you to
hell. And I will not give you
documentation. I will damage you as much as I
can on the way out because people can be totally like that.
And it's not just one person. Yeah, No matter how much I've
(24:32):
tried to lovingly frame it, likeI've had people just, like,
enormous egos that are so precious, they can't handle any
kind of feedback. And like when I told Zeta, like
I was feeling really anxious about giving her feedback, she,
like, and I sent the e-mail because I didn't want to, like,
I was. So this is years ago, and she's
very happy with me to talk aboutthis.
By the way, I have cleared it with her.
(24:53):
She immediately texted me and was like, hey, I just wanted you
to know that I've got the e-mailand I am so sorry you're feeling
so anxious. It's OK.
We're totally OK. And I love getting feedback.
And we will work on whatever needs to be worked on to make
this great. And it was like, holy shit.
Like this is incredible to have somebody who's got that level of
emotional intelligence to go, Ohmy gosh, my boss is really
(25:15):
anxious about having to talk to me about this.
Like all hands on deck for her. Oh, it makes your heart like.
I know. That's it.
I know, so it's just such a relief to be around.
How good to go into? 2024 with that beautiful team
and that that yeah, Co partner alittle bit like, you know, like
it's like a partnership. It's totally a partnership.
And so that's so nice because her heart's obviously in it as
(25:37):
well. And yeah, yeah, yeah.
And bless her, like we like to tease each other a lot.
Like we give each other a lot ofshit.
And I call her Gobbo or goblin because that's the she said me.
And to be able to troublemaker that like at her heart, she's
just the most golden fucking thing under the sun.
(25:58):
She went on a podcast because wedid this podcast with Laurie
Sterling where Laurie interviewed Zeta 1st and then
she interviewed me separately. Talking about the business you
go to perspective, it's very interesting.
It's the Growing Pains podcast, highly recommends.
Love it and Laurie's fantastic. We've done her CEO accelerator
program together. It was incredible.
(26:20):
But Zena on that call said that like Laurie said to her, oh, you
know, what's your aspirate like your job aspiration.
And she said, oh, well, I'll just work for Leonia until
Leonia retires, and then I'll retire from this industry
because I'll never find a boss like Leonia again.
Oh. My goodness.
I'm never letting her forget that.
(26:46):
Oh the jizz I got. I've got like shivers actually,
because that's like, that's incredible.
She'll retire from this industry.
Oh my God, her. Career at the moment is sort of
you do you know what I mean? Like that's.
Wow. And she's like, no, I'll just
stick with you till you you wantto shut the business down and
then after that I'll go do something else completely.
And I was like, oh, that's fucking noise.
(27:07):
That's fucking noise That feels good.
It feels good. Oh, I want the feels good.
Just fucking good. So that's noise.
That's really noise. So it's a good way to start the
2024 feeling like I've got a really solid relationship with
my right hand person and that she's got support as well so
that we can just keep on rockingout and creating things and
(27:29):
doing like crazy shit like this.Because we probably wouldn't
have had the capacity to build in like a video podcast with
reels and shit like that just because we didn't have the time
to do it. And now we do.
Look at us on the video please. Look at us going.
Maybe we should do something forlike the thumbnail like.
(27:51):
Nice, nice, that's. Going to be a good year.
It's good everyone. 2024 Leonie going to kick us and take names.
So if you have liked this kind of podcast, if you like the
video aspect, if you like me talking with one of my besties,
please let us know and we will book in more sessions like this.
(28:15):
I mean, here's the thing, I think we've had such a nice
time, we'll probably just do it.I give a fuck what anyone
thinks. I know.
I actually think we're incredibly funny too.
I know. I was just thinking, I was like,
well, other people find this funny and I was like, who fucked
the? Shit, I know, I know.
So we're so funny. We are the greatest things that
I've ever I've had like and I think as well we can like make
this space even more cluttered when we walked in.
(28:37):
So with a quick company, yes, we're filming at Havana House,
which is beautiful. Very Byron Bay.
Very Byron Bay. It's just so gorgeous.
She. Just watched us spring in these
boxes. She's like, oh, no one's ever
done this before. Yeah.
And I was like, this is, this islike nothing.
This is nothing. This is.
Bare bitch minimalism like this is, I think we can do a lot more
(28:59):
to like make this. You'd really, really cool if
it's just I wish we could build bookcases in here just like and
just fill it with books. Ah.
Yes. Yeah.
And then? I've always wanted to live like
have a bookshelf that you have like a little bed inside of.
Come close to the mic. Oh yeah, that you live inside of
a. Bookshelf that you live inside
(29:20):
of like you know. Like a tiny home situation.
It's a little and you're just surrounded by books.
Yes, 100 percent, 100% What's on?
Tell me about you, What's 2024 mean for you?
Travel. This is the year I change
everything up, I reckon. OK, yeah, I'm just the word of
the year. Do you have a word of the year?
No, but I want yours. I wouldn't know what yours is.
Bravery bitch get. Kicked.
(29:43):
I know. So, yeah.
So I've already organized two overseas trips.
Fuck off. OK, so you're going to Nepal?
Right. Yeah, that's in September.
OK, Nepal and Varanasi. Yes, and then?
Live in India and then come backand then I'm also doing Vietnam
with my like two best friends. I'm so excited.
The category, not the hierarchy.Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yes, yes. Because I'm not going to be and
(30:03):
just wanna clarify and best. Friend, but I'm not going to be
there with two of the best friends in the category That's
right again, I don't know if anyone from my work is no one's
going to know what it is, but I'm thinking of going over to
America Yes, but this like time.I just want to change shit up
right. I'm just like it's time to do
something different. I don't know, I felt like last
year was a really hard year. It's bullshit.
(30:25):
Yeah, And I also am so held in my fear and have been like I
started running this year, whichis something I would never would
have done because I wouldn't. I'd be afraid.
Yeah, like I've started Pilates.I've I'm currently week 1 into a
no sugar, no grains. No, which I don't like doing it
all, but like just like things that I'm actually like yes,
let's just try yes and be braver.
(30:46):
And I wanna go work in a summer camp over in America.
So I'm I'm signing up. Yeah, and I'm not telling
anyone. So I'm gonna do that, which is
gonna be fuck exciting. Oh my God, No one.
I know this is this, but anyway,by then it'll be yeah, it'll be
underway. Yeah.
And then I just want to do something crazy.
I just want to what my my sort of goal for this year was to
look like New Year's last that we just had to New Year's.
(31:08):
I'm going to be in a completely different place and go holy
shit, I didn't expect myself to be here.
That's that's sort of what I want.
Yeah, fuck you. I know.
So it's exciting. I.
Can so see you doing that? Yeah, we'll see.
Hey, it's. Actually I just read a graphic
novel. I'll lend it to you if you want.
It's called Camp Sunshine and it's about this cartoonist and
how he went and volunteered at asummer camp for kids with life
(31:32):
threatening diseases and it was like the most life changing like
3 months of his life. My nipples actually just.
That's how I know it's the rightthing.
When you're when your nipples dosomething, that's how I know I'm
like the right choice. To tell us when isn't it?
I saw all this touch and it's coming through my nipples.
(31:53):
Beautiful. Hey, hey.
Oh babes, I can't wait. I can't wait to see all of that
happen for you and. More I'm so excited I'm so and
different things like this I. Don't.
Yeah, that'd be so cool. Oh, and everyone you need to
like, go visit Maddie at the Humundi Markets.
Yes, come say hi. Oh my God, weirdest.
OK. Do we have much time left?
We actually have gone overtime. Oh, here's the fuck.
(32:14):
OK, we've got two more minutes. I don't think she might.
Stop us. Keep going.
Surely. OK so weirdest story ever but
like me and Maddie met for like 5 minutes at a coffee shop once
and she had to like race to go like send a print off in the
mail. Do you remember this story?
Oh. Yes.
Oh my God. And I was like, Oh my God, where
(32:34):
are you sending to? And she's like, oh, it must, it
was through my website, but she must have seen me at the markets
or whatever. And I was like, wow, we where
are you sending it to me? She goes, I don't know, some
fucking place called Prosserpineand I was like fuck off.
And she's like what? I was like daddy's my hometown
that is source like and. I was like, oh cool, and you're
(32:56):
immediate. Like who?
And then I was like, who are yousending to?
And you're like, oh, whatever, As if you'll know her.
And I was like, who were you sending it to?
Maddie. And she told me the name and I
was like, fucking hell, Maddie. Like I used to work beside her.
Like our families, our long termfriends.
Her brother used to work for my dad like her.
(33:17):
Not joking about that small town, no her.
Father used to be the counsellorof our town, like the like the
local government representative and like she is basically the
origin store of how me and Chriscame together because she got
the job for Chris at the council, but we all work
together at the council, I work beside her and it's just isn't
(33:38):
that. Incredible.
You know what? She didn't order the Leonie
print. I know.
What about bitch? We were like, Oh my God, Bitch.
She knows. Like to this day, right.
We're like, I know because you Iuse my aunt account to like.
Yeah, that would be crazy, that.'D be so crazy.
She's like one. Day, Sandra, if you're listening
to this, we're talking about youand we love you.
(34:00):
Thanks. For buying a print, Sandra.
That's right. Thanks for actually bringing me
and my husband together, Sandra.I appreciate you, doll.
I love it. I know.
Well, that's my roommate. Went to work at that school up
in Charter's towers. Oh, yeah.
Yeah. All right.
Like and and you. Yeah, I know.
Crazy. Small town barbs.
Don't. We were meant to be meant to.
Be look at this not. That I remember moving up there,
(34:20):
but you know, good. For you, I don't think you
should. You know what?
Like Maddie went OK guys, Maddiewent on a road trip up north and
Maddie loves swimming in the ocean.
And I was like, OK babes. And she's like, oh, I can't wait
to go swim in the ocean up there.
It'd be so warm. And I was like, bitch, what?
And she's like, swim in ocean. It's so warm.
(34:43):
Like I see if I'm a fucking idiot, it's and I'm like, no,
you don't do that. And you're like, what do you
mean? I was like the crocodiles bitch.
And she's like, they're not thatbig of a problem, are they?
Holy fucking shit. You look like a really stressed
jellyfish. I am a stressed jellyfish for
any person who's from North Queensland, NT, top of WA,
(35:06):
they're all going you crazy mold.
It is a no go zone. You do not.
But now they're out of the reefsas well.
Yeah, babes. Like where do you go scuba
diving? You know what I mean?
Oh, it's you don't. No.
Stay safe. Stay, you know.
Crocodiles. This is a really interesting
fact. OK, I love it.
(35:26):
You're gonna educate me about this?
I come from fucking cock country.
They could be alligators, but you don't come from anywhere
that ice is over. So if you have alligators or I
think they have a crocodile, I can't remember, it's one of the,
it's one of them. They're not that different.
No different. Animals.
So there's this zoo in America, I think it is, or in Russia
somewhere cold and ices, crocodiles basically freeze
(35:48):
themselves because they're dinosaurs.
So they put their little snout up in the water.
Yes. And the ice freezes, the water
around them freezes, they've frozen.
And just as long as their snoutsout, they'll just go into like a
like a coma state. I am Googling this.
Right, I saw a video fucking me that also Do you want to know my
other favorite fact? Sorry that this is where.
(36:09):
We no, no, no, I suppose feel like we should just.
Do a podcast about good facts. Yes.
I agree like and just fascinating.
You are absolutely right. I know.
This is insane. Yeah, frozen alligators
breathing through the ice and their little fucking nose
through the air. Yeah, yeah.
And they'll just freeze and likethat.
So no wonder, No wonder they're fucking dinosaurs.
(36:31):
Like, look, look at what they they survived the Ice Age, man.
They. Can do anything.
They're they're phenomenal. They're like who gives a shit?
Just. Next fact.
That should be you alligators. It's alligators that do it.
Do crocodiles can alligate can? I know crocodiles are pretty
Hardy, they're much bigger. Hey, OK, next fact.
Just. Oh, I thought they weren't that
different. No, I'm just, I'm fucking with
(36:52):
you. Carry on.
Somebody's from remote community.
She's she's pushing her knowledge of crocodiles.
Somebody's so much better. She's got crocodiles, See.
Hippos can't swim. What do they do?
What do they do? Hippos hop, so hippos actually
can't swim and they they hold their breath underwater.
(37:12):
This is a phenomenal fact. So they can't swim.
And what they do instead is theyhop like this on all four legs
and they come up and you'll see them rise to the surface.
And because they're so big and they're slow.
So the rise, when you see them at the top of the, it's because
they're hopping and then they godown.
But they technically they most of the time live in like water
that's not too deep or anything,but they can't breathe
underwater. And but they can be under there
(37:34):
for like 7 minutes or something and then they just hop.
So they hop and hippos are integral.
So after the drought or after, you know, the the Savannah sort
of is dry over the summer and all the water comes back in
ready for, you know, everything to breathe life into it again.
(37:55):
The hippo tracks of them jumpingis what the water follows to
come in. So hippos are essential to the
African like wildlife system in their ecosystem.
So how water comes like flows back into the Savannah is the
hippos tracks isn't. That great.
Did you know you telling me hippo facts and it's going
straight into my ears through these headphones and like
(38:18):
through this, it's actually likean ecstatic experience.
I'm just like, this is the best thing that's ever happened to
me. So cool.
Hey. And I was really close to the
microphone. I was like, whoa.
No, I was, and I was so investedtoo.
And did you know, like, hippopotamus is incredibly
dangerous? Yeah.
They fucking murder murder cows,that's what they are.
(38:38):
Crocodiles they'll they'll kill them, they'll just and they they
bang up too, which is good like they're like really loyal and
protective. So they'll if I saw this video,
because I watch a lot of hippo videos for some reason and
crocodiles these Louise, do you know a Jaguar?
There's a video in the in the Amazon rainforest of a Jaguar
attacking and having a fight with a crocodile.
Well. Yes.
(38:58):
And it it drags it out of the water, it death rolls everything
doesn't matter. The Jaguar wins.
This is the best thing that's ever happened to me.
I'm so glad we ended with the murder cows and. 2024 sounds
exciting. 2024. Bring it on, bitches.
This. Is the greatest thing I've ever
(39:21):
been in my life. I love you.
I'm obsessed with you. 10 out of10.
Boy boy.
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