April 28, 2025 • 46 mins
What if the key to business growth isn't hustling harder but designing a business that works with your natural strengths? Money mindset mentor Denise Duffield-Thomas introduces us to "the chustle" – a chilled approach to hustle that creates success without burnout.
Denise reveals how she's built a multi-million dollar business with a surprisingly lean team structure – no full-time employees and minimal management headaches. She challenges the entrepreneurial obsession with arbitrary financial benchmarks, encouraging listeners to define success on their own terms rather than chasing someone else's definition of achievement.
The conversation takes a fascinating turn when Denise unpacks the psychology behind passive income guilt. She shares her personal struggle with feeling undeserving of earnings from her first ebook, explaining how this mindset block stems from our conditioning about the relationship between work and compensation. For entrepreneurs who find themselves sabotaging their passive income streams, her insights offer a path to greater acceptance and profitability.
Perhaps most refreshingly, Denise outlines her remarkably simple business framework: showing up daily on social media (through batched content), providing value weekly (via her podcast), and offering something to purchase monthly or quarterly. This streamlined approach maintains consistency without the exhaustion that comes from constantly creating new content.
Whether you're building your first business or looking to scale an existing one more sustainably, Denise's practical wisdom offers an alternative to burnout culture. Success doesn't require sacrificing your wellbeing or conforming to someone else's business model – it comes from aligning your business with your authentic self and focusing on what truly moves the needle. Ready to chill and prosper? This episode shows you how.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Donna Eade (00:00):
You're listening to the Mindset in Action podcast,
the place to be to grow andstreamline your business.
I'm your host, Donna Eade.
Let's jump into the show.
Welcome back to the podcast,everybody.
I'm so glad to have you heretoday, and with me I have Denise
(00:22):
Duffield-Thomas.
Welcome to the podcast, Denise.
Thank you so much for coming on.
Denise Duffield Thomas (00:27):
Oh, my God, thank you for having me.
We are totally opposite sidesof the world, so early morning
for me, late night for you,thank, you so much for having me
.
We're making it happen, oh dear.
Donna Eade (00:38):
So the reason we're coming to talk today is because
you have written a fantasticbook called Chill and Prosper,
among among other books which Iknow my audience will be well
aware of and if you aren't awareof them, go to the show notes.
They're all in my bookshelf onso you can go and grab them.
But Chill and Prosper was onethat I listened to recently, and
(00:59):
when you said you were lookingto come and speak on some
podcasts about the book andabout what you do, I was just
like, oh yes, I need to have youon my show, so I'm so glad to
have you here.
Why don't you tell my listenersnot that I think any of them
don't know who you are a littlebit about who you are what it is
that you do?
Just on the off chance theydon't know who you are.
Denise Duffield Thomas (01:21):
Oh no, I love this because I never
assume that anyone has heard ofme at all, and I think sometimes
we get into these littlebubbles where we think you know,
we know the industry, we knowall the players in it, and when
I get together with otherentrepreneurs and we start to
share do you know this person,do you know this person?
We're always like no, neverheard of them.
And so, for those of you whodon't know me, I'm a money and
(01:43):
mindset mentor.
I help entrepreneurs deal withtheir gremlins and their fears
about charging, about makingmore money, and I do that
through my books and my podcastand my course Money Bootcamp.
So I live in Newcastle,australia, and it's about two
(02:04):
hours out of Sydney on the EastCoast, but my clients are all
over the world and that is thebeauty of having an online
business and I have three kidsand two dogs and yeah, that's me
basically.
Donna Eade (02:17):
I love that.
I love that.
And I have two cats, one ofthem who is trying to attack my
computer right now.
Denise Duffield Thomas (02:24):
Oh well, you have to show the cat now.
Donna Eade (02:26):
My listeners are very well aware of my cat
Twinkle, who is 19 next monthand likes to meow.
Can't hear a word, so she is asdeaf as a doorpost, but for
your eyes, there she is.
Oh, she's beautiful.
Denise Duffield Thomas (02:44):
Meow, meow, trying to be's beautiful,
trying to be good, trying to begood.
They've been asking yes,they've been asking for a cat
for two years and we can't keepon going.
Yes, when the house is finished, yes, when this has happened,
yes, where this has happened,and we're going to run out of
excuses soon well, they aredefinitely a law unto themselves
(03:05):
, that's for sure.
Donna Eade (03:06):
And, yeah, trying to keep her off the laptop is
hilarious, oh dear.
Anyway, one of the things thatI wanted to ask you and I think
a lot of my listeners will beinterested to hear your take on
this is we are hearing a lot inthe industry now.
A lot of big onlineentrepreneurs are saying you
(03:26):
don't need to hustle to makemoney.
You know, you can do it withouthustle, it's all good, we can
make it happen.
Yet all of the people that Ihear saying that they hustled to
get to where they are and it'skind of hard for us to kind of
see, well, how can we do itwithout the hustle?
If you're saying that itwithout the hustle?
(03:46):
If you're saying that you didthe hustle and we watched you
know the likes of AmyPorterfield we saw the hustle,
we watched it, we listened to it.
So what is your take on how,how the hustle doesn't have to
be part of the journey?
Denise Duffield Thomas (04:01):
Well, I love this question because
there's no doubt that you dohave to do some stuff to run
your business right.
We know it does not happen byaccident, and in my book, chill
and prosper, I call this thechustle and this is the chilled
hustle.
Now, that doesn't mean you donothing, and I often say to
(04:23):
people it's effort less, noteffort none.
So how can we effort less ingetting the result that we need?
And for me, that is beingreally clear about what you can
do and how you can help people.
It is doing things in anefficient way for you, which
(04:44):
we'll come back to in a bit.
It is designing your businessin line with your natural
personality and it is notreinventing the wheel all the
time, because when you do thosethings, yes, you'll still have
to work.
There's no free.
You know money on this, butit's not going to feel as hard,
(05:06):
it's not going to unknowinglysabotage yourself, and I'll give
you an example with this right.
So when I started my business,I did everything in the business
myself.
Of course you have to.
Then, as you start to make moremoney, you look at okay, what
are some things that only I cando versus something that I can
(05:27):
outsource out, okay, and so whenyou start to build your team,
you can build a team in a waythat creates more work for you
sometimes I'm sure you'veexperienced that or you can find
a way that works with yourpersonality and to do the things
that only you can do andoutsource the other things.
Setting up your business modelis really important too.
(05:47):
So if you're someone who hatesa lot of one-to-one but you've
set up your business that waybecause you feel like you have
to, that is going to feel hard.
You are going to have to hustle, you're going to have to do
things that are against yournatural ability.
Know thyself and prosper, Ithink, is the key to all of that
.
It's not doing nothing.
(06:07):
It's doing the right things orthe things that feel good to you
.
It's also being very, veryhonest about busy work and
procrastination, because there'soften things in a business it's
like this is not going to movethe needle, this is not going to
make you money, it's not goingto get you clients.
So you feel like you're working, but you're really not.
You feel like you're doing toomuch, but you're really not.
(06:30):
So it's finding that line.
That's why I call it thechustle, the chilled hustle and
it's easy to get out of balance.
I've definitely gotten out ofbalance and it's bringing it
back.
How much do you want to makeand what would feel good to make
that money?
Donna Eade (06:45):
yeah, I love that and I yeah, I remember you
saying that in the book thechustle and it just made me
think of, like the dancing, alittle bit of a cha-cha and a
little bit of the hustle do thechustle yeah, do the trestle.
So you wrote the book Chill andProsper.
(07:07):
I would love to know what thatlooks like to you in your
business now.
So what does chilling andprospering look like in Denise
Duffield Thomas's world?
Denise Duffield Thomas (07:19):
Yes, so I run my business on a very,
very simple framework.
Okay, and this is the same.
That's been since probably2009,.
Even before I had my currentbusiness.
It is every single day I'llshow up in some way.
So for me, that social media ishow we reach people now.
(07:40):
So every single day I show upon social media.
Now I get to that point, though.
I batch all of my social media.
Okay, so if you're doingeverything day by day, you're
going to always feel like you'rebehind.
You're always going to feellike you have work to do.
So recently, because I now knowmy audience so well, in pretty
much in March, I had all of mysocial media done for the year.
(08:02):
Wow, I can do that right.
I've had three days in thepodcast studio this year, which
is pretty much three quarters ofmy podcast done for the year.
So that's my other tenet.
So it's stay up, sorry.
Show up every day in some form,once a week, give something of
value.
So it used to be.
I used to write lots of longform blog posts.
(08:23):
That was easy for me for awhile.
Then, when I had kids, videowas a bit easier.
So I would, every Monday, getmy hair done, do five videos.
That would be, you know, forthe month.
Now it's a podcast, so whateverit is for you, it could be a
weekly value add for youraudience and then once a month,
once a quarter, I try and dosomething a little bit more
(08:44):
value add.
So it could be a webinar, itcould be an affiliate thing, it
could be a launch, and that'show I run my business Very, very
simple In terms of what I offer.
We have this philosophy in mybusiness all roads lead to money
bootcamp.
So that means, like anypodcasts, that we do any opt-ins
.
Eventually people will filterdown into joining Money Bootcamp
(09:06):
.
We don't chop and change thebusiness model all the time.
We don't offer a ton ofdifferent things and there's a
real discipline in thatsometimes of going.
This is what I'm good at andthis is how I can help you.
I think sometimes where peopleget into trouble is that they
try a lot of different businessmodels all at the same time.
So they might have a membership, they might have one-to-one,
(09:28):
they might have events, theymight have all these different
things, and some of those willbe easier for your personality
than others.
The way that Money Bootcamp hasalways been set up for me is
it's not a membership.
People pay once and they getlifetime access.
That works for my personality,because I don't like to be tied
in to a long-term commitment,even though I've done it for 12
(09:49):
years.
It's so funny, it's apsychological thing for me.
Donna Eade (09:54):
I could walk away at any point.
Denise Duffield Thomas (09:56):
Honestly , that is what works for my
personality, what I see peopledo, though they might be really
good at selling things and sothey go.
I'm going to do an 18 monthmastermind.
I'm going to do even a sixmonth mastermind.
Would be too much for somepeople.
Then they feel locked in.
A lot of one-to-one doesn't workfor my personality and so I've
always created my business modelthat works for me, but also the
(10:17):
stage of life that I'm in withyoung kids.
When my hubby came into thebusiness, he was like people are
dying for a mastermind.
When, when my hubby came intothe business, he was like people
are dying for a mastermind.
We get emails all the timeasking for a mastermind.
We could make so much moneyfrom a mastermind and I've said
it's not my, it's not my thing,it's not my business model, it's
not what works for me, evenwith interviews.
So on a Thursday morning for me,I do five interviews in a row.
(10:38):
I don't have to wear makeup forthe rest of the week.
Yeah, I don't have to talk toanyone for the rest of the week.
That's what works for me.
Now, my business model mightnot work for other people, and
where we get into trouble isthat we try and copy someone
else's business model, we feelguilty, we feel like we should,
or because people have asked usto do a particular thing.
(10:58):
So that's how I've run mybusiness, as I said, since 2009,
.
Like touch point every day,longer touch point every week,
monthly or quarterly launch orsomething to buy, and always
give the opportunity for someoneto buy from you, and so that
could be a book, it could be ane-course, and for me, all Roads
Lead to Money Bootcamp.
Donna Eade (11:19):
Yeah.
Denise Duffield Thomas (11:20):
I love that.
Donna Eade (11:21):
I love that and I love that focus because for me
that's one of the things that Ilove things to be quiet.
I'm an introvert, so thequieter things can be, the
better.
So if it's all roads lead toone thing, that's quiet in my
brain, whereas if I've got lotsof different things going on,
that's too much to keep hold ofand as a solopreneur I don't
(11:41):
have a team.
It would be an absolutenightmare for me to control that
.
Denise Duffield Thom (11:46):
Absolutely .
I'm an introvert as well, whicha lot of people don't
understand, but for me, I thinkthe most podcasts I've been on
in a year is 200.
I could not even do 20 speakinggigs in a year.
That would be too many for me.
Yeah, but being on podcasts noproblem, because it works for my
(12:07):
personality.
And some people listening tothis might think but isn't that
really creatively restrictive?
I like to do lots of differentthings and that's totally fine.
You can find a mechanism to dothat.
But for me, I had to get to apoint where me and my business
are separate energetic entities.
I am not an organized person,I'm not a consistent person, but
(12:29):
my business is and I don't needto be consistent.
I just need to set up thosemechanisms for my business.
When I create something, it'snone of my business.
When someone consumes it,they're going to get it when
they need it, not when I feellike it, because I'll never feel
like it ever, ever, ever.
Donna Eade (12:49):
I love that and I love your honesty.
So the next thing that I wantedto talk about was money.
Obviously, it would be sillynot to talk to you about money.
One of the things that hasreally bothered me over the
years and I actually did apodcast episode, I think it was
last year, it must have beenlast year talking about the 10K
(13:10):
months being a myth and talkingall around this.
And what we hear a lot of inthe space is oh, get your six
figure years or your six figuremonths or your six figure
launches.
And there's all of this talkabout making an awful lot of
money.
And you know that's great andI'm all for it, and if that's
(13:32):
your jam, go at it.
But there are a lot of peopleout there that are starting out
in business because they wantthe flexibility to be able to
work around their children andthey want to make enough money
to keep themselves going.
You know, the more comfortablethe better.
But they don't want to haveloads of employees, they don't
want to have the stress ofhaving this big business.
They didn't leave corporate tomake their own corporation.
(13:54):
They just want to run theirbusiness so they can be there
for their families and so theirnumbers?
They're not aiming for that.
And what I find is a lot ofpeople feel like, well then, I
shouldn't be listening to thesepeople because I'm not aiming
for that, or I'm lesser becauseI'm not aiming for that, or I'm
not ambitious enough because I'mnot aiming for that.
(14:15):
What would you say toentrepreneurs that are kind of
in that space where they want tomake their business successful
but they're not aiming for thesebig numbers and they're kind of
feeling a little bit in themiddle of it all?
Denise Duffield Thomas (14:28):
Oh, I love this question because in my
money bootcamp so we've got acommunity we've had 10,000
people go through the program.
When people first come in, Isay to them there is no
hierarchy here in how much moneyyou make, because what you'll
find is your money blocks arethe same throughout your journey
.
Whether you're making yourfirst bit of money or your first
(14:49):
passive income or you'recracking through some of those
income figures, what you'llrealize is those same money
blocks will follow you along theway.
So everyone in here we're equal, because we're all learning and
discovering those blocks anddealing with them all of the
time.
And an example of that is soI've made $30 million in my
(15:10):
business and my blocks are stillthe same as when I started.
Is well, people are going tothink I'm too big for my boots,
they're not going to like meanymore, and so we sometimes
think, oh, the money blocks willget different and bigger as we
go along.
And so once you realize thatand this is what my money mentor
(15:31):
told me as well she said,talking about money should be as
simple as saying can you pleasepass the salt.
No emotion, there's no judgment.
And when you can get to thatpoint, then you realize, well,
it doesn't matter if I want tomake this amount or this amount,
because, to be honest, themindset, work will probably be
the same, and so I can choose,and knowing too that the lesson
(15:54):
at every point of that is selflove and acceptance.
So if you're not happy now,you're not going to be happy
with more money.
If you feel content andabundant with whatever money you
have now, you're not going tobe happy with more money.
If you feel content andabundant with whatever money you
have now, then it doesn'tmatter how much more money,
you'll still feel that feeling.
Does that make sense?
Yeah, yeah, it does.
So I think it's a reallyinteresting line sometimes for
(16:16):
us as entrepreneurs, becausewe're always striving for more
and we have goals.
And how do you feelsimultaneously confident and
content and proud of yourself,but also still want more?
And that is, that is the lesson, right.
And so, uh, if we can work onour self-love, our
(16:37):
self-compassion, and be curiousabout what's coming up for us,
then the actual amount does notmatter, you know, and so I help
people create a first-class life.
That doesn't mean everything isthe same version of first-class
for everyone.
You know, I have stayed in veryfancy places.
(16:59):
I've stayed in very plainplaces.
It's like whatever you know,and I want you to feel
comfortable in every scenario,in every situation, at every
income level for you, and I'vealso.
When I started making money, Idid upgrade some things in my
life, thinking that's what richpeople would have, and then just
(17:20):
going that's not what I like.
It's okay for me to like what Ilike I mean, I eat at
McDonald's all the time but Ithink it's okay.
And so if you can stop theself-judgment or the worry that
people are going to judge youfor your goals and just accept
okay, so I want to make thisamount of money, or this is what
I want to create in my life.
Next, what do I have to do todo that?
(17:40):
And so for some people, it'sliterally doing the math of
going okay, I need to get Xamount of clients per week to
live that life that I want tolive.
I you know.
Or I need to sell X amount ofmy course to do that.
That's bloody, that's joy andfreedom, isn't it?
Donna Eade (17:58):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
I love that.
Yeah, I think to me, it's allabout what your rich life is,
you know, I really believe thatwe have to look at what it is
that we want out of our lives inthe end and work backwards from
there, rather than justplucking out a figure or going
with what you know.
(18:19):
You've seen all these advertson Instagram saying I can get
you to 10K months and whatnot.
Well, what does 10K mean to you?
Is that what you need?
Or you know?
It could be more, it could beless, but it's got to be what
gets you the life that you want,not the life that you're
aspiring to be, because youthink, like you said, that's
what rich people do, so that'swhat.
Denise Duffield Thomas (18:40):
I need to do.
Tim Ferriss talks about this alot.
He calls it dreamlining andhe's got a really great
spreadsheet for this and it'sfree.
People just Google Tim Ferrissdreamlining.
It's an Excel and you can put inthings like you know, big
(19:00):
dreams or things like okay, Iwant to be able to be able to
take my kids to school, to andfrom every day, things like that
.
You put all the stuff in thereand the key is to find out how
much that costs for you, andthen it breaks it down into a
daily and a weekly and monthlyfigure, and so it might your
dream might not cost as much asyou think yeah, you know.
Or it might cost more, and thenthat's okay, cool.
(19:21):
Then there's a.
There's what do I need to dowith my business?
You did say something a littlewhile ago too, about a lot of
people don't want to replicatetheir corporate job into their,
into their business life, and Ithink it is a little bit of a
rite of passage.
I think that you go through alittle bit, because I did leave
the corporate world and then Iended up working like 5 am to
like 9 pm every day, seven days,a right Totally cool.
(19:43):
But I also want to reassurepeople too, that even if you do
want to build a big business, itdoesn't have to look the same
way as everyone else.
I got to a million dollars withjust me and a part-time
assistant, and I think I had ababy towards the end of that as
well.
And then even now so the peakof our business we're doing 5
million a year.
It's less at the moment becausewe've had some sabbatical.
(20:05):
We had still no full-timeemployees.
It was myself and my husbandNeither of us have ever worked
full-time in the business Anassistant working 30 hours a
week who does most of our techand admin, and then a couple of
contractors.
So we have a community managerand then we bring people on as
(20:27):
we need to.
So the most people we've everhad working for us is maybe five
people, none of them full-time.
I hate managing people as well,so that has been part of my
first class life is building ateam that's as lean as possible,
where nobody talks to me everand I seem to attract people.
It's funny because I had afriend who's like we go on all
(20:49):
these team retreats and I'm sobonded to my team, and so I sent
out a message to my team.
I was like do you guys want todo a retreat together?
And everyone else is anintrovert.
Everyone was like no.
And I'm like thank God.
So a lot of my team I've neverspoken to, they don't need that
relationship from me.
And that is my dream.
No one talked to me ever.
Donna Eade (21:12):
I bet.
But honestly, thank you so muchfor sharing that because I
think that is going to be abreath of fresh air to people to
see what can be done with solittle.
You know, I've I've followedAmy Porterfield since.
I always tell people that I waslistening to her when her
podcast was on.
Episode like 43 or somethingwas the first one I get,
whichever the first episode shedid with Jasmine Starr, because
(21:33):
that's how I found her and thatwas right at the beginning of
the journey.
And I've followed her thiswhole time and watched her build
this business where she's gotnow sort of 20 something
employees of her business andI'm just like I don't want that.
I don't want that with a bargepole, like I don't need to make
that much money, I don't needall those people to look after,
(21:55):
like I don't need the pressureof their families depending on
my bit.
No, oh, it just gives me theheebie-jeebies, doesn't?
Denise Duffield Thomas (22:02):
doesn't work for you, right, and she's
made what?
150 million dollars and I Ithink, well, that's cool, like
that's what she wants to do.
And I, I love amy, I love herapproach, I think she's
wonderful, and it's not for meeither and that's okay.
And I actually um said to marklast night so we sold our big
beach house two years ago thatwe spent so long working, you
(22:26):
know, building our business, tobuy this beach house, and then
we were like we don't likeliving by the beach and so we
moved to the Burbs and it's likewe've paid off our house.
And I said to Mark we couldhave done this, like five years
ago.
We didn't need to go in thatbig journey, but I always would
have wondered what that wouldhave been like to then go.
Ah, it's not for me.
(22:48):
And I think people have toreally honor as well their
personalities, their energy.
Some people have chronicillnesses, some people have, you
know, maybe you can't work whenyou have your period.
You know some people havemassive period pain every month.
That means that they can't dothat.
Some of us have caringresponsibilities with family,
(23:09):
with parents, with children.
There'll be different times inyour life, like for me,
perimenopause was a massive gamechanger for me, where I
couldn't work like I used to andI had to make changes, and so
if you can build your businessthat is always in alignment with
what you need, that's the onlysustainable way to do it.
(23:30):
There'll be times where youwill hustle a little bit more,
and that's okay too.
Sometimes you've got to do that, but that's not sustainable to
live in that energy all the timefor most of us.
Donna Eade (23:40):
Yeah, yeah, I completely agree, fabulous for
most of us.
Yeah, yeah, I completely agree,fabulous.
So you mentioned earlier aboutpassive income.
I wondered if you can talk alittle bit more about some
simple ways that we can leveragepassive income to help us so
that we don't get to that sortof burnout stage in our business
.
I think a lot of people seepassive income as an answer to
(24:02):
this thing and I think it can bea little bit harder than people
think it is, and I know you'vegot some passive income areas in
your business, so talk to usabout passive income to help us
achieve our goals.
Denise Duffield Thom (24:14):
Absolutely so.
I think the biggest problem Isee with people is 100% a
mindset issue around passiveincome.
So we know it's income that youmake, well, you know you're not
actively working for it, and Ithink sometimes people get
caught up in that definition ofit because then they go well, it
looks like you're marketing,you know, or you have to do
(24:35):
marketing for your passiveincome.
So does that not count?
Right, and it's like, oh, chillout.
But so there's a couple of,they're the accumulators,
they're always just like but how?
But is that really passive?
And you go dude, that's allright.
But honestly, I think the guiltis the thing that kills people
around passive income and it'ssomething that not everyone
talks about, because you mightsay that you want to do it, but
(24:59):
yet there's a part of your mindthat feels like I don't deserve
it.
It kind of breaks your brain alittle bit and I'll tell you why
.
I think so many of us grew upwith this notion of what work is
.
You go to work, you get paidper hour, per widget, per sale,
(25:19):
and so suddenly passive incomebreaks that equation and it
feels like nonsense, right.
It just feels like that doesnot make sense and it really
became clear to me when Icreated an ebook in the first
version of my book Lucky Bitch.
(25:41):
I released that in 2011.
And every time someone boughtfrom me, I felt sick and it was
so weird because I thought thisis what I wanted, right, and I
had to get over all my mindsetgremlins of everyone's gonna
hate this and whatever, whatever, whatever.
And then it was ten dollars andevery time someone bought it I
(26:01):
felt like I had to call them upand read it to them over the
phone to earn that $10.
Because it was like where's myeffort in this?
It broke the equation.
Does that make sense?
Donna Eade (26:14):
Yeah, absolutely it does.
Denise Duffield Thomas (26:16):
Yes.
And so it wasn't enough that Ithought but I wrote this and
people are getting value out ofit.
So there is an energy exchangethere.
But it was like but how dare Ikeep on getting paid for this
thing that I've already done?
Like it doesn't make sense tome.
And so I had to get over thatthing that it's safe for me to
profit from my skills andtalents even if I'm not
(26:38):
physically there.
And what happens at that pointis some people start to sabotage
it, and I've seen it again andagain.
So people will then like breakthe links, like they'll hide
their stuff from people, theywon't talk about it, they won't
market it, they'll like publishsomething and then unpublish it.
(27:00):
You know, because they'retrying to get back to what are
the laws of gravity here?
Does that make sense?
What are the laws of gravity?
Where am I allowed to makemoney from this?
And so that's why you have tostart.
You have to start early, startsmall.
So after that $10 ebook thingand I got over that I created a
(27:22):
mini course and it was $50.
And I felt like you know what?
This is a good energy exchangeI'm giving, and people are
saying that you know it'shelping them.
So I was like, okay, cool, andthat's then.
I could kind of build on tothat.
And I still sometimes struggle alittle bit.
And I noticed this in my teamas well.
My husband, who is my marketingmanager.
(27:44):
He has stuff around passiveincome and that can filter into
our business, because then he'llbe like, well, let's do a live
launch for this.
And I go why?
It's like we've already got itthere and I see his, I see his
money blocks coming in from it,because both he and I grew up in
this mentality you have to workhard to make money.
(28:04):
And he's from Manchester orNantwich and he, like me, saw
our mums, single mums go to work, do a thing and get money for
it, and so we have to work on itall the time as a team to make
sure that their stuff isn'tsabotaging this right.
Because I know, especially with,say, for example, my Sacred
(28:28):
Money Archetypes, e-course, thatit would help people where
they're at right now.
My participation does not needto be micromanaging that
person's relationship with thatwork and actually I'll sabotage
that if I do that.
You know, if I start to say,well, you know it's not
authentic.
If I'm not doing it one-to-one.
(28:49):
I don't care about people.
When I get over that, I start toattract people who are very
self-reliant, who just want theinformation, and they'll be like
oh thanks, denise, I, you know,bought your e-course and I just
did the things that you weretelling me to do and I go oh, of
course you did.
If you feel bad about it.
(29:09):
That's when you start toattract people who are like but
it doesn't count, unless you'redoing it.
They're just reflecting yourfears back to you that it
doesn't count, it's not real,it's cheating.
Somehow it's been unethical,instead of just realizing no, I
created a thing that solves aproblem for somebody and I'm
going to give them access tothat thing.
(29:31):
And I also think it comes downto money personalities and, as I
said, the accumulators is oneof the money personalities who
really overthinks passive income.
They get in a real tizz aboutit because they are often the
people who are DIYers, and sothey think why would someone buy
(29:51):
information that they couldprobably figure out?
Because they don't understandthat some people they value
their time more than money, theyvalue taking shortcuts, they
value just buying a solutionthat they don't have to figure
out themselves, and so it's notabout us and how we feel about
it.
It's who needs this solutionand who needs it now.
(30:11):
I am a ruler money archetype.
I hate waiting for someone'slaunch to open.
Just give me the information.
I don't need your personal help.
Actually, that's annoying to me.
Just give me the information,don't talk to me about it, I'll
you know, I'll take it and I'llfigure it out.
And or some people they get anidea in their head.
They just want to take actionstraight away.
(30:31):
Give them that opportunity todo that.
And that's why, even with mymoney boot camp, we do launches
for sure, because there are somepeople who want to go through
it, even if it's like anarbitrary kind of thing.
Some people who want to gothrough it, even if it's like an
arbitrary kind of thing, theywant to know that there's a
start and a close date.
Some people do not need thathandholding, or they don't need
the community, or they don'tneed the extra accountability
(30:53):
and they want it now.
So that's why my course hasalways been both evergreen and
launches, because I know thatthere are people like me who
just go yeah, I want it now,I'll give it to you here's the
link that there are people likeme who just go yeah, I want it
now, I'll give it to you.
Donna Eade (31:07):
Here's the link buy it, yeah.
Yeah, it always makes me.
That's one of my blocks, Ithink, is the having something
that is a launch only thing islike but what if somebody wants
it right now and then they don'twant to wait for me to launch
it in three months time, andthen they go somewhere else and
find it.
Denise Duffield Thomas (31:21):
That's always absolutely, and some
people are that instantgratification people or they're
action takers and they want itnow and you don't have to go
through all the rigmarole of it.
Not every course and thingworks like that.
That's totally fine, you can do.
You know, I have a live versionof Sacred Money Archetypes.
That's just once a year and youcan buy the e-course and
(31:43):
they're different.
They're differently priced.
Yeah, you know they don't haveto be, but they are in that
situation.
So it's.
It's totally up to you how todo it.
But it's like what?
What are people asking you forall the time?
What you know, the things thatif you had all the time in the
world you would create.
You know it's there's so manydifferent ways to look at it.
I actually say to people what'sthe easiest, quickest thing for
(32:06):
you to create right now?
Because it's almost like youneed proof of concept sometimes
of oh, people will buy from meand no, it's not the same as me
doing it with them, but it mightbe a good lead, like lead into
working with me, or it might bea good you taster of my work.
And I think there's a couple oflittle nuances in that of not
(32:26):
overloading those things youknow, not necessarily giving
everything.
It is a solution and that's,that's okay, it's okay, yeah, I
love that.
Donna Eade (32:38):
So you have, over the years, talked about how you
have simplified your business.
What I would love to know iswhat is the one thing that you
let go of that has made thebiggest impact for you?
Denise Duffield Thomas (32:54):
Oh, let go of.
Well, I think that idea thateverything has to be in real
time and that my energy has tomatch the businesses, I think
that's really key and that'sthat's then giving me permission
to batch all of my content to,you know, to create those
passive income things, because Iknow that the work has its own
(33:19):
energy, and so I think that'sgiving up being responsible for
everyone.
That makes sense, yeah, and thathas filtered into so many
things in my business.
So it took me years to get acommunity manager for my group.
I did everything in theremyself because I am responsible.
I was very reluctant to setrules in that group because I
(33:39):
thought, no, I just wanteveryone to do what they want to
talk about what they want totalk about.
And even, like I rememberpeople would tag me in things
all the time and I would answerthem instead of just saying it's
in the course.
So, giving up that thing of Ihave to be available 24 seven
(34:01):
for everyone else and I'mresponsible for everyone else,
that has changed everything inmy business and it's a lesson
that I still have to learn allthe time.
Donna Eade (34:08):
Brilliant.
I love that.
That's awesome.
When we started talking, I toldyou that my podcast has these
four main pillars and that Iwould ask you questions about
that, so we're going to moveinto that.
So a bit more quick fire.
Denise Duffield Thomas (34:21):
I'm terrible at quick rounds, by the
way, because I'm like here arefive different tangents that I
want to take you on and let's goback to 1993.
Yeah, sorry, I'll try my best,we shall see, we shall see.
Donna Eade (34:32):
So your number one planning tip.
Denise Duffield Thomas (34:36):
I'm terrible at planning.
I have the same plan for 13years and it is show up on
social media every day, do along form thing.
Once a week, do a thing.
That's literally all myplanning.
Simple, but actually no.
There is something that I'vereally burnt myself on the last
couple of years is literally goto your calendar, block out all
the school holidays so peoplecan't book in meetings with you.
(34:59):
I make this mistake all thetime and I end up doing launches
or doing stuff when I have nochildcare and I'm like, why did
this happen again?
So I live by my Google calendarand I really, yeah, and I
actually just said to Mark too,when I have my bootcamp call
days, go and block it out so noone can book in a podcast with
me, you know, and it's reallylooking ahead and just going.
(35:19):
It's more.
Blocking out, I think, is mysaying no to stuff is probably
my planning tip rather than whatI'm putting in, because I used
to always just put way too muchstuff in Love that.
Donna Eade (35:30):
So your productivity tip.
So what is the one thing thathelps you to stay on task?
And I know you've talked aboutADHD as well, so staying on task
is probably quite difficult.
So what's?
What's one of the tips that youuse to keep you on task?
Denise Duffield Thomas (35:46):
So again , I'm a massive procrastinator,
so for me I do need to block outthose times to batch.
So for my podcast, I needexternal accountability.
I book a podcast studio fromnine till five and I sit there
and I do 12 podcasts.
I could not do that at home,and so I think accountability is
(36:07):
always so important.
So if you want to write a bookthis year, you have to do what I
did and say my book is out onthis date.
Here's the wait list.
Or take pre-orders.
Same with my first course Isold it before I finished it.
With anything else, if you go oh, I really want to do a course
book, a videographer, what am Igoing to talk about?
(36:33):
You'll figure it out becausethat's blocked and so public
accountability and movabledeadlines.
Because I know for me at schoolI'd always do the assignment,
no matter what.
I'd manipulate time and spaceto do it.
Then you get smarter about okay, don't do everything the night
before, but it's um, it won'tget done otherwise for me anyway
, if I don't have that bigpublic accountability, because
I'll let myself down, but I willnot let someone else down.
Donna Eade (36:52):
Yeah, yeah, I'm the same your number one audience
building tips.
How do you grow your audience?
Denise Duffield Thomas (36:59):
It's pure consistency.
So, as I said, for those 13years, show up up every day, do
that weekly thing.
And the reason why you need theconsistency is because you
cannot get too hung up on anyone thing.
There are things I've put out Ithought, oh, people are gonna
love this, no crickets.
Then the thing I was like shit,what am I going to talk about
this week?
(37:19):
But I've made that commitment,I'm doing that thing.
That's the one that people love.
So I've never had anything goviral.
It is literally showing upevery single day.
But again, that's not me doingit every day.
My business has the consistency.
I don't.
That's.
My only audience building tipis literally just show up, show
(37:40):
up, show up.
Yeah, consistency, that's it.
Donna Eade (37:42):
Love that, love that it is boring, but it's so true.
So true.
And then the biggest mindsetshift that you've had to make in
your business why?
Denise Duffield Thomas (37:54):
not me, because it's so easy to look at
someone else and think, well,they're successful because of
blah, blah, blah, they'resuccessful because of blah, blah
, blah.
And I was actually thinkingabout this in the shower.
I was like, if you think aboutyourself as like a meat puppet
that you have control over, andit's like I can just make this
person do the thing Like this isso cool.
(38:14):
And what happens is that peoplebelieve you, you know, and so
it's not saying you know thatfake it till you make it thing,
necessarily.
But it's like you realize thatwhen you take action, no one's
like going oh how dare they dothat?
You know.
They just start to go oh, ofcourse she's got a podcast, oh,
of course she's got a book.
(38:35):
And that's the weirdest thingI've noticed is that for years,
when I was like so had selfimposter syndrome about being a
writer, I put author in my emailbio and people would go, oh,
you're an author, I'd go, Iguess I am, because you said it.
Yes, that's right.
(38:55):
And then even you know, afterwriting several books, I would
still be like, am I?
But people believe that I'm anauthor, so cool, yeah, I guess
I'm an author, you know.
And so it's that question ofwhy not me?
Like, what am I waiting for?
Am I waiting for someone togive me permission to do this?
No one is going to, why not me?
And then you just do it, loveit.
Donna Eade (39:13):
Love that, love that .
Okay, so the book that has madethe biggest impact on your life
so far.
Denise Duffield Thomas (39:21):
Oh God, that's so hard.
I think the first personaldevelopment book I ever read was
the Magic of Believing byClaude M Bristol.
I read it when I was, I think,14.
I was in a secondhand storebecause I'd always forget my
keys and I'd be locked out of myhouse at home.
So I used to go to thisbookstore and read books and it
(39:43):
was just like oh, my God, my god, you can change your, you can
control what you think, and thatcan change your outcome in your
real life.
So any book like that I thinkthat has yeah, it just has
helped me realize oh, wow, youcan, you can change your
thoughts.
So that's the first one thatcomes to mind.
But of course, over the years,you know, think and grow rich
(40:04):
was obviously a really big onefor me in my early 20s.
The four-hour work week was agame changer for me in my early
20s too.
You can heal your life fromLouise Hay is still such a great
message of self-love andacceptance.
Um, yeah, I mean, I love booksas you can, yeah, you can see.
But um, yeah, I just yeah.
(40:25):
Or any book that is like, whynot, you love yourself and it'll
all be okay is always a goodbook.
Donna Eade (40:33):
Love that, yeah, your.
What is your go-to snack whenyou're in a hurry?
Denise Duffield Thomas (40:38):
oh my god, this is really embarrassing
because, again, adhd, I don't.
I really don't care about foodat all.
Um, I'll just eat whatever's infront of me.
So no, it's really bad.
But sometimes we go to Costcoand we get those like big boxes
of things and they're like thosesesame bars.
You know those ones, they'relike four little sesame things.
(40:59):
But my thing is celery.
I love celery.
So sometimes at night Markcalls it like I get the hangries
at night because my ADHD medsare born off and so I'll be like
night chips.
But now it's night celery.
I love that.
Donna Eade (41:14):
And on my way.
That's good for you.
That's better than eating theDoritos right.
Denise Duffield Thomas (41:20):
Yes, but I'm a real snacker kind of
person.
I love that idea of girl dinnerbecause that's just how I would
live my life, and so I actuallyeat a lot in my car, which is
bad as well, but I'll be rushingto ballet and I'll be.
You know, imagine sitting thereat the lights and you turn
around, this person just gnawingon some celery in a car or an
unpeeled carrot, my car carrot.
So I love all food.
(41:41):
I eat junk food, I eat healthyfood, I it's literally
whatever's in front of me.
I do zero cooking.
Mark does all the cooking and Ijust don't.
I don't care about food at all.
So, that can be a good and badthing.
You know cause I'll eat.
I'll eat junk if it's there andI'll eat healthy stuff if it's
there.
But I love, I love celery.
Donna Eade (41:58):
So yeah, yeah, stick with it, stick with it.
What is your favorite me timething to do?
Denise Duffield Thomas (42:06):
oh yes.
So, um, growing up, I lovedgoing to dancing.
That was my absolute, yeah, joy, and for years I couldn't do it
as an adult, and so recently Ifound an adult ballet studio and
so I do eight classes a weeknow and, yeah, I love it because
(42:26):
I've never craved going to thegym, I've never craved going to
yoga.
I always felt better afterwards.
But for me, going to ballet andI literally, you know I'll I'll
put my hair up in a bun, I'llput my ribbons in, like it's a
real ritual for me.
We don't have to have a streetuniform.
I wear my ballet tights, youknow.
I have my matching littleoutfits and it's pure joy.
(42:47):
I come out so happy, I'mexhausted, my body hurts, but
it's like that's that feelsreally good and I love doing bad
craft.
So I I'm working at the momenton this hideous cross-stitch
that is like this big it's takenlike I've literally worked like
400 hours on this hideous crossstitch that's so ugly and I
just have to finish it now.
(43:08):
I also make really bad artsometimes.
Actually, that that one's nottoo bad.
There's an art piece there thatI like, um, and I just I like
being creative and I thinkthat's the thing I lost a little
bit when I got super into workis that I felt like all of my
creativity had to come from mybusiness, because I'm I
entrepreneur, right.
And so now I realize, yes, mybusiness probably makes less
(43:28):
money because I'm not superambitious and focused in it, but
I'm kind of living that lifethat 11-year-old me would have
loved to do, because she lovedbeing creative and making art
and craft and doing it.
It's not my job, it's not mybusiness to do it, just to make
something.
And yeah, and my the cool thingis, yeah, absolutely my cool
(43:49):
thing is the dance school that Igo to, the adult studio.
Um, this year we're doing a lotof competitions and a
steadfords and little showsplaces and I love doing that.
Like we're not right, like youknow, we're not the best, but
it's nice to be like a learnerin something.
Yeah, and do it for pure joy.
Donna Eade (44:10):
Yeah yeah, well, I'm with you there.
I am a salsa dancer and I usedto teach before the pandemic, so
I love dancing too.
Never got to do ballet, I wasnever allowed to, but, um yeah,
dance has always been a favoriteof mine.
Thank you so much for all ofthat.
I absolutely love thatconversation.
Tell people where they can findout more about your money boot
(44:31):
camp and find out more about you.
Denise Duffield Thom (44:34):
Absolutely so.
If anyone's in front of theirphone or computer, go to
Instagram.
My handle is Denise DT, so thatis always a really great place
to know about.
You know, when we're doing anext intake of one of my courses
and my books and all that kindof stuff and my website's the
same denisedtcom.
I've got a ton of freeresources on there too, if
anyone needs it.
(44:54):
And then, obviously, the linkto my money bootcamp.
If you need some, if you knowthat you're ready, you just need
to jump into a community and,you know, deal with your money
stuff.
It's there for you.
And then my books are availableon Audible.
You know, kindle, all thethings, amazon Book Depository,
all the places my books areavailable.
Donna Eade (45:15):
So that's always a good place to start books if
you're not on social media,otherwise, follow me on social
media.
I love that.
I will have all those links inthe show notes for you guys.
And, like I said, my bookshelfis there Chill and Prosper is on
it because I've read it.
I always put all my books onthere, um, so that you can go
and see what I'm reading,because we are lovers of reading
over here on this podcast aswell.
So, um, go and check all ofthose out.
(45:36):
Thank you again, denise, forcoming on the show.
Really appreciate it and we'llsee you in the next one.
Bye for now, you.
You're listening to the Mindset in Action podcast,
the place to be to grow andstreamline your business.
I'm your host, Donna Eade.
Let's jump into the show.
Welcome back to the podcast,everybody.
I'm so glad to have you heretoday, and with me I have Denise
(00:22):
Duffield-Thomas.
Welcome to the podcast, Denise.
Thank you so much for coming on.
Denise Duffield Thomas (00:27):
Oh, my God, thank you for having me.
We are totally opposite sidesof the world, so early morning
for me, late night for you,thank, you so much for having me
.
We're making it happen, oh dear.
Donna Eade (00:38):
So the reason we're coming to talk today is because
you have written a fantasticbook called Chill and Prosper,
among among other books which Iknow my audience will be well
aware of and if you aren't awareof them, go to the show notes.
They're all in my bookshelf onso you can go and grab them.
But Chill and Prosper was onethat I listened to recently, and
(00:59):
when you said you were lookingto come and speak on some
podcasts about the book andabout what you do, I was just
like, oh yes, I need to have youon my show, so I'm so glad to
have you here.
Why don't you tell my listenersnot that I think any of them
don't know who you are a littlebit about who you are what it is
that you do?
Just on the off chance theydon't know who you are.
Denise Duffield Thomas (01:21):
Oh no, I love this because I never
assume that anyone has heard ofme at all, and I think sometimes
we get into these littlebubbles where we think you know,
we know the industry, we knowall the players in it, and when
I get together with otherentrepreneurs and we start to
share do you know this person,do you know this person?
We're always like no, neverheard of them.
And so, for those of you whodon't know me, I'm a money and
(01:43):
mindset mentor.
I help entrepreneurs deal withtheir gremlins and their fears
about charging, about makingmore money, and I do that
through my books and my podcastand my course Money Bootcamp.
So I live in Newcastle,australia, and it's about two
(02:04):
hours out of Sydney on the EastCoast, but my clients are all
over the world and that is thebeauty of having an online
business and I have three kidsand two dogs and yeah, that's me
basically.
Donna Eade (02:17):
I love that.
I love that.
And I have two cats, one ofthem who is trying to attack my
computer right now.
Denise Duffield Thomas (02:24):
Oh well, you have to show the cat now.
Donna Eade (02:26):
My listeners are very well aware of my cat
Twinkle, who is 19 next monthand likes to meow.
Can't hear a word, so she is asdeaf as a doorpost, but for
your eyes, there she is.
Oh, she's beautiful.
Denise Duffield Thomas (02:44):
Meow, meow, trying to be's beautiful,
trying to be good, trying to begood.
They've been asking yes,they've been asking for a cat
for two years and we can't keepon going.
Yes, when the house is finished, yes, when this has happened,
yes, where this has happened,and we're going to run out of
excuses soon well, they aredefinitely a law unto themselves
(03:05):
, that's for sure.
Donna Eade (03:06):
And, yeah, trying to keep her off the laptop is
hilarious, oh dear.
Anyway, one of the things thatI wanted to ask you and I think
a lot of my listeners will beinterested to hear your take on
this is we are hearing a lot inthe industry now.
A lot of big onlineentrepreneurs are saying you
(03:26):
don't need to hustle to makemoney.
You know, you can do it withouthustle, it's all good, we can
make it happen.
Yet all of the people that Ihear saying that they hustled to
get to where they are and it'skind of hard for us to kind of
see, well, how can we do itwithout the hustle?
If you're saying that itwithout the hustle?
(03:46):
If you're saying that you didthe hustle and we watched you
know the likes of AmyPorterfield we saw the hustle,
we watched it, we listened to it.
So what is your take on how,how the hustle doesn't have to
be part of the journey?
Denise Duffield Thomas (04:01):
Well, I love this question because
there's no doubt that you dohave to do some stuff to run
your business right.
We know it does not happen byaccident, and in my book, chill
and prosper, I call this thechustle and this is the chilled
hustle.
Now, that doesn't mean you donothing, and I often say to
(04:23):
people it's effort less, noteffort none.
So how can we effort less ingetting the result that we need?
And for me, that is beingreally clear about what you can
do and how you can help people.
It is doing things in anefficient way for you, which
(04:44):
we'll come back to in a bit.
It is designing your businessin line with your natural
personality and it is notreinventing the wheel all the
time, because when you do thosethings, yes, you'll still have
to work.
There's no free.
You know money on this, butit's not going to feel as hard,
(05:06):
it's not going to unknowinglysabotage yourself, and I'll give
you an example with this right.
So when I started my business,I did everything in the business
myself.
Of course you have to.
Then, as you start to make moremoney, you look at okay, what
are some things that only I cando versus something that I can
(05:27):
outsource out, okay, and so whenyou start to build your team,
you can build a team in a waythat creates more work for you
sometimes I'm sure you'veexperienced that or you can find
a way that works with yourpersonality and to do the things
that only you can do andoutsource the other things.
Setting up your business modelis really important too.
(05:47):
So if you're someone who hatesa lot of one-to-one but you've
set up your business that waybecause you feel like you have
to, that is going to feel hard.
You are going to have to hustle, you're going to have to do
things that are against yournatural ability.
Know thyself and prosper, Ithink, is the key to all of that
.
It's not doing nothing.
(06:07):
It's doing the right things orthe things that feel good to you
.
It's also being very, veryhonest about busy work and
procrastination, because there'soften things in a business it's
like this is not going to movethe needle, this is not going to
make you money, it's not goingto get you clients.
So you feel like you're working, but you're really not.
You feel like you're doing toomuch, but you're really not.
(06:30):
So it's finding that line.
That's why I call it thechustle, the chilled hustle and
it's easy to get out of balance.
I've definitely gotten out ofbalance and it's bringing it
back.
How much do you want to makeand what would feel good to make
that money?
Donna Eade (06:45):
yeah, I love that and I yeah, I remember you
saying that in the book thechustle and it just made me
think of, like the dancing, alittle bit of a cha-cha and a
little bit of the hustle do thechustle yeah, do the trestle.
So you wrote the book Chill andProsper.
(07:07):
I would love to know what thatlooks like to you in your
business now.
So what does chilling andprospering look like in Denise
Duffield Thomas's world?
Denise Duffield Thomas (07:19):
Yes, so I run my business on a very,
very simple framework.
Okay, and this is the same.
That's been since probably2009,.
Even before I had my currentbusiness.
It is every single day I'llshow up in some way.
So for me, that social media ishow we reach people now.
(07:40):
So every single day I show upon social media.
Now I get to that point, though.
I batch all of my social media.
Okay, so if you're doingeverything day by day, you're
going to always feel like you'rebehind.
You're always going to feellike you have work to do.
So recently, because I now knowmy audience so well, in pretty
much in March, I had all of mysocial media done for the year.
(08:02):
Wow, I can do that right.
I've had three days in thepodcast studio this year, which
is pretty much three quarters ofmy podcast done for the year.
So that's my other tenet.
So it's stay up, sorry.
Show up every day in some form,once a week, give something of
value.
So it used to be.
I used to write lots of longform blog posts.
(08:23):
That was easy for me for awhile.
Then, when I had kids, videowas a bit easier.
So I would, every Monday, getmy hair done, do five videos.
That would be, you know, forthe month.
Now it's a podcast, so whateverit is for you, it could be a
weekly value add for youraudience and then once a month,
once a quarter, I try and dosomething a little bit more
(08:44):
value add.
So it could be a webinar, itcould be an affiliate thing, it
could be a launch, and that'show I run my business Very, very
simple In terms of what I offer.
We have this philosophy in mybusiness all roads lead to money
bootcamp.
So that means, like anypodcasts, that we do any opt-ins
.
Eventually people will filterdown into joining Money Bootcamp
(09:06):
.
We don't chop and change thebusiness model all the time.
We don't offer a ton ofdifferent things and there's a
real discipline in thatsometimes of going.
This is what I'm good at andthis is how I can help you.
I think sometimes where peopleget into trouble is that they
try a lot of different businessmodels all at the same time.
So they might have a membership, they might have one-to-one,
(09:28):
they might have events, theymight have all these different
things, and some of those willbe easier for your personality
than others.
The way that Money Bootcamp hasalways been set up for me is
it's not a membership.
People pay once and they getlifetime access.
That works for my personality,because I don't like to be tied
in to a long-term commitment,even though I've done it for 12
(09:49):
years.
It's so funny, it's apsychological thing for me.
Donna Eade (09:54):
I could walk away at any point.
Denise Duffield Thomas (09:56):
Honestly , that is what works for my
personality, what I see peopledo, though they might be really
good at selling things and sothey go.
I'm going to do an 18 monthmastermind.
I'm going to do even a sixmonth mastermind.
Would be too much for somepeople.
Then they feel locked in.
A lot of one-to-one doesn't workfor my personality and so I've
always created my business modelthat works for me, but also the
(10:17):
stage of life that I'm in withyoung kids.
When my hubby came into thebusiness, he was like people are
dying for a mastermind.
When, when my hubby came intothe business, he was like people
are dying for a mastermind.
We get emails all the timeasking for a mastermind.
We could make so much moneyfrom a mastermind and I've said
it's not my, it's not my thing,it's not my business model, it's
not what works for me, evenwith interviews.
So on a Thursday morning for me,I do five interviews in a row.
(10:38):
I don't have to wear makeup forthe rest of the week.
Yeah, I don't have to talk toanyone for the rest of the week.
That's what works for me.
Now, my business model mightnot work for other people, and
where we get into trouble isthat we try and copy someone
else's business model, we feelguilty, we feel like we should,
or because people have asked usto do a particular thing.
(10:58):
So that's how I've run mybusiness, as I said, since 2009,
.
Like touch point every day,longer touch point every week,
monthly or quarterly launch orsomething to buy, and always
give the opportunity for someoneto buy from you, and so that
could be a book, it could be ane-course, and for me, all Roads
Lead to Money Bootcamp.
Donna Eade (11:19):
Yeah.
Denise Duffield Thomas (11:20):
I love that.
Donna Eade (11:21):
I love that and I love that focus because for me
that's one of the things that Ilove things to be quiet.
I'm an introvert, so thequieter things can be, the
better.
So if it's all roads lead toone thing, that's quiet in my
brain, whereas if I've got lotsof different things going on,
that's too much to keep hold ofand as a solopreneur I don't
(11:41):
have a team.
It would be an absolutenightmare for me to control that
.
Denise Duffield Thom (11:46):
Absolutely .
I'm an introvert as well, whicha lot of people don't
understand, but for me, I thinkthe most podcasts I've been on
in a year is 200.
I could not even do 20 speakinggigs in a year.
That would be too many for me.
Yeah, but being on podcasts noproblem, because it works for my
(12:07):
personality.
And some people listening tothis might think but isn't that
really creatively restrictive?
I like to do lots of differentthings and that's totally fine.
You can find a mechanism to dothat.
But for me, I had to get to apoint where me and my business
are separate energetic entities.
I am not an organized person,I'm not a consistent person, but
(12:29):
my business is and I don't needto be consistent.
I just need to set up thosemechanisms for my business.
When I create something, it'snone of my business.
When someone consumes it,they're going to get it when
they need it, not when I feellike it, because I'll never feel
like it ever, ever, ever.
Donna Eade (12:49):
I love that and I love your honesty.
So the next thing that I wantedto talk about was money.
Obviously, it would be sillynot to talk to you about money.
One of the things that hasreally bothered me over the
years and I actually did apodcast episode, I think it was
last year, it must have beenlast year talking about the 10K
(13:10):
months being a myth and talkingall around this.
And what we hear a lot of inthe space is oh, get your six
figure years or your six figuremonths or your six figure
launches.
And there's all of this talkabout making an awful lot of
money.
And you know that's great andI'm all for it, and if that's
(13:32):
your jam, go at it.
But there are a lot of peopleout there that are starting out
in business because they wantthe flexibility to be able to
work around their children andthey want to make enough money
to keep themselves going.
You know, the more comfortablethe better.
But they don't want to haveloads of employees, they don't
want to have the stress ofhaving this big business.
They didn't leave corporate tomake their own corporation.
(13:54):
They just want to run theirbusiness so they can be there
for their families and so theirnumbers?
They're not aiming for that.
And what I find is a lot ofpeople feel like, well then, I
shouldn't be listening to thesepeople because I'm not aiming
for that, or I'm lesser becauseI'm not aiming for that, or I'm
not ambitious enough because I'mnot aiming for that.
(14:15):
What would you say toentrepreneurs that are kind of
in that space where they want tomake their business successful
but they're not aiming for thesebig numbers and they're kind of
feeling a little bit in themiddle of it all?
Denise Duffield Thomas (14:28):
Oh, I love this question because in my
money bootcamp so we've got acommunity we've had 10,000
people go through the program.
When people first come in, Isay to them there is no
hierarchy here in how much moneyyou make, because what you'll
find is your money blocks arethe same throughout your journey
.
Whether you're making yourfirst bit of money or your first
(14:49):
passive income or you'recracking through some of those
income figures, what you'llrealize is those same money
blocks will follow you along theway.
So everyone in here we're equal, because we're all learning and
discovering those blocks anddealing with them all of the
time.
And an example of that is soI've made $30 million in my
(15:10):
business and my blocks are stillthe same as when I started.
Is well, people are going tothink I'm too big for my boots,
they're not going to like meanymore, and so we sometimes
think, oh, the money blocks willget different and bigger as we
go along.
And so once you realize thatand this is what my money mentor
(15:31):
told me as well she said,talking about money should be as
simple as saying can you pleasepass the salt.
No emotion, there's no judgment.
And when you can get to thatpoint, then you realize, well,
it doesn't matter if I want tomake this amount or this amount,
because, to be honest, themindset, work will probably be
the same, and so I can choose,and knowing too that the lesson
(15:54):
at every point of that is selflove and acceptance.
So if you're not happy now,you're not going to be happy
with more money.
If you feel content andabundant with whatever money you
have now, you're not going tobe happy with more money.
If you feel content andabundant with whatever money you
have now, then it doesn'tmatter how much more money,
you'll still feel that feeling.
Does that make sense?
Yeah, yeah, it does.
So I think it's a reallyinteresting line sometimes for
(16:16):
us as entrepreneurs, becausewe're always striving for more
and we have goals.
And how do you feelsimultaneously confident and
content and proud of yourself,but also still want more?
And that is, that is the lesson, right.
And so, uh, if we can work onour self-love, our
(16:37):
self-compassion, and be curiousabout what's coming up for us,
then the actual amount does notmatter, you know, and so I help
people create a first-class life.
That doesn't mean everything isthe same version of first-class
for everyone.
You know, I have stayed in veryfancy places.
(16:59):
I've stayed in very plainplaces.
It's like whatever you know,and I want you to feel
comfortable in every scenario,in every situation, at every
income level for you, and I'vealso.
When I started making money, Idid upgrade some things in my
life, thinking that's what richpeople would have, and then just
(17:20):
going that's not what I like.
It's okay for me to like what Ilike I mean, I eat at
McDonald's all the time but Ithink it's okay.
And so if you can stop theself-judgment or the worry that
people are going to judge youfor your goals and just accept
okay, so I want to make thisamount of money, or this is what
I want to create in my life.
Next, what do I have to do todo that?
(17:40):
And so for some people, it'sliterally doing the math of
going okay, I need to get Xamount of clients per week to
live that life that I want tolive.
I you know.
Or I need to sell X amount ofmy course to do that.
That's bloody, that's joy andfreedom, isn't it?
Donna Eade (17:58):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
I love that.
Yeah, I think to me, it's allabout what your rich life is,
you know, I really believe thatwe have to look at what it is
that we want out of our lives inthe end and work backwards from
there, rather than justplucking out a figure or going
with what you know.
(18:19):
You've seen all these advertson Instagram saying I can get
you to 10K months and whatnot.
Well, what does 10K mean to you?
Is that what you need?
Or you know?
It could be more, it could beless, but it's got to be what
gets you the life that you want,not the life that you're
aspiring to be, because youthink, like you said, that's
what rich people do, so that'swhat.
Denise Duffield Thomas (18:40):
I need to do.
Tim Ferriss talks about this alot.
He calls it dreamlining andhe's got a really great
spreadsheet for this and it'sfree.
People just Google Tim Ferrissdreamlining.
It's an Excel and you can put inthings like you know, big
(19:00):
dreams or things like okay, Iwant to be able to be able to
take my kids to school, to andfrom every day, things like that
.
You put all the stuff in thereand the key is to find out how
much that costs for you, andthen it breaks it down into a
daily and a weekly and monthlyfigure, and so it might your
dream might not cost as much asyou think yeah, you know.
Or it might cost more, and thenthat's okay, cool.
(19:21):
Then there's a.
There's what do I need to dowith my business?
You did say something a littlewhile ago too, about a lot of
people don't want to replicatetheir corporate job into their,
into their business life, and Ithink it is a little bit of a
rite of passage.
I think that you go through alittle bit, because I did leave
the corporate world and then Iended up working like 5 am to
like 9 pm every day, seven days,a right Totally cool.
(19:43):
But I also want to reassurepeople too, that even if you do
want to build a big business, itdoesn't have to look the same
way as everyone else.
I got to a million dollars withjust me and a part-time
assistant, and I think I had ababy towards the end of that as
well.
And then even now so the peakof our business we're doing 5
million a year.
It's less at the moment becausewe've had some sabbatical.
(20:05):
We had still no full-timeemployees.
It was myself and my husbandNeither of us have ever worked
full-time in the business Anassistant working 30 hours a
week who does most of our techand admin, and then a couple of
contractors.
So we have a community managerand then we bring people on as
(20:27):
we need to.
So the most people we've everhad working for us is maybe five
people, none of them full-time.
I hate managing people as well,so that has been part of my
first class life is building ateam that's as lean as possible,
where nobody talks to me everand I seem to attract people.
It's funny because I had afriend who's like we go on all
(20:49):
these team retreats and I'm sobonded to my team, and so I sent
out a message to my team.
I was like do you guys want todo a retreat together?
And everyone else is anintrovert.
Everyone was like no.
And I'm like thank God.
So a lot of my team I've neverspoken to, they don't need that
relationship from me.
And that is my dream.
No one talked to me ever.
Donna Eade (21:12):
I bet.
But honestly, thank you so muchfor sharing that because I
think that is going to be abreath of fresh air to people to
see what can be done with solittle.
You know, I've I've followedAmy Porterfield since.
I always tell people that I waslistening to her when her
podcast was on.
Episode like 43 or somethingwas the first one I get,
whichever the first episode shedid with Jasmine Starr, because
(21:33):
that's how I found her and thatwas right at the beginning of
the journey.
And I've followed her thiswhole time and watched her build
this business where she's gotnow sort of 20 something
employees of her business andI'm just like I don't want that.
I don't want that with a bargepole, like I don't need to make
that much money, I don't needall those people to look after,
(21:55):
like I don't need the pressureof their families depending on
my bit.
No, oh, it just gives me theheebie-jeebies, doesn't?
Denise Duffield Thomas (22:02):
doesn't work for you, right, and she's
made what?
150 million dollars and I Ithink, well, that's cool, like
that's what she wants to do.
And I, I love amy, I love herapproach, I think she's
wonderful, and it's not for meeither and that's okay.
And I actually um said to marklast night so we sold our big
beach house two years ago thatwe spent so long working, you
(22:26):
know, building our business, tobuy this beach house, and then
we were like we don't likeliving by the beach and so we
moved to the Burbs and it's likewe've paid off our house.
And I said to Mark we couldhave done this, like five years
ago.
We didn't need to go in thatbig journey, but I always would
have wondered what that wouldhave been like to then go.
Ah, it's not for me.
(22:48):
And I think people have toreally honor as well their
personalities, their energy.
Some people have chronicillnesses, some people have, you
know, maybe you can't work whenyou have your period.
You know some people havemassive period pain every month.
That means that they can't dothat.
Some of us have caringresponsibilities with family,
(23:09):
with parents, with children.
There'll be different times inyour life, like for me,
perimenopause was a massive gamechanger for me, where I
couldn't work like I used to andI had to make changes, and so
if you can build your businessthat is always in alignment with
what you need, that's the onlysustainable way to do it.
(23:30):
There'll be times where youwill hustle a little bit more,
and that's okay too.
Sometimes you've got to do that, but that's not sustainable to
live in that energy all the timefor most of us.
Donna Eade (23:40):
Yeah, yeah, I completely agree, fabulous for
most of us.
Yeah, yeah, I completely agree,fabulous.
So you mentioned earlier aboutpassive income.
I wondered if you can talk alittle bit more about some
simple ways that we can leveragepassive income to help us so
that we don't get to that sortof burnout stage in our business
.
I think a lot of people seepassive income as an answer to
(24:02):
this thing and I think it can bea little bit harder than people
think it is, and I know you'vegot some passive income areas in
your business, so talk to usabout passive income to help us
achieve our goals.
Denise Duffield Thom (24:14):
Absolutely so.
I think the biggest problem Isee with people is 100% a
mindset issue around passiveincome.
So we know it's income that youmake, well, you know you're not
actively working for it, and Ithink sometimes people get
caught up in that definition ofit because then they go well, it
looks like you're marketing,you know, or you have to do
(24:35):
marketing for your passiveincome.
So does that not count?
Right, and it's like, oh, chillout.
But so there's a couple of,they're the accumulators,
they're always just like but how?
But is that really passive?
And you go dude, that's allright.
But honestly, I think the guiltis the thing that kills people
around passive income and it'ssomething that not everyone
talks about, because you mightsay that you want to do it, but
(24:59):
yet there's a part of your mindthat feels like I don't deserve
it.
It kind of breaks your brain alittle bit and I'll tell you why
.
I think so many of us grew upwith this notion of what work is
.
You go to work, you get paidper hour, per widget, per sale,
(25:19):
and so suddenly passive incomebreaks that equation and it
feels like nonsense, right.
It just feels like that doesnot make sense and it really
became clear to me when Icreated an ebook in the first
version of my book Lucky Bitch.
(25:41):
I released that in 2011.
And every time someone boughtfrom me, I felt sick and it was
so weird because I thought thisis what I wanted, right, and I
had to get over all my mindsetgremlins of everyone's gonna
hate this and whatever, whatever, whatever.
And then it was ten dollars andevery time someone bought it I
(26:01):
felt like I had to call them upand read it to them over the
phone to earn that $10.
Because it was like where's myeffort in this?
It broke the equation.
Does that make sense?
Donna Eade (26:14):
Yeah, absolutely it does.
Denise Duffield Thomas (26:16):
Yes.
And so it wasn't enough that Ithought but I wrote this and
people are getting value out ofit.
So there is an energy exchangethere.
But it was like but how dare Ikeep on getting paid for this
thing that I've already done?
Like it doesn't make sense tome.
And so I had to get over thatthing that it's safe for me to
profit from my skills andtalents even if I'm not
(26:38):
physically there.
And what happens at that pointis some people start to sabotage
it, and I've seen it again andagain.
So people will then like breakthe links, like they'll hide
their stuff from people, theywon't talk about it, they won't
market it, they'll like publishsomething and then unpublish it.
(27:00):
You know, because they'retrying to get back to what are
the laws of gravity here?
Does that make sense?
What are the laws of gravity?
Where am I allowed to makemoney from this?
And so that's why you have tostart.
You have to start early, startsmall.
So after that $10 ebook thingand I got over that I created a
(27:22):
mini course and it was $50.
And I felt like you know what?
This is a good energy exchangeI'm giving, and people are
saying that you know it'shelping them.
So I was like, okay, cool, andthat's then.
I could kind of build on tothat.
And I still sometimes struggle alittle bit.
And I noticed this in my teamas well.
My husband, who is my marketingmanager.
(27:44):
He has stuff around passiveincome and that can filter into
our business, because then he'llbe like, well, let's do a live
launch for this.
And I go why?
It's like we've already got itthere and I see his, I see his
money blocks coming in from it,because both he and I grew up in
this mentality you have to workhard to make money.
(28:04):
And he's from Manchester orNantwich and he, like me, saw
our mums, single mums go to work, do a thing and get money for
it, and so we have to work on itall the time as a team to make
sure that their stuff isn'tsabotaging this right.
Because I know, especially with,say, for example, my Sacred
(28:28):
Money Archetypes, e-course, thatit would help people where
they're at right now.
My participation does not needto be micromanaging that
person's relationship with thatwork and actually I'll sabotage
that if I do that.
You know, if I start to say,well, you know it's not
authentic.
If I'm not doing it one-to-one.
(28:49):
I don't care about people.
When I get over that, I start toattract people who are very
self-reliant, who just want theinformation, and they'll be like
oh thanks, denise, I, you know,bought your e-course and I just
did the things that you weretelling me to do and I go oh, of
course you did.
If you feel bad about it.
(29:09):
That's when you start toattract people who are like but
it doesn't count, unless you'redoing it.
They're just reflecting yourfears back to you that it
doesn't count, it's not real,it's cheating.
Somehow it's been unethical,instead of just realizing no, I
created a thing that solves aproblem for somebody and I'm
going to give them access tothat thing.
(29:31):
And I also think it comes downto money personalities and, as I
said, the accumulators is oneof the money personalities who
really overthinks passive income.
They get in a real tizz aboutit because they are often the
people who are DIYers, and sothey think why would someone buy
(29:51):
information that they couldprobably figure out?
Because they don't understandthat some people they value
their time more than money, theyvalue taking shortcuts, they
value just buying a solutionthat they don't have to figure
out themselves, and so it's notabout us and how we feel about
it.
It's who needs this solutionand who needs it now.
(30:11):
I am a ruler money archetype.
I hate waiting for someone'slaunch to open.
Just give me the information.
I don't need your personal help.
Actually, that's annoying to me.
Just give me the information,don't talk to me about it, I'll
you know, I'll take it and I'llfigure it out.
And or some people they get anidea in their head.
They just want to take actionstraight away.
(30:31):
Give them that opportunity todo that.
And that's why, even with mymoney boot camp, we do launches
for sure, because there are somepeople who want to go through
it, even if it's like anarbitrary kind of thing.
Some people who want to gothrough it, even if it's like an
arbitrary kind of thing, theywant to know that there's a
start and a close date.
Some people do not need thathandholding, or they don't need
the community, or they don'tneed the extra accountability
(30:53):
and they want it now.
So that's why my course hasalways been both evergreen and
launches, because I know thatthere are people like me who
just go yeah, I want it now,I'll give it to you here's the
link that there are people likeme who just go yeah, I want it
now, I'll give it to you.
Donna Eade (31:07):
Here's the link buy it, yeah.
Yeah, it always makes me.
That's one of my blocks, Ithink, is the having something
that is a launch only thing islike but what if somebody wants
it right now and then they don'twant to wait for me to launch
it in three months time, andthen they go somewhere else and
find it.
Denise Duffield Thomas (31:21):
That's always absolutely, and some
people are that instantgratification people or they're
action takers and they want itnow and you don't have to go
through all the rigmarole of it.
Not every course and thingworks like that.
That's totally fine, you can do.
You know, I have a live versionof Sacred Money Archetypes.
That's just once a year and youcan buy the e-course and
(31:43):
they're different.
They're differently priced.
Yeah, you know they don't haveto be, but they are in that
situation.
So it's.
It's totally up to you how todo it.
But it's like what?
What are people asking you forall the time?
What you know, the things thatif you had all the time in the
world you would create.
You know it's there's so manydifferent ways to look at it.
I actually say to people what'sthe easiest, quickest thing for
(32:06):
you to create right now?
Because it's almost like youneed proof of concept sometimes
of oh, people will buy from meand no, it's not the same as me
doing it with them, but it mightbe a good lead, like lead into
working with me, or it might bea good you taster of my work.
And I think there's a couple oflittle nuances in that of not
(32:26):
overloading those things youknow, not necessarily giving
everything.
It is a solution and that's,that's okay, it's okay, yeah, I
love that.
Donna Eade (32:38):
So you have, over the years, talked about how you
have simplified your business.
What I would love to know iswhat is the one thing that you
let go of that has made thebiggest impact for you?
Denise Duffield Thomas (32:54):
Oh, let go of.
Well, I think that idea thateverything has to be in real
time and that my energy has tomatch the businesses, I think
that's really key and that'sthat's then giving me permission
to batch all of my content to,you know, to create those
passive income things, because Iknow that the work has its own
(33:19):
energy, and so I think that'sgiving up being responsible for
everyone.
That makes sense, yeah, and thathas filtered into so many
things in my business.
So it took me years to get acommunity manager for my group.
I did everything in theremyself because I am responsible.
I was very reluctant to setrules in that group because I
(33:39):
thought, no, I just wanteveryone to do what they want to
talk about what they want totalk about.
And even, like I rememberpeople would tag me in things
all the time and I would answerthem instead of just saying it's
in the course.
So, giving up that thing of Ihave to be available 24 seven
(34:01):
for everyone else and I'mresponsible for everyone else,
that has changed everything inmy business and it's a lesson
that I still have to learn allthe time.
Donna Eade (34:08):
Brilliant.
I love that.
That's awesome.
When we started talking, I toldyou that my podcast has these
four main pillars and that Iwould ask you questions about
that, so we're going to moveinto that.
So a bit more quick fire.
Denise Duffield Thomas (34:21):
I'm terrible at quick rounds, by the
way, because I'm like here arefive different tangents that I
want to take you on and let's goback to 1993.
Yeah, sorry, I'll try my best,we shall see, we shall see.
Donna Eade (34:32):
So your number one planning tip.
Denise Duffield Thomas (34:36):
I'm terrible at planning.
I have the same plan for 13years and it is show up on
social media every day, do along form thing.
Once a week, do a thing.
That's literally all myplanning.
Simple, but actually no.
There is something that I'vereally burnt myself on the last
couple of years is literally goto your calendar, block out all
the school holidays so peoplecan't book in meetings with you.
(34:59):
I make this mistake all thetime and I end up doing launches
or doing stuff when I have nochildcare and I'm like, why did
this happen again?
So I live by my Google calendarand I really, yeah, and I
actually just said to Mark too,when I have my bootcamp call
days, go and block it out so noone can book in a podcast with
me, you know, and it's reallylooking ahead and just going.
(35:19):
It's more.
Blocking out, I think, is mysaying no to stuff is probably
my planning tip rather than whatI'm putting in, because I used
to always just put way too muchstuff in Love that.
Donna Eade (35:30):
So your productivity tip.
So what is the one thing thathelps you to stay on task?
And I know you've talked aboutADHD as well, so staying on task
is probably quite difficult.
So what's?
What's one of the tips that youuse to keep you on task?
Denise Duffield Thomas (35:46):
So again , I'm a massive procrastinator,
so for me I do need to block outthose times to batch.
So for my podcast, I needexternal accountability.
I book a podcast studio fromnine till five and I sit there
and I do 12 podcasts.
I could not do that at home,and so I think accountability is
(36:07):
always so important.
So if you want to write a bookthis year, you have to do what I
did and say my book is out onthis date.
Here's the wait list.
Or take pre-orders.
Same with my first course Isold it before I finished it.
With anything else, if you go oh, I really want to do a course
book, a videographer, what am Igoing to talk about?
(36:33):
You'll figure it out becausethat's blocked and so public
accountability and movabledeadlines.
Because I know for me at schoolI'd always do the assignment,
no matter what.
I'd manipulate time and spaceto do it.
Then you get smarter about okay, don't do everything the night
before, but it's um, it won'tget done otherwise for me anyway
, if I don't have that bigpublic accountability, because
I'll let myself down, but I willnot let someone else down.
Donna Eade (36:52):
Yeah, yeah, I'm the same your number one audience
building tips.
How do you grow your audience?
Denise Duffield Thomas (36:59):
It's pure consistency.
So, as I said, for those 13years, show up up every day, do
that weekly thing.
And the reason why you need theconsistency is because you
cannot get too hung up on anyone thing.
There are things I've put out Ithought, oh, people are gonna
love this, no crickets.
Then the thing I was like shit,what am I going to talk about
this week?
(37:19):
But I've made that commitment,I'm doing that thing.
That's the one that people love.
So I've never had anything goviral.
It is literally showing upevery single day.
But again, that's not me doingit every day.
My business has the consistency.
I don't.
That's.
My only audience building tipis literally just show up, show
(37:40):
up, show up.
Yeah, consistency, that's it.
Donna Eade (37:42):
Love that, love that it is boring, but it's so true.
So true.
And then the biggest mindsetshift that you've had to make in
your business why?
Denise Duffield Thomas (37:54):
not me, because it's so easy to look at
someone else and think, well,they're successful because of
blah, blah, blah, they'resuccessful because of blah, blah
, blah.
And I was actually thinkingabout this in the shower.
I was like, if you think aboutyourself as like a meat puppet
that you have control over, andit's like I can just make this
person do the thing Like this isso cool.
(38:14):
And what happens is that peoplebelieve you, you know, and so
it's not saying you know thatfake it till you make it thing,
necessarily.
But it's like you realize thatwhen you take action, no one's
like going oh how dare they dothat?
You know.
They just start to go oh, ofcourse she's got a podcast, oh,
of course she's got a book.
(38:35):
And that's the weirdest thingI've noticed is that for years,
when I was like so had selfimposter syndrome about being a
writer, I put author in my emailbio and people would go, oh,
you're an author, I'd go, Iguess I am, because you said it.
Yes, that's right.
(38:55):
And then even you know, afterwriting several books, I would
still be like, am I?
But people believe that I'm anauthor, so cool, yeah, I guess
I'm an author, you know.
And so it's that question ofwhy not me?
Like, what am I waiting for?
Am I waiting for someone togive me permission to do this?
No one is going to, why not me?
And then you just do it, loveit.
Donna Eade (39:13):
Love that, love that .
Okay, so the book that has madethe biggest impact on your life
so far.
Denise Duffield Thomas (39:21):
Oh God, that's so hard.
I think the first personaldevelopment book I ever read was
the Magic of Believing byClaude M Bristol.
I read it when I was, I think,14.
I was in a secondhand storebecause I'd always forget my
keys and I'd be locked out of myhouse at home.
So I used to go to thisbookstore and read books and it
(39:43):
was just like oh, my God, my god, you can change your, you can
control what you think, and thatcan change your outcome in your
real life.
So any book like that I thinkthat has yeah, it just has
helped me realize oh, wow, youcan, you can change your
thoughts.
So that's the first one thatcomes to mind.
But of course, over the years,you know, think and grow rich
(40:04):
was obviously a really big onefor me in my early 20s.
The four-hour work week was agame changer for me in my early
20s too.
You can heal your life fromLouise Hay is still such a great
message of self-love andacceptance.
Um, yeah, I mean, I love booksas you can, yeah, you can see.
But um, yeah, I just yeah.
(40:25):
Or any book that is like, whynot, you love yourself and it'll
all be okay is always a goodbook.
Donna Eade (40:33):
Love that, yeah, your.
What is your go-to snack whenyou're in a hurry?
Denise Duffield Thomas (40:38):
oh my god, this is really embarrassing
because, again, adhd, I don't.
I really don't care about foodat all.
Um, I'll just eat whatever's infront of me.
So no, it's really bad.
But sometimes we go to Costcoand we get those like big boxes
of things and they're like thosesesame bars.
You know those ones, they'relike four little sesame things.
(40:59):
But my thing is celery.
I love celery.
So sometimes at night Markcalls it like I get the hangries
at night because my ADHD medsare born off and so I'll be like
night chips.
But now it's night celery.
I love that.
Donna Eade (41:14):
And on my way.
That's good for you.
That's better than eating theDoritos right.
Denise Duffield Thomas (41:20):
Yes, but I'm a real snacker kind of
person.
I love that idea of girl dinnerbecause that's just how I would
live my life, and so I actuallyeat a lot in my car, which is
bad as well, but I'll be rushingto ballet and I'll be.
You know, imagine sitting thereat the lights and you turn
around, this person just gnawingon some celery in a car or an
unpeeled carrot, my car carrot.
So I love all food.
(41:41):
I eat junk food, I eat healthyfood, I it's literally
whatever's in front of me.
I do zero cooking.
Mark does all the cooking and Ijust don't.
I don't care about food at all.
So, that can be a good and badthing.
You know cause I'll eat.
I'll eat junk if it's there andI'll eat healthy stuff if it's
there.
But I love, I love celery.
Donna Eade (41:58):
So yeah, yeah, stick with it, stick with it.
What is your favorite me timething to do?
Denise Duffield Thomas (42:06):
oh yes.
So, um, growing up, I lovedgoing to dancing.
That was my absolute, yeah, joy, and for years I couldn't do it
as an adult, and so recently Ifound an adult ballet studio and
so I do eight classes a weeknow and, yeah, I love it because
(42:26):
I've never craved going to thegym, I've never craved going to
yoga.
I always felt better afterwards.
But for me, going to ballet andI literally, you know I'll I'll
put my hair up in a bun, I'llput my ribbons in, like it's a
real ritual for me.
We don't have to have a streetuniform.
I wear my ballet tights, youknow.
I have my matching littleoutfits and it's pure joy.
(42:47):
I come out so happy, I'mexhausted, my body hurts, but
it's like that's that feelsreally good and I love doing bad
craft.
So I I'm working at the momenton this hideous cross-stitch
that is like this big it's takenlike I've literally worked like
400 hours on this hideous crossstitch that's so ugly and I
just have to finish it now.
(43:08):
I also make really bad artsometimes.
Actually, that that one's nottoo bad.
There's an art piece there thatI like, um, and I just I like
being creative and I thinkthat's the thing I lost a little
bit when I got super into workis that I felt like all of my
creativity had to come from mybusiness, because I'm I
entrepreneur, right.
And so now I realize, yes, mybusiness probably makes less
(43:28):
money because I'm not superambitious and focused in it, but
I'm kind of living that lifethat 11-year-old me would have
loved to do, because she lovedbeing creative and making art
and craft and doing it.
It's not my job, it's not mybusiness to do it, just to make
something.
And yeah, and my the cool thingis, yeah, absolutely my cool
(43:49):
thing is the dance school that Igo to, the adult studio.
Um, this year we're doing a lotof competitions and a
steadfords and little showsplaces and I love doing that.
Like we're not right, like youknow, we're not the best, but
it's nice to be like a learnerin something.
Yeah, and do it for pure joy.
Donna Eade (44:10):
Yeah yeah, well, I'm with you there.
I am a salsa dancer and I usedto teach before the pandemic, so
I love dancing too.
Never got to do ballet, I wasnever allowed to, but, um yeah,
dance has always been a favoriteof mine.
Thank you so much for all ofthat.
I absolutely love thatconversation.
Tell people where they can findout more about your money boot
(44:31):
camp and find out more about you.
Denise Duffield Thom (44:34):
Absolutely so.
If anyone's in front of theirphone or computer, go to
Instagram.
My handle is Denise DT, so thatis always a really great place
to know about.
You know, when we're doing anext intake of one of my courses
and my books and all that kindof stuff and my website's the
same denisedtcom.
I've got a ton of freeresources on there too, if
anyone needs it.
(44:54):
And then, obviously, the linkto my money bootcamp.
If you need some, if you knowthat you're ready, you just need
to jump into a community and,you know, deal with your money
stuff.
It's there for you.
And then my books are availableon Audible.
You know, kindle, all thethings, amazon Book Depository,
all the places my books areavailable.
Donna Eade (45:15):
So that's always a good place to start books if
you're not on social media,otherwise, follow me on social
media.
I love that.
I will have all those links inthe show notes for you guys.
And, like I said, my bookshelfis there Chill and Prosper is on
it because I've read it.
I always put all my books onthere, um, so that you can go
and see what I'm reading,because we are lovers of reading
over here on this podcast aswell.
So, um, go and check all ofthose out.
(45:36):
Thank you again, denise, forcoming on the show.
Really appreciate it and we'llsee you in the next one.
Bye for now, you.
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