This is an unofficial guide to my experience as a solo world schooling parent enrolled in the Boundless Life program in Syros, Greece with my 6-year old son and 4-year old daughter. My thoughts, opinions and experiences are my own and I paid full price to attend so it’s a warts and all breakdown of my experience ✨

Get €400 Off: I do have a special discount code if you decide to book and you found this honest guide helpful and wanna live on a Greek Island or somewhere else around the world too! You will get €400 off your booking for using it (and I will get a €400 credit if I book again — which, let’s be honest, will absolutely be happening).

Click here to find out more about Boundless Life.

Use the code LBSCODE to get €400 off your booking at checkout.

Introduction

Seems that many millennial (heck, all) parents right now are questioning the status quo – because it hasn’t worked for us. School for twelve years. Five years at university. A good corporate job. Repeat every day for 40 years and retire.

They’re starting to explore non-traditional schooling options. Homeschooling. Worldschooling. Even ‘unschooling’ is apparently also becoming a thing right now (not even sure exactly what that means). I’m one of the questioners. Here’s why. My little boy is gorgeous. A great learner. Follows the rules. A teachers dream.

And yet, at the ripe old age of six, I could always see the system wearing him down. He’d come home irritated. He’d lash out, overtired and exhausted from trying to hold his little (big) emotions in for six hours a day. Social situations were wonky. And his little light started to dim.

And so, I pulled him out – just for three months, to see whether it would make a difference. Right now, he’s attending a worldschool in Greece.

Since sharing that story, I’ve had HUNDREDS of comments (thanks to a couple of viral posts) from women just like me who are curious about how to make it work for their family. So, here’s the ultimate guide to how I made it happen including:

• The exact world schooling program I chose

• The logistics of uprooting your life, pulling your kids out of school and travelling to another country

• Real talk, including my expectations v reality

• The costs involved, and the financial jenga involved in covering the investment

• What I do for work, and the different ways other families are making it work for them

• Things I wish I knew before I booked (and what I would do differently)

And more.

I will add to this guide over time, so if you have any questions please do leave them in the comments of this post and I will make sure to answer them as best as I can.

Please also remember that this is simply my own experience; I paid full price to attend the Boundless Life worldschooling program in Syros, Greece and my thoughts are my own. I do have a special discount code if you decide to book and you found this honest guide helpful. You will get €400 off your booking for using it (and I will get a €400 credit if I book again). The code is LBSCODE.

Please share with others if you find it useful! I could have paywalled this guide, but wanted to make it free to help as many people as possible because truly, this is and has been the adventure of a lifetime.

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Table of Contents

Part One: Worldschooling (and the One I Chose)

• What Worldschooling Actually Means (In Plain English)

• What Boundless Life Actually Is and Why I Chose It (Over Every Other Option)

• Boundless Life: Syros, Greece and Other Locations

• Boundless Life: Things I Wish I’d Known Before Booking

Part Two: Logistics

• My Personal Roadmap: How I Made It Happen in 90 Days

• Visas and Logistics

• Packing for Kids + Work + Life

Part Three: Money, Costs and Financial Jenga

• How I Made It Work Financially

• What It Actually Cost Us (Full Breakdown)

• Work and Boundless (Boundless is a Full Time Job in Itself)

• What I Do for Work (and How Little I Actually Work)

Part Four: The Reality (the Bit Instagram Doesn’t Show You)

• The Reality of Moving Countries With Kids

• What Our Days Actually Look Like

• The Highs (There Are Many)

• The Lows (Also Real)

Part Five: FAQs and Resources

• FAQs

• Discount Code and Booking Info

Part One: Worldschooling (and the One I Chose)

What Worldschooling Actually Means (In Plain English)

I had to ask Chatty-G the answer to this one because I still can’t quite articulate it myself:

Worldschooling is an educational movement and lifestyle that treats the entire planet as a classroom. Families replace traditional textbooks with experiential travel and cultural immersion, allowing children to learn history, geography, and social skills firsthand by engaging directly with different global communities.

And right now, it’s having a moment as millennial parents especially start to question the status quo and work becomes more remote.

Boundless Life is probably the best known (and most professionally run) world schooling option out there right now — and I say that loosely, as someone who is absolutely not ingrained in the world schooling community and who isn’t familiar with every other option out there (so don’t come at me!)

This is the option I went with, and this guide is based on my own personal experience as a full fee paying participant.

What Boundless Life Actually Is and Why I Chose It (Over Every Other Option)

I won’t lie: the first time I found out about Boundless Life I needed to Google it just to make sure it wasn’t a cult.

I mean — a group families all removed from their home country, living together in a different place and having their kids educated remotely (and that logo?) You could forgive me for thinking so 🤣

Turns out it’s NOT a cult, and instead it’s quite literally every I’ve ever wanted as a mum of two with diehard wanderlust, the ability to work from anywhere, two young kids to wrangle and a penchant for holidays focused on ‘pretend living’ in new locations instead of ticking off tourist traps.

Pre-kids, I visited fistfuls of countries — young, wild and free.

Postpartum and mid-COVID times, I started to get the itchiest of feet but couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to travel with two little freeloaders in tow.

I gave it a whirl anyway; in 2022 we put our two and four year old on a plane and hauled them across Europe for three months.

The result? A lot of special memories, but even more exhaustion, meltdowns, tantrums and hours spent inside in the midday sun while the babies napped. It was less adventure of a lifetime, and more parenting in a different country on hard mode.

Grateful? Yes.

Ready to pick up and do it again? Hello no.

Enter Boundless Life.

In April, we joined 44 other families on a Greek island called Syros for three months as part of the structured Boundless worldschooling program.

Had I been to Syros before? No.

Had I even heard of it before stumbling across it? Also no.

The children attend a dedicated world school each day, following the Finnish curriculum. In case you didn’t know either (I sure didn’t), the Finnish curriculum is widely regarded as one of the best in the world, and is delivered in a way that would be unrecognisable to anyone who went through the Australian/US system.

The students’ days are built around quests: learning about the island, doing pottery, theatre games, and working on projects that align with their natural interests. School finishes mid-afternoon and the kids spill out into the village square to play, without screens and without the logistical machinery we’d built up at home just to get our kids socialising.

For the parents, the whole Boundless Life set up equally disorienting in the best possible way. There’s events just about every day, parents connect over coffee and lunches, activities and common values. Nobody needs three months’ notice to catch up. And, parenting here feels like what people mean when they talk about a village — and I hadn’t realised how much I was missing that until I found it.

It’s pretend living, the ability to get immersed in a culture, children who settle and make friends and everything I wanted my first three month European adventure to be.

Boundless Life: Syros, Greece and Other Locations

Boundless Life operates in heap of different locations across Europe, Asia and South America — and from what I hear, there are more locations on the table too.

In addition to Syros, Greece, there’s (in order of the ones I want to do):

• La Barra (Uruguay)

• Sintra (Portugal - although I hear this location may be getting moved to Cais Cais, which is the one I most want to do!)

• Estepona (Spain)

• Kamakura (Japan)

• Kotor (Montenegro)

• Pistoia/Tuscany (Italy)..

• and I hear Annecy, France is on the horizon, too.

From what I can see, most families pick their first location based on personal preference.

Once they’re in the program though, community becomes another huge factor with families often choosing subsequent locations based on where their friends and their kids friends are travelling to next.

Boundless Life: Things I Wish I’d Known Before Booking

True to form (anyone that knows me knows I generally make wild, last minute decisions), I booked our Boundless Life experience just six weeks out from the start date of the program.

I found out about Boundless Life in March, and it was an immediate yes in my bones. I knew I would make it work, and due to some difficult life circumstances I wanted it to be sooner rather than later.

So, I went to the website, signed up for an information session and the next day was on a call with a family rep to learn more about the program. I wasn’t sure when or how I would make it work – but I knew that I would.

By the end of the call, I knew that I wanted to go to Syros (first). The only hitch?

It was sold out for the next three cohorts consecutively.

So, I did what any non-rational person would do and my very non-woo woo self sent a little signal to the universe that if it was meant to be, a spot would come up.

A few days later, I received a call from the family rep:

A new house had been added to the Syros inventory, and I was in if I wanted it – for April, which was about 6 weeks out.

i was an immediate yes.

Was it the right decision for us? Ab-so-freaking-lutely (though I don’t recommend trying to book last minute like I did, the waitlists are long these days).

At the same time there’s a few things I wish I’d known ahead of time. Here’s a list in case it’s helpful to you, too:

• Cohort size matters: Our Syros, Greece cohort was BIG — 44 families, many whom were travelling from other Boundless locations. If I were to book again for the first time, I would intentionally choose a location or cohort that is smaller, and I would make sure that there are other first-timers there too. Figuring out the social aspect was tough on both myself and the kids in the first month — we were in many ways the new kids at school, and it felt hard knowing there were Whats App groups and little meet ups happening with previous groups without us. I do believe that my kids would personally have thrived more in those early days with a smaller group size.
  With that said, Syros in spring/summer is magic and likely it will always be a big cohort so if you were to ask me if I would have picked somewhere else - my answer would be no. It’s just good to information for you to have to help you make a decisions that is right for you.

• Location matters: It’s only once you’re in the program that you have the opportunity to chat to others about their real life experience in certain locations. Whilst I genuinely think each location offers something different and appeals to a different type of person, that intel only happens on the ground. We lucked out with Syros — I wanted to go there, and it turns out that’s an alumni favourite too. But I’d do some research and ask alumni on their experiences with each location before booking your first, and then if you continue on you will benefit from the inside intel that comes from other families after you’re on the ground.

• Pricing considerations: Pricing varies significantly based on the time of year, season and the popularity of the location you choose. It’s supply/demand based pricing, and it pays to look into different options if you are budget conscious. For example, Syros in April - June has huge demand, and is on the priciest side — but for me, great weather and Greek Island vibes as venues started opening were a non-negotiable and I could swing it. Visiting in January would be a huge cost saving.

Part Two: Logistics

My Personal Roadmap: How I Made It Happen in 90 Days

First things first: I don’t recommend doing Boundless last minute like I did.

Spots sell out way in advance these days, and waitlists are long (I hear).

Booking last minute also makes the logistics harder. But of course, I DID book last minute so here’s what the steps looked like for me in case they are helpful for you too.

It can feel overwhelming knowing how to bring something like this to life so hopefully stepping it out like this might help you see how it might be possible for you, too.

Step One: Ask Permission From School for Son to Miss a Term

My son attends a private school on the Gold Coast, and there is a waitlist to get in.

I wasn’t sure whether they would be okay with my plans, so I called the enrolment officer to ask. What was at first a cautious ‘no, we would not hold his place and he would need to be added to a waitlist for a spot upon his return’ turned into an enthusiastic yes after I was asked to put the request in writing for the principal.

Here’s what I wrote to get my request over the line, it case helps your case also:

Hi [Name]

Thanks for your call.

As I mentioned, I would like to find out the possibility of doing a three month cohort this year with my children overseas.

Here is a brochure and more info on the education provider, and the location is TBA (they have branches in Spain, Japan, Greece, Uruguay, Portugal etc):

https://www.boundless.life/boundless-education

https://app-eu1.hubspotdocuments.com/documents/25511159/view/527685609?accessId=101a70

It would mean taking [my son] for a full school term, but I do believe he would benefit from the experience so much.

I am unsure on their availability, but it would be either term 2, 3 or 4. Term 2 is soon, so it may not be possible but if it’s the only option and there is availability with the education provider I could try for that.

I am writing to find out what is possible. As I mentioned, my preference would be that Jimmy stay enrolled but I understand that this likely isn’t possible and so what we do will be dependent on making sure the school is happy and he can continue on afterward.

Let me know the next steps.

Thank you so much.

Stevie

In the end, we were required to pay his tuition for the term, and submit an application for exemption from school to the principal for the term.

This is a requirement in the state in Australia I live in.

My understanding is that the principal is able to approve this if it is under a certain number of days – and he did!

Step Two: Speak to Daughters Daycare to Save Her Spot

My daughter attends the daycare attached to the school, and there is a long waitlist to attend. Step two was to speak to my daughters daycare about missing a term, but having her spot held.

I spoke to the head of the centre, and she mentioned that approval would be required.

Here’s the formal approval request I sent:

Hello [Names]

I’m writing to follow up on my brief conversation with Bronwyn this morning and to put my request in writing.

I’m exploring the possibility of taking my children overseas (Syros, Greece most likely) for Term 2 as part of a three-month educational program run by a company called Boundless. They have a late place available for us in their April cohort, which runs from April 4 to June 30 (we would return July 12).

I will need to let them know if I am able to take it quite soon and writing to see what is possible.

I think it would be an incredible opportunity for Sunny (and Jimmy, my boy) and would give them so much.

Here is some information about the provider.

I’d love to understand what options might be available from the ELC’s perspective as I absolutely love the ELC and definitely don’t want to jeopardise Sunny’s place upon return as she is incredibly happy there. This is our dream kindy, it’s the best!

I wouldn’t go if [Name] wasn’t able to return to her place when we come back.

I completely understand that you need to consider enrolment continuity and staffing, and so wondering what possible arrangements there might be— for example, whether another family might take some or all of her days during this period, to allow us to return after.

I will also be speaking with CCS to understand their requirements, my understanding is that I have limited days of allowable absences (25)/holiday (12) left and they also cut funding after 6 weeks if overseas, so there might otherwise be a need to pay full fees for a time.

This is probably the biggest snag from my end, as it may not be possible to budget to pay the XXXX a week for the full three month period if, for example, another family is unable to take the place while we are away or there is no CCS at all.

For context, I’ve already discussed this trip with [enrolment officer] regarding my son Jimmy , and she has approved his leave with fees paid to hold his place.

It feels like Jenga trying to get all of the pieces to fit together, but I know what an incredible opportunity this would be for our family so I am grateful for you considering. Please let me know what might be possible.

Thanks so much,
Stevie Dillon

In the end, although the daycare was okay with holding her place as long as we paid fees, there was one big hitch:

Government funding is cut in my state if we are overseas for more than six weeks, so holding my daughters place would mean paying full fees for a time – unless I dropped days, or another family took her place for those dates.

Financially, it was a big amount.

Fortunately though, it all worked out and another family took three of her five days for the period we were away.

I also dropped Fridays altogether.

All in all, it worked out so that there wasn’t too much to cover and some families also took some of the remaining days on an ad hoc basis while we were away.

Step Three: Book with Boundless Life

Mid way through step one and two, I was told I needed to make a final decision on whether I would take the final place.

I decided to take it, and paid up front hoping that the rest would work itself out.

It did, but it was a risk and definitely a case of jumping with a hope that the parachute would appear! I have a tendency to do that, and it has a tendency of working out.

Step Four: Book Flights

Flights were then booked (using points), we packed a couple of suitcases and we were ready to go.

Accommodation, transfers, schooling and everything else were managed by Boundless so logistically it really was a turn key solution.

Step Four: Organise Visas and Logistics

As an Australian family, we attended our Boundless Life three month cohort on the uniform short stay Schengen visa. This allows visa-free travel anywhere in the ‘Schengen Zone’ for a three month period in any 180 day period.

Because I have a remote business I operate and would be working in (lightly, in the end) whilst away, I called the Greek Embassy in Australia to make sure this was permissible – they confirmed it would be okay, so long as my time in the country was under 90 days.

Other Boundless participants who intended to travel for longer or stay on applied for a Digital Nomad visa, which is an option that allows you to reside and work remotely in the country for a longer period.

Step Five: Rent Out Home

To help to fund the cost of the trip, I decided to rent out our home for three months. I contacted a real estate agent and listed it; new tenants signed a lease just a few days out so it required a lot of last minute packing!

Step Six: Packing and Leaving

My proudest life achievement to date was managing to pack both cold and warm weather wardrobes for myself and two children for three months into one big suitcase and two carry ons. This turned out to be very, very important because it’s impossible to carry any more than that as a solo mum with two young kids.

Once we were on the road, I wheeled the big suitcase and the kids wheeled their own carry ons - we were at capacity.

If I had my time again, I’d pack even lighter: just one mid-size suitcase, and I would ditch the backpacks the kids also took (or at least make them much smaller).

This is because the only time I really felt stressed or overwhelmed was packing-unpacking-packing our haul during the 10 days we had in London at the start of the trip. It wasn’t necessary, you can ALWAYS packing more lightly than you think you need to. So much can simply be bought when you arrive for cheap, and really you likely don’t need as much as you think (toys especially).

Part Three: Money, Costs and Financial Jenga

How to Make It Work Financially

One of the biggest questions associated with a decision like this is financial logistics.

The truth is – world schooling (and Boundless Life in particular) isn’t ‘cheap’ and it’s a privilege to be in a season of life where it is both financially and logistically possible.

For us, it worked for two reasons:

Firstly, I run an online business and can work remotely – though I will say that the business was really in ‘maintenance mode whilst we were away as I found it difficult to focus when surrounded by fun and activities on a Greek Island (see next point!)

I also own a home, and was able to rent it out while we were away which provided some income.

For other families we’ve met along the way, it looks a little different:

• Remote Workers: Some work remotely for companies overseas.

• Remote Businesses: Some run businesses online they can operate from anywhere.

• Savers or Sold Up: Some have sold up assets at home to fund travel for a season.

• Early Retirees: Some have achieved ‘FIRE’ (Financial Independence, Retire Early) and are living off their passive investments.

• Pensions: Some have retired from the military or police and have a pension they are using to support their travels.

In the group that joined us in Syros, Greece it really was a mix of all of the above. Some families didn’t work at all. Most had one parent working at least some of the time. And then there were the solo parents like me – I worked part time, another solo mum worked full-time.

Luckily, every Boundless location comes with a co-working hub and the view from ours was pretty spectacular!

What It Actually Cost Us (Full Breakdown)

One of the biggest questions associated with a decision like this is financial logistics.

Okay, so what did it actually cost?

Keep a couple of things in mind here:

One: We booked into the Spring Syros, Greece cohort of Boundless Life.

This is probably the most ‘expensive’ cohort. Boundless Life pricing works on supply and demand, and the demand is HIGH for a warm season cohort on a Greek Island. There are (many) less pricey locations and seasons – Boundless Life actually have a calculator that helps with this on their website.

Two: Boundless Life prices in Euro – which as an Australian (or even an American) pushes the price up with the currency conversions. With the list below, I will price everything in the currency I purchased it in, but at the bottom will calculate the current (June 2026) cost in AUD, USD and Euro.

Cost breakdown:

• Boundless Life:

  • €16,914: Accommodation (Three Bedroom Home) (minus €1,800 for bundling) (€5,638 a month)

  • €1,800: Community fee for one person (includes use of lounge etc)

  • €800: One time registration fee for education (two children)

  • €6,900: Education fee for child one

  • €6,900 minus 10%: Education fee for child two

TOTAL: €30,824

• Boundless Life additional activities:
  
  Note: A lot of Boundless activities are free, including weekly yoga, destination discovery sessions, orientation etc. These are the additional and optional paid activities I participated in.

  • Family cooking experience (adult and two children): €146.50

  • After school pottery for two children for 10 weeks: €430

  • After school theatre games for two children for 10 weeks: €288

  • Parents boat trip: €93

  • Morning at farm with horse riding (adult and two children): €123

  • Greek plate smashing night for parents (and movie night for kids): €112

  • Family boat trip and BBQ: €275

TOTAL: €1,467

Grand Total:

Now! I get that this might cause sticker shock – it did for me when I first saw the price.

But, context is important – how much would a three month trip to Europe with your family cost you? How much is rent? Schooling? Activities? When viewed in the context of what it actually is – a turn key experience for your entire family to live, school and work in Europe for three months, the context becomes clearer.

And when I calculated our family’s annual spend with education, housing and bills included, it came to about $40,000AUD a quarter so the cost is actually comparable to living at home.

🥁 Sooo, drumroll please. Here it is — the grand total:

EURO: €32,291

AUD: $52,000

USD: $37,000.

In addition to these core expenses were, for me – day to day living expenses, a weekend trip to Santorini, a weekend trip to Paros, a moms night trip to Mykonos, a mid-cohort break to London for four nights. Day to day living expenses are fairly low, and comprise food and drinks mostly! Otherwise, our days were spent at beaches or the square, both of which were free.

Juggling Work and Boundless Life (AKA Boundless is a Full Time Job in Itself)

Now, a big caveat to the above:

Whilst you can and potentially might need to work whilst doing Boundless Life, there is usually so much going on with Boundless Life activities and social gatherings that Boundless itself can sometimes feel like a full-time job!

If you suffer from intense bouts of FOMO like I do? It can be challenging to juggle both.

Personally, I found it really challenging to work with enough focus and intensity to *grow* my business whilst doing a Boundless Life cohort.

Sustaining? Fine. But mustering up the time, energy and space to grow it was something I decided to forgo about two or three weeks in.

There were a number of reasons (some obvious, some not-so-much):

• Greek Island Life: I was only doing one Boundless Life cohort, and whilst three months is a ‘long’ time – it also passes by a blink of the eye. I realised early on that trying to work at the same pace and intensity as I did at home would mean missing out on a lot of the things that make this experience special – savouring ‘living’ in a new place, forming beautiful social connections fast, slowing down, thinking about the future and soaking up special moments.

• A Packed Activity Schedule: The Boundless Life schedule of activities is no joke. Kudos to the team for their efforts, and also? You’ll realise a couple of weeks in that you just can’t do everything. Every single day, there is at least one activity you can participate in as a parent – a Boundless circle, a learning experience, a planned activity like visiting a farm or going on a boat trip (these ones come at an additional cost), a walking tour.
  If you don’t plan to work, this is fantastic – there is one thing every day to break up your day.

• Solo Mum Life and Managing Emotions: Moving to a new place, making new friends and adjusting to a new normal are all things that take more time than I expected. As a solo mum managing not only my own emotions but also the emotions of two little people, it took up a lot of energy and time to regulate everyone.
  This had a bigger impact on my capacity than I had anticipated – particularly in the first few weeks as we adjusted, and in the final few weeks as everything seemed to ramp up and everyone wanted to make the most of remaining time together.

Are these champagne problems? Sure.

But they are something to be mindful of if you intend to or need to work full-time whilst ‘doing Boundless’. In many ways, if you let it, it becomes a full time job in itself.

What I Do For Work (And How I Make It Work)

Personally, I’m an ex-lawyer who started an online business called Lifestyle Business School around ten years ago.

I create content on the Internet, and I sell digital products. Remote work like this is perfectly suited to Boundless Life and worldschooling in general, because it can be done from anywhere.

Do I recommend it? Sure, it’s changed my life.

Is it easy and quick? No – but here’s the cliff notes on the path for anyone interested.

Part Four: The Reality (the Bit Instagram Doesn’t Show You)

The Reality of Moving Countries to Worldschool Your Kids

Often, pulling your kids out to do something different is held up as the ‘happily ever after’ — when actually it’s really just the start of a whole new adventure:

It’s imperfect, full of bumps, and maybe a little different to the reality sold online. Here’s a summary of our own experience — expectation v reality style.

• Social Dynamics

  Expectation: A brand new fresh social start and the opportunity to make new friends from scratch.
  Reality: Many of the families in the world school had already been to previous world schools in different locations, and the kids knew each other. We all played social jenga trying to figure out the dynamics, and they really were the new kids at school in a weird way.

• Regulated Kids
  Expectation: Calm, regulated children due to a more play-based curriculum and less stringent academics.
  Reality: This change was big, and the emotions have been big too. So much ‘new’ to process, and therefore lots of support needed from me to help them navigate and adjust.

• Friendships
  Expectation: Easy friendships. international pals and no need to worry about complex social dynamics or the B word.
  Reality: My little boy in particular took some time to adjust, and hasn’t found his people yet. There is a continuing need for him to work on social anxiety and the dynamics aren’t perfect here either (seems your problems don’t disappear when you jump on a plane - go figure!)

• Life Outside of School
  Expectation: Fun! Excursions! Adventure! Exploring the Island after school, beach trips and play dates galore.
  Reality: A huge wave of sickness with bouts of pink eye, colds, allergies and more all taking just about everyone down in the first week or two. This settled over time but in general there was a need for much more kid downtime than usual (aka more time in the house that I’d prefer as the parent as they adjusted to their new normal)

World schooling in general – for us – was not so much the picture perfect ‘fairytale’ solution as an opportunity to get out of the rigidity and structure of our schooling schedule at home to try something new.

Actually, it taught us all resilience, up-levelled our social (and my parenting) skills and required us to adjust and adapt – skills that will serve us when we return home, too.

My son and daughter both struggled at different time, and for different reasons.

My son (6) didn’t always want to go into the classroom; he is quiet and our cohort was 44 families and 16+ students in the class – most of whom had big personalities. He eventually found his person though, and that was a big turning point for him.

My daughter (4) found the big days tiring, and I kept her home on some days to give her a little break. She napped during the day, and mostly had a great time.

What Our Days Actually Looked Like

Of course, this will be different for everyone but here is a taste of a typical week day in the life:

7.30am – Wake a little later due to the later European bedtimes, make breakfast and get ready for school.

8.15am – Leave the house, and start the walk up the many stairs to the ‘EC’ (Education Centre aka school). Count the number of cats we see on the way to make the journey fun, and connect with other families also walking up the stairs.

8.40am – Have a quick play in the playground, and wait for the doors to the school to open.

8.45am – School drop off. Teachers wait outside the classroom to welcome the kids, they swap their outside shoes for inside slippers and head inside for fifteen minutes of connection time.

9am – Walk down the many stairs to a coffee shop and sit down for a coffee. When I started the cohort, I’d order takeaway but quickly realised that this wasn’t the Greek (island) way. So instead, I learned to slow down, enjoy my coffee sitting down and use the time I had to make a list of plans for the day.

10am – Head to the co-working hub (three out of five mornings a week), and sit down to do some focus work.

12pm – Head out to grab a Gyros for lunch, or to sit at one of the many cafes for lunch.

1pm – Head over to the Boundless Lounge for a Boundless circle or learning event.

3pm – Walk up the stairs with other parents for school pick up (unless the kids were doing an after school activity, in which case school pick up was an hour or two later).

4pm — Home for a quick snack, and then walk over to the square for the kids to have a play. Usually, we would hang out here for two or three hours and the kids would play together while the parents chatted on tables nearby. This would usually be the favourite part of everyones day!

7pm – Head home and order food or cook something at home, bathrime and eat on the rooftop.

8pm – Chill time and get ready for bed.

9pm - Bedtime.

On weekends, we wake up later, have breakfast, and then generally go to the beach or hang out with other families — or travel to another Island for an adventure!

Real Talk: The Highs (In No Particular Order)

Okay, so now for some real talk!

There is a lot of information online about Boundless Life, and it’s hard to know what’s real and what’s sponsored.

Of course, everyone’s experience is different but here’s a list of highs and lows based on my own personal experience – starting, of course with the highs.

• Community: Most Boundless families join for the education – but they stay for the community. I’ve travelled for three months without the Boundless community, and with it, and my experience with the latter was 100 times richer. In my experience, the connections you form quickly with Boundless are the magic. You have a built in community of other families, and both you and your children will make very special friendships because you see each other just about every single day for three months!

  

• Fun: Boundless made me realise how much I’d forgotten to prioritise fun in my life. When at home, it’s so easy to fall into a routine of school, home, bed – here, there were social activities, hobbies and constant FUN that made me feel alive again. My mission now? To take some of that home with me, and to incorporate it into my every day.

• Opportunity For Reset: I joined Boundless at a time in my own life when I felt I needed a reset, and what I have realised is that this is something I share with many of the Boundless families. Many come to Boundless at a turning point in their lives – perhaps they have sold a business and they are wondering what’s next, perhaps they are feeling disillusioned with the monotony of their every day life and want to change things, perhaps they are feeling burnt out or misaligned. Just about everyone comes with a common set of core values, and they all centre around freedom, adventure and family. For many (and this was certainly my own experience), Boundless becomes an opportunity to reset, recalibrate and reprioritise what matters. Some of the most beautiful conversations were had with other Boundless mums in a similar life season, and I am endlessly inspired and motivated by them.

• Connections: I don’t mean this in the networking sense, because the truth is that although there are some incredibly credentialed and impressive parents on cohort? No-one leads with ‘what they do’ and that is one of the best parts. Instead, what I mean is that one of the big highlights of Boundless is getting to know the incredible people who join. Mostly, they are people who also share my ethos to make the most of life and really live it – often in spite of, or in some cases because of – big life circumstances like loss or health challenges.

• Living, Not Visiting: My favourite way to experience travel is to ‘pretend live’ in a new place and experience it like a l;ocal – instead of simply ticking a box of tourist sites. I have always travelled this way, but Boundless makes it possible in a whole new way. Three months gives you time to really experience a place, and Boundless gives you the connections and experiences to do it properly.

• Spontaneous Socialising: At home, catching up with friends usually involves a three month lead time. Here, catch ups happen most afternoons, and they are spontaneous. It adds to the real sense of community.

• Experiencing the Magic of Spring/Summer in Greece: We did the April to June cohort, and I love that we started as it was cooler and as our time on the Island has progressed things have been opening up and everything has been getting warmer. It feels like each week gets better and better, with new restaurants and beach clubs opening and the Island really coming alive.

Real Talk: The Lows

I want to be clear here – 80% of this experience has been *pinch me* incredible. Truly.

This experience has been everything I hoped it would be, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to do it.

And also? It (of course) wasn’t perfect. Nothing ever is, and the truth is that there has been beauty even in the challenges. Here are some of them.

• Housing: Our Boundless home was fine for what it was! But, going from a big family home into a small apartment has been an.. adjustment. We booked last minute so we didn’t have much of a choice as to which house we lived in, but if you do? Look for something with the vibe, location and feel (eg natural light) you want — especially if you have young kids and will need to spend more time there, it matters a lot.

• Internet: The Internet in our accommodation was spotty at best. I needed to work out of the co-working if I needed to do calls, which was fine. But, it meant no work at home, and our Netflix/TV wouldn’t work a lot of the time either. This was addressed by Boundless, but I think our location made this a challenge and even after it was ‘fixed’ it wasn’t great. I would make sure your accommodation has strong Internet before booking if this is important to you.

• Kid Issues: My kids struggled at school socially initially, and this was not something I expected. Most days were a slog to get them into the classroom – even though they had a great time after the initial social issues settled. This wore me down a bit, though I do think their experience would be completely different across different locations and with other classroom dynamics.

• Orientation: Because so many other Boundless families knew each other, it was difficult to find my place in the first few weeks. I didn’t know who knew who, and the experience was a little exhausting. I think Boundless could (and probably will, they are very open to feedback) do a better job of connecting newbies to each other in those early weeks when everything can feel like a lot.

• Costs: Boundless Life isn’t cheap, and accommodation especially is pricey (ours was circa 5,000 Euro a month when others locally on the Island pay 800 euro a month for the same accommodation long term). You are really paying for a turn key solution, and there are certainly other options available. I do think Boundless do an incredible job though, and you get what you pay for.

Does the Reality Match the Expectation?

Here’s the truth: this experience transformed all of us – but not necessarily in the way I’d expected.

The (perhaps rose-tinted) hope?

That attending a world school would ‘solve’ all of the issues we’d had at home. That it would effortlessly give us the opportunity to slow down and connect more deeply as a family. And that having the world as the classroom would gift my children with a new lens and perspective on the world.

The reality? World schooling has been the start of a new chapter, not a picture perfect ‘fairytale’ solution.

The first few weeks were big. Big feelings, big transitions, big emotions. There was so much “new” for the kids to process. New place, new people, new rhythm. With that came a lot of moments where they needed more from me than I’d expected.

More support. More patience. More presence.

It turns out that changing your environment doesn’t mean everything magically settles. The same challenges follow you; they just show up somewhere new. Social dynamics still need to be navigated. Confidence still takes time to build. Emotions still need somewhere to go.

And then there was me. I think I expected to arrive and instantly relax into the slower Greek way of living.

For me, that’s been the unexpected part of all of this. Not the move. Not the logistics. Not even the kids adjusting. But learning how to actually be in a life that isn’t rushed. That’s been the real shift.

To sit down at a coffee shop and drink my coffee, instead of taking it away and rushing off to the next thing. To prioritise spending time with new friends, instead of measuring the success of my days simply by how much I was able to produce. To slow down and focus on being, instead of always doing.

I can hand on heart now say, though – the little challenges have all been part of the growth.

We’ve all been taught resilience, we’ve uplevelled our social (and for me, parenting) skills, and we’ve been required to adjust and adapt in ways that will serve us for a lifetime.

Would We Do It Again?

A heart-stopping resounding YES.

Right now, my children are being given the opportunity to see the world and I’ve been given an opportunity to slow down and enjoy it with them.

The biggest gifts so far?

More resilience. More confidence. More softening into a version of life that doesn’t require or reward rushing, to-do lists or how much you can get done in a day.

Many of the families we’re connected with on this adventure feel the same – so much so, they have decided to continue on and do a year or more.

I get it. Once you’ve experienced a different way of living, it’s hard to unsee… and even harder to go back.

Personally, I think a year back to back would be tiring. Moving every three months means big energy periods at the start and end, and some families at the end of a year were tired.

I love the idea of doing one Boundless cohort a year, in the spring. It would allow us to experience life elsewhere for three months, without ‘giving up’ life at home.

For now, we’re letting this experience shape our perception of life when we head back home (but don’t be surprised if you see us all on another plane very soon).

Part Five: FAQs and Resources

FAQs

Here is a list of FAQs – add any other questions you have below and I will continue to update this!

• Where are people from? Most of the families in our cohort were originally from the USA. There were also two Australian families (ourselves and one other!), one family from the UK and a couple of families were also half South American.

• Are there many single parents? I did Boundless solo! There were two other moms also doing Boundless solo, and two more who only had their spouse on cohort for a week or two due to work commitments. Personally, doing Boundless as a solo parent was a great experience because it gave me a village – other parents helped out, and I never felt alone. At times, it did feel ‘hard’ – but so does solo parenting in general, so that wasn’t anything different to the norm!

[Add your questions in the comments and I will answer honestly!]

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Discount Code and Booking Info

Get €400 Off: I do have a special discount code if you decide to book and you found this honest guide helpful.

Click here to find out more about Boundless Life.

Use the code LBSCODE to get €400 off your booking at checkout.

You will get €400 off your booking for using it (and I will get a €400 credit if I book again – win win!) Keep in mind that I paid full price for my Boundless Life experience, so this is an honest account of my experience because I wish I had this prior to committing!

If you have other questions, please also feel free to comment below and I will answer for you.

You can also find me over on Instagram at @steviedillon_, where I have more posts and stories sharing about my family’s experience.

So there you have it! The real, unfiltered truth guide to living, working and world schooling in Europe; shared through the lens of my own personal experience doing Boundless Life in Syros, Greece with my two kids.

Let me know your comments, thoughts or follow up questions in the comments , I’ll happily answer any you have! ⬇️

And follow @steviedillon_ for my adventures in real time.

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👋🏼👋🏼👋🏼 Hey! I’m Stevie. I’ve been on the internet for over a decade now (officially an internet grandma), building a business and figuring out how to make work fit around life — not the other way around. This newsletter is where I share what I’m learning. It’s for women who don’t just want a “successful” life on paper… but one that actually feels good in their bones.

Think business — online business, remote work, money (FIRE) — mixed with lifestyle — travel, motherhood, millennial chaos (and the behind-the-scenes of making it all work).

I’m a mum of two, running a solo online business that’s served over ~2k students and a podcast with ~2 million downloads, and I’m currently living on a Greek island where my kids are in world school for a few months (and sharing my adventures along the way here).

DEAR DIARY: Turns Out Holding a Good Life is Just as Uncomfortable as Building One

My faaaavourite movie of all time is About Time, and in it is this line:

“The truth is I now don’t travel back at all, not even for the day. I just try to live every day as if I’ve deliberately come back to this one day, to enjoy it, as if it was the full final day of my extraordinary, ordinary life.”

There’s context, of course. The movie is about time travel, and the importance of fully living the moments in each day.

I’ve always believed in this. But I’ve had a hard time slowing down enough to actually do it. Or, if I did, not feeling guilty for it.

Right now is the first time in years that I don’t feel that.

Each morning, I’m sitting down at a coffee shop and drinking my coffee in instead of taking it away and rushing off to the next thing.

I’m measuring my days by how they feel, not what they produce.

And I’m prioritising time with friends. It’s easy to here and that is the BIGGEST gift. This island doesn’t require catch ups to be scheduled. You run into people on every corner, make spontaneous plans, end up in the square most afternoons.

This isn’t just nice. It’s a rewiring.

Here’s what I’m learning:

Figuring out how to hold a good life can be just as uncomfortable as building one.

Because there’s no external validation loop for it. No obvious scoreboard. No one clapping because I had a slow, happy Tuesday.

I just have to decide it counts.

I was speaking to business friends at a mastermind in London last week and we all agreed this was the goal.

Someone said it takes five years of unavoidable grind to even make this possible. I think that’s true.

But once you get here, I think the real work becomes allowing yourself to actually enjoy it.

To slow down without assuming it means you’re falling behind in some invisible race you never even signed up to run.

What if slowing down is the success?

Right now, for me, it really feels like it is and honestly that feels both expansive and fucking terrifying.

Because if I’m not the Type A achiever…
who am I?

I can feel my second chapter loading in every way.. and I think I’m about to find out.

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WORDS TO LIVE BY.

Source: May Aygun

LINKS AND THINGS I LOVE.

🙏 The Second Mountain: This book was recommended to me by a mastermind friend, and I devoured it. If you’re entering your ‘second act’ in any area of life, it’s for you: Get It Here

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LET’S BUILD A LIFESTYLE BUSINESS AND HAVE FUN DOING IT

👋🏼👋🏼👋🏼 Hey! I’m Stevie. I’ve been on the internet for over a decade now (officially an internet grandma), building a business and figuring out how to make work fit around life — not the other way around. This newsletter is where I share what I’m learning. It’s for women who don’t just want a “successful” life on paper… but one that actually feels good in their bones.

Think business — online business, remote work, money (FIRE) — mixed with lifestyle — travel, motherhood, millennial chaos (and the behind-the-scenes of making it all work).

I’m a mum of two, running a solo online business that’s served over ~2k students and a podcast with ~2 million downloads, and I’m currently living on a Greek island where my kids are in world school for a few months (and sharing my adventures along the way — they went viral on Instagram here last week).

PS. If you’re getting this, you subscribed at some point. Not your thing anymore? Unsubscribe below — no hard feelings (but you will miss a wild ride).

DEAR DIARY: I Went Viral on Instagram Last Week, And it Brought Up All Of My ‘Ish’

Wowowowowow.

I’ve been writing on the Internet and posting on Instagram for over 10 years, and last week was the first time I’ve ever gone viral.

And it happened not once, but twice — in the space of two days.

500,000 views.

5,000 new followers.

(Update, it’s at 7,000+ new followers now.. and growing.

And I was followed by a few ‘famous’ people.

GREAT, RIGHT?

Well not really.. because actually, it brought up a lot for me.

I’ve always struggled with not-enoughness.

For the past eight years, I’ve tried to over-compensate with achievement.

‘If I’m successful, people will like me!’ - I figured.

I see the same thing come out in my kids sometimes.

They give away their toys, their pocket money and ‘show off’, hoping the other kids will let them play with them.

Seeing that happening was a big part of the reason I started therapy, actually.

(That and a complete life meltdown, but more on that another time).

I could see the patterns in me start repeating in them, and nothing makes you want to heal your own ish than seeing it mirrored in your four and six year old.

I thought I was healing! Yay!

And then famous people started following me and it brought alllll of my ish (again).

Turns Out My Rejection Wound Runs DEEP

My childhood was picture perfect — or at least, my home life was.

The best parents ever.

The best childhood (at home) ever.

But school? Notsomuch.

I was v v v tall. V v v academic. V v v socially ‘quiet’. And v v excluded at school.

I even remember the the exact moment it started.

I was on a playdate in Grade Four with my ‘friends’.. until one of them accused me of tipping their Christmas tree over. I didn’t, but they yelled and told me I was horrible and then.. never spoke to me again.

At school on Monday, they sat elsewhere and I ate my lunch alone.

Seems like a ‘little’ thing, right? Until the same thing repeated for over a year.

Eventually, I made another friend (until she moved to another city).

And from there, I moved steadily down in the social hierarchy until I hit the ‘MOST uncool’ girls group.. and stayed there for the next 8 years.

A ‘cool’ girl talked to me once. They called them the ‘pondies’, because they sat next to.. well, a pond.. at lunch time. It was just after geography class. I almost died with happiness, until I realised she wanted me to give me the answers to the test the next day.

‘Square’, they would call me.

And over time, I assumed rejection before it happened.

Of course they won’t like me, I would think.

Of course they’ll walk away.

School Ended, But I Took the Rejection Wound With Me

At uni, I started drinking to fit in.

I made friends.. until something seemingly small happened and the ringmaster decided I couldn’t be part of the crew anymore.

Rejection wound deepening.

I could go on, but suffice to say that my rejection wound became a self-perpetuating cycle. U

ntil I discovered business and started getting accolades and people praising my accomplishments, I didn’t know how to ‘solve’ it. Not that achievement solves it, but for many years I thought it did because finally people liked me.

Doing the Work.

I’ve done a lot of work recently on ~all of this~.

I’ve had to, things were unravelling.

After several years of business success, I’d started defining success as ‘more’. More accolades, more wins, more recognition.

The work now? To redefine my definition of success around not what will make others ‘like’ me, but as what feels good in my body.

Slowly over the past year or so, I started accepting myself as whole not for what I’d achieved, but for who I am.

And then.. the viral thing.

I posted about my trip to Greece, and new followers started pouring in.

1,000… then 2,000.. then 5,000+++

[Famous beauty influencer] started following you.

[Famous business lady] started following you.

I jumped when I saw it.

WHY!?!, my mean girl whispered to me.

‘I’m so uninteresting and uncool, and it’s only going to be a matter of time until they unfollow me again’, I thought.

The narrative? Again, that I’m not good enough.

That it’s only a matter of time until I’m rejected again.

That I’m going to need to elevate, post ‘better stuff’, and pretend to be someone else so they don’t find out who I REALLY am.

Here’s Where I’m At Right Now

Self-confidence and self-worth doesn’t reappear overnight. Even when you think you’re there, little moments in every day life can show you where you still have (a lot of!) work to do.

Good.

For me, that’s an opportunity to actively work on it.

To let people like me… without assuming they’ll change their mind.

To let myself be seen… without scrambling to become ‘better’.

To allow people to have opinions (positive and constructive).. and not assume that it means something personally about me.

Right now, instead of trying to ‘fix’ the feeling… I’m just noticing it.

Noticing the voice that assumes rejection. Noticing the urge to prove myself. Noticing how quickly I want to turn something good into something that is going to go away unless I get ‘better’.

And gently reminding myself:

Nothing has actually gone wrong.

People followed me because they liked something I said. And if they leave… that’s allowed too.

The lesson? I’m still learning how to feel safe being seen.

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WORDS TO LIVE BY.

Source: Michelle Baumgard_1fw

For more on my own perspective around this and why I’ll probably think this way, click here.

LINKS AND THINGS I LOVE.

🙏 Radical Honesty: Right now in Internet Business land, there is a reckoning happening. People are starting (finally) to get radically honest about the real cost of their picture perfect success. Loving this Substack series:

🤳 ‘Those’ Viral Posts: Wondering which posts of mine went viral last week? This one and this one (in the space of two days).

🧘🏻‍♀️ My Full Remote Work and Content Creation Set Up: This is the full list of bits and pieces I brought with me from home to work remotely and create content whilst I’m away.

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LET’S BUILD A LIFESTYLE BUSINESS AND HAVE FUN DOING IT

👋🏼👋🏼👋🏼 👋🏼👋🏼👋🏼 Hey! I’m Stevie. I’ve been on the internet for over a decade now (officially an internet grandma), building a business and figuring out how to make work fit around life — not the other way around. This newsletter is where I share what I’m learning. It’s for women who don’t just want a “successful” life on paper… but one that actually feels good in their bones.

Think business — online business, remote work, money (FIRE) — mixed with lifestyle — travel, motherhood, millennial chaos (and the behind-the-scenes of making it all work).

I’m a mum of two, running a solo online business that’s served over ~2k students and a podcast with ~2 million downloads, and I’m currently living on a Greek island where my kids are in world school for a few months (and sharing my adventures along the way — they went viral on Instagram here last week).

PS. If you’re getting this, you subscribed at some point. Not your thing anymore? Unsubscribe below — no hard feelings (but you will miss a wild ride).

DEAR DIARY: I’ve Moved to a Greek Island With My Two Young Kids and I (Finally) Feel Alive Again

Well, feck.

Didn’t think I’d be saying those words any time soon — but here we are.

I’m writing this from a co-working space on a Greek island I hadn’t even heard of six weeks ago… after pulling my kids out of school and moving us here.

Solo.

With two kids under six.

Cool cool cool.

Psssst: if you want the full cliff notes on where we are, what we’re doing, and why the craziest thing I’ve ever done may also be the best, click here.

Right now though, I’m sitting at a big shared table, windows open, the kind of blue outside that doesn’t even look real, after doing a very normal school drop-off in a place that still doesn’t feel entirely real yet.

And I’m just… here.

In Syros.

If you’re not familiar with it, don’t worry — neither was I until six weeks ago.

Most non-Greek people don’t know it. They know Mykonos, Santorini… they come, take the photos, tick the box, choof off.

But that’s never really been how I like to travel.

My favourite way to travel is what I call “pretend living.”

Not the highlights.

The normal stuff.

The same coffee spot every morning.
The same walk to the park.
The grocery store where you stand there for 10 minutes trying to work out what anything is.

The rhythm of a place, not just the sights.

And so when an opportunity came up to actually live somewhere new for three months… in a place I’d never been, but that looked like a neoclassical dream…

I said yes, and then figured out the rest later.

Getting here wasn’t exactly seamless.

There was some very last-minute planning, a fair bit of finance jenga, and multiple moments across trains, planes and ferries where I was like… this is a terrible idea… while also handing out snacks, carrying bags, and trying to keep two small humans vaguely on track.

But also?

It’s been… easier than I thought.

Not easy.

But easier than the version of this that lives in most people’s heads; the one that says:

“I couldn’t do that.”
“I couldn’t afford that.”
“I could never take my kids out of school.”

But the thing I’m realising is, it kind of starts with letting yourself believe it’s even an option in the first place.

From there, it’s mostly logistics.

Messy, imperfect, slightly chaotic logistics… but still just logistics (and finances of course, which I talk more about here too).

I found a school, booked the flights, packed the bags, got on the plane — and now I’m here, ten days in, doing school drop-offs and coffee runs and work blocks in a place that, not that long ago, felt completely out of reach.

And something about that has shifted things for me a bit.

Not in a big dramatic “anything is possible!!!” kind of way — but more in a quieter, steadier way where I’m starting to question what else I’ve filed away under “not for me” that maybe… actually is.

TRUST ME when I say that this wasn’t some perfectly timed, fully thought-through decision.

It was an idea, followed by a slightly unhinged yes, followed by figuring it out as I went.

And now I’m here, and it’s beautiful and hard and a bit chaotic and really, really good — and I think that might be the point.

I don’t have a neat lesson to wrap this up with yet.

But I know this was the right kind of crazy for me, and I have a feeling there’s more of that to come.

I’ll share the rest as I go.

Specifically, I’ll be sharing more of my Greece adventures over the coming months in my weekly Dear Diary entries, and will write and record more in-depth guides and breakdowns too.

Have a question, or something you’d love for me to cover? Let me know in the comments. I’m all ears.. and DYING FOR THIS TO LIGHT A LITTLE SPARK IN YOU, TOO.

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WORDS TO LIVE BY.

Source: Simon Alexandero

THINGS I LOVE.

💻 Working Remotely? This second screen is the best remote-work item I’ve packed. It lets me host Zoom calls with a second screen, and not miss a BEAT.

🇬🇧 Visiting London? My Airbnb in Chelsea was a London dream — and the perfect space for a family with young kids.

🧘🏻‍♀️ 75 Soft: This article of mine (about the tiny steps I took to save $20k, write a book and get strong in 75 days) is having it’s moment with 4,000 views in two days. Check it out here.

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LET’S BUILD A LIFESTYLE BUSINESS AND HAVE FUN DOING IT

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Evergreen funnels: the big, fat white lie of the Internet. If you’ve been seduced by the girl boss gurus promising lie-flat seats to Europe, serious bank, and “money while you sleep”, this one’s for you (warning: bring tissues).

Here’s the truth: mine made $27,813 in two months… and it still wasn’t passive. I’ve been doing this for eight years, it’s high-ticket, it’s advanced, and anyone who says “anyone can do it” really means “people like me.”

I’m not saying that to boast — I’m saying it so you don’t waste months building one before you’re ready. Because if you’re anything like the 1,600+ students I’ve worked with inside Lifestyle Business School, you want the easy life… and think automated funnels are the way to get it.

They can be. But not in the way you’ve been sold.

It’s not all doom and gloom, though. If you ARE still keen on it by the end of this article, I’m dropping some serious tea on the ins and outs of building or refining yours and you’ll probably be in a pretty good spot to give it a red hot crack.

n this Substack article, I’m breaking down the nitty gritty behind the scenes with real numbers, actual steps and the work involved in building an ‘automated’ income stream, including:

• The real math, including the exact ad spend, profit numbers and ‘money in my pocket’ from this funnel;

• The architecture of the funnel and how it’s all set up (so you don’t have to try and funnel hack it yourself!);

• The timeline and work involved in setting it up and keeping it running (including what ‘autopilot’ actually means and how much is passive (or not);

• The pitfalls, lessons and takeaways if you’re still on board with building out your own — including when to do it, what you need prepared and some real talk around your expectations.

No-one shares this stuff, but honestly: if there are people teaching online business — and specifically, evergreen funnels — and they aren’t willing to share their own results? Buyer beware (they’re likely selling something they learnt from a course and they’ve never actually done it with any great success themselves).

Inside My Evergreen Funnel: The Complete Setup (No Funnel Hacking Required)

Let’s break down the nuts and bolts of my evergreen funnel.

The offer:

• Product: Lifestyle Business School, a collection of six online courses to help you build a simple, happy lifestyle business that prints earns well, serves well and sets you free. The cost of the offer is $2,200 give or take.

• Sales Offer: Every product needs a compelling sales offer made inside the funnel for it to sell well. This funnel had a compelling discount code and a bonus course (worth $1,499 on its own and not available anywhere else).

• Sales Psychology: The offer includes a genuine decision making window of seven days, supported by automated deadline software that can tell if someone has already received the offer so they don’t receive it again.

The funnel:

Side note: Don’t bother copying any of these assets, they stopped working so well and we are in the process of rebooting!

• Webinar Funnel: The funnel was to watch a class on how to build a lifestyle business in 2025. Below is the opt in page (it converted around 30% and it can be improved).

  

• Seven Day Deadline With Follow Up Emails: The funnel was supported with a seven day sequence with accompanying emails.

• Retargeting Ads: There were also retargeting ads being served to people who opted in.

• Back End Funnel: This ended up being a very important piece. In addition to the front end funnel, there was also a back end newsletter funnel that everyone who entered the webinar funnel went to if they didn’t purchase. There, they were served a series of value-based emails, before going into an email only promotion for a different offer (same product).

Fun Fact: Approximately 45% of sales came from this back end funnel.

My Evergreen Funnel Receipts: Every Dollar In and Out

Okay, if you’re a sucker for numbers like me — lean in, things are about to get juicy.

You already know that I made $27,813 from my evergreen funnel in two months — but how does that break down? Because, as we know, revenue is NOT PROFIT. Especially with an evergreen funnel, there are also marketing costs involved.

Did I take home $27,813? No.

Was it still worth it? For me, absolutely — and I’ll show you why.

Here’s the raw breakdown:

• Total Revenue: $27,813.

  • Organic Revenue: Approximately $13k

  • Revenue from Ad Sales: Approximately $15k

• Total Ad Spend: $6,937

• Total Profit (After Ad Spend): $20,876

• Total Revenue Per Lead (All): $17

Ad Metrics:

• Return on Ad Spend (*Just From Ad Sales): 2.16x

• Total Cost Per Lead: $4

• Total Revenue Per Lead (Ads): $9

Okay, so that’s the math. Now, tell me — with no other knowledge or insight, is this outcome good or bad?

Let me tell you the answer: it’s normal (for me, anyway).

And the result of a hell of a lot of hard work.

Here’s a few notes:

• Return on Ad Spend: This means that for every dollar I spent on ads, I made just over $2 back. Is this good? I mean, I’ll take it — I essentially doubled my money. Could it be better? Yes, with more optimisation: but also, I didn’t have time to refine the way I needed to really scale this up.

• Ad Cost Per Lead vs. Ad Revenue Per Lead: Here’s the game with an evergreen funnel — always make sure you are paying less for a lead than you are making. So, in this example, I had about 1,600 leads into the funnel and it cost me about $4 for every lead. But, I made $9 for every lead (this number is calculated by dividing the revenue by the number of leads). This is a win.

• Profit: The total profit (before tax) was $20,000. A win!

Is it always like this? No.

Did it start out like this? Also no.

Let’s dive into the amount of work a funnel like this requires (spoiler alert: in case you still have illusions of passive income, your dreams might be about to be shattered).

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The Passive Income Myth: How Much Work My Automated Funnel Really Takes

Okay, so here’s the deal.

Funnel are real werkkkk. Most people know that, but they think only of the up front work without realising that, actually? Most of the hard work is in the ongoing work to refine it once it’s live.

Whereas a live launch is a sprint, an evergreen funnel is a marathon.

Neither are inherently ‘bad’ or ‘good’ — but it is good to know what you’re getting into before you get started. Misaligned expectations killed more dreams than failure ever did!

Let’s break down the two types of work involved:

One: The Upfront Work to Build Your Evergreen Funnel

Importantly, this doesn’t start with the building of the funnel itself. If you’re doing an evergreen funnel right (and saving yourself a lot of heartache), you should have already launched your funnel many times before trying to automate it.

IThis is the biggest misconception and mistake I see: people rushing into creating an evergreen funnel that isn’t absolutely firing on all cylinders and then wondering why it’s not working when they automate it.

Here’s the truth: automated funnels don’t convert like live ones do. And so, before going evergreen, you want to make sure you have a funnel that is converting really well — so that when the success of it drops by half when you automate it (which it will), it still performs.

Now that’s out of the way, here’s some good news: if you do things in this order, ‘automating your funnel’ won’t actually take that long. You’ll simply take your best performing live funnel assets, and duplicate them plus add an automated timer.

Done-zo.

Two: The Ongoing Work of Refining Your Evergreen Funnel

This is the marathon bit.

And it’s a bit like social media in the sense that once you’re on the carousel — you actually don’t ever get off 🎠

It’s not like you start refining your evergreen funnel, and then one magic day it starts working and magically prints money until the end of time. I mean, wouldn’t that be the golden ticket!

No, siree.

Here’s the game:

• Tracking: Every single week, track a heap of stats to help you assess the overall performance of the evergreen funnel, and the performance of each step along the way.

• Traffic: Review your traffic and make sure it is hitting benchmark — meaning, you are getting enough people into the funnel, and at the right cost. This is where a lot of funnel are dead in the water — they are set up, but there isn’t enough volume running through it. Each week, I needed several hundred people to go through the funnel, and that volume could only be achieved with ads.

• Refinement: Every week, there will be something to refine. The refinement process is both art and science. The science is assessing the numbers and looking for what’s broken. The art is knowing what to fix first, and how to actually fix it. Sometimes, you will get it wrong before you get it right — and your numbers will tank before they improve.

Aaaaand… repeat. The frustrating bit? That just as it starts humming, something else will break — and often when you have a busy week, or you’re on holiday and BAM: you’re forced back into ‘fix the funnel' purgatory.

It is the game that never endssss… it just goes on and on my frienddddd 🎶

The problem? Most people treat their evergreen funnel like a project, and set aside time to set it up — and then get busy with other things, never optimise it, and slowly it decays and dies.

Morbid, and true.

The Real Tea ☕️ — Seven Things You Should Know Before You Build Your Own

Okay, so that’s the truth about evergreen funnels and ‘passive income’! Still wanna do it?

DO! I mean, I do them and I love them. But I also always want to be honest about them, because they ain’t no walk in the park and in many ways, they’re the harder route when it comes to selling online.

So, before you dive in, here’s seven quick things I want you to know before you build your own evergreen funnel.

• It Cost Me $600+ to Get Each Customer: This means that it wouldn’t have been viable for me to run an evergreen funnel for a $600 product or below. Either you need to have a price point that allows a funnel to be profitable (and if you go much over that $2-3k mark, it need a different funnel to the one I used altogether), or you need a funnel with lots of upsells after the initial purchase and opportunities to increase the average order value.

• The Back End Funnel is Essential: These days, I don’t think you can simply set up a seven day funnel for an offer over $500 and expect people to buy cold. Having my back end funnel was essential to making mine profitable, and it’s a whole other thing to need to optimise and refine. Not for the faint hearted, lemme tell you.

• Don’t Let Payment Plans Trip You Up: Yes I made $20k profit - but not all of that was cash straight away. Some of that came in on payment plans over a period of months. This can be a trap, especially if you aren’t getting enough cash coming in and your ad costs are higher — you will end up in a cashflow trap.

• Make Sure You Only Automate Already Successful Funnels: Please, for the love of all things good and holy, do not automate a fresh funnel. I’ve worked with a lot of people on this, and they all do it anyway. It never works.

• Don’t Try to Optimise Multiple Funnels: This is why I advocate hard for a simple business. I had one funnel to optimise, and it’s STILL a lot. Where people get tripped up is that they try to create a heap of offers and funnel and then get overwhelmed and give up. Don’t do that.

• You’ll Probably Still Need to Live Launch: Even if you do have an automated funnel, you’ll likely be leaving big money on the table if you don’t live launch too. These days, I think of my evergreen funnels as little lead generation engines that work to collect people (and sometimes make some sales) in between launches.

• What’s Working Now: These days, I actually wouldn’t recommend an automated funnel as the go to. Instead, what’s working are live monthly (or even weekly) live classes. Yes, this mean you need to show up — but you can still automate a lot of the back end, and you will make more money such that it could be the only thing you do.

So there you have it! The real, unfiltered truth about evergreen funnels from someone who's actually done it. If you're still keen after all that honesty, you're probably ready to give it a proper go. And if you're thinking 'nah, this sounds like way too much work' — well, that's probably the smartest takeaway of all 🤣

Let me know your comments, thoughts or follow up questions in the comments , I’ll happily answer any you have! ⬇️

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We live and work in a weird little world. Some days, I'm obsessed with this beautiful ecosystem that lets us create on the Internet, build things from nothing, and work in ways our grandmothers could only have dreamed of. Other days, I'm disillusioned as feck — watching 'top creators' pump out AI-generated content, seeing original thinkers get ripped off within hours of sharing an idea, and realising our creative collective has turned into a swamp of copycats.

Maybe that's just my ‘online business elder’ perspective talking. Eight years in, rose-tinted glasses long gone, nothing fazes me anymore. Brand newbies selling $20k coaching packages to other brand newbies? Seen it. 'Thought leaders' going viral with content lifted wholesale from creators with 200 followers? Old news. Someone launching a course suspiciously identical to yours just weeks after they purchased yours? Tuesday.

But here's the thing that really gets me: the copying. It's riiiiiiiiife, and there isn't a day that goes by that there isn't a creator crying foul on the Internet that someone has lifted their work and claimed it as their own. Content theft and intellectual property violations have become the norm in our industry.

I get why it happens: we're in a little bubble where we're on the Internet teaching people how to be successful on the Internet.. who then teach people how to be successful on the Internet. The lines get hella blurred — the people who are learning, are also teaching. Only, learning something isn't a licence to teach it and yet it seems the rules of copyright and Intellectual Property haven't quite made it over to this side of the screen.

Things are becoming even more blurry with AI. Tools like Poppy AI (which I love, by the way — so not throwing shade) are blowing up because they allow creators to feed existing viral or popular content into it to use as 'inspiration' for their own. But — where is the line? When does 'inspiration' become stealing? And in an Internet world where everyone is learning, teaching and 'being inspired' by each other, how do we set our own moral compass and still compete?

In this Substack article, I'm covering all things copying including:

👀 Exact examples from my own business, and a critical deep dive into the fine line between copying and inspiration (including what I think is okay, and what most definitely isn't).

🧭 Tips for creators who want to create on the Internet without losing their moral compass, including how to use AI to create content (and what crosses the morality line), the number one mistake newbies make (and why we should probably forgive them) and how to avoid inadvertently copying with one simple move;

📝 How creators should approach copycat competitors, and the three counterintuitive things I now do when it happens to me.

The Copy-Paste Hall of Shame: Real Examples That'll Make Your Jaw Drop

Let’s play a game — with real life examples. Consider the scenarios below and answer: is this one inspiration, or just straight up theft? As you read, critically assess: where is the line? Then, we’ll talk about it.

And yes, these have all happened to me.

• Example One: Student purchases your course. Student ghosts after being asked for a testimonial or feedback. Two months later, student hosts a webinar where whole sections of your course content are shared and taught as the students own. Student then boasts about $100k launch from her ‘game-changing’ offer (that mirrors your own). Still no testimonial ;)

• Example two: Student purchases your course. Student then creates her own course and lifts all of your spreadsheet workbook and rebrands them in her own font and colours. Student is approached, and admits that she has taken the content but ‘she bought it and can use it and anyway stuff like this is on the Internet everywhere’.

• Example three: Follower enters your email funnel. Student then creates an account on Threads, and lifts all of your unique thoughts from the email series and craft them into her own Thread posts — word for word. Account blows up and hits 2,000 followers in a matter of months.

• Example four: *Very* high profile coach views your stories and enters your email funnel. High profile coach then rebrands her business echoing your entire ethos and concepts, and becomes ‘known’ for the same thing you created.

• Example five: You write a Substack. It goes viral. A month later, a Substack with the same content goes viral — written by a completely different creator.

• Example six: You joining a coaching program with a five figure investment. You make a post in the group with a unique concept. Coaching program founder later calls her new program the exact same thing, and starts teaching the method.

So - which ones cross the line? Legally? Morally? Ambiguously?

The Murky Waters of Online Content Creation: Where’s the Line?

The truth is — it’s murky, right? I mean, some things are clear cut (and honestly, I feel like we could all agree that all of the above at the very least morally crosses the line), but some aren’t.

At the end of the day, we’re all inspired by something. There’s nothing new under the sun. But at the same time? I think we all need to think about and adopt our own moral compass in a world where sloppy and wholesale lifting of ideas is almost the norm. Where you land on it all will be unique to you, but here’s a few things to consider:

A licence to consume isn’t a licence to steal

Let's start with what should really be the most obvious line (and yet, apparently is not). Just because you join a course, coaching program or other educational experience — or simply buy a template — to upskill yourself, does not mean you then have a licence to teach it or sell it yourself. Sigh — the fact that this even needs to be said is.. sad? Disappointing? This became such an issue in my current offer that I created an IP notice for those who entered the program. The content was unlocked only after the notice was accepted as read.

Three people joined, read the notice and asked for a refund. Honestly, I'm grateful — but it did tell me that there are people out there that honestly do not know that they can't re-teach the content they buy. Doing so would require a commercial licence, and would come at a much higher price — because it's handing someone a business in a box.

If you use an idea, attribute it

Here's what I fecking love about books. When someone shares someone else's idea, they attribute it. It's that simple! They fecking attribute it! Of course, if they didn't they'd land themselves in legal hot water or morally ambiguous territory (à la one best-selling book currently topping the charts), but honestly it's just good manners.

And here's the clincher: if you don't want to attribute it because you feel like it would diminish your authority — that's a sign that you're being morally dodgy. Be creatively abundant and lift others up; trust me it will come back to you tenfold and the creativity (and copycat) gods will reward you in karma points.

The truth is, being inspired is how creativity works. It’s normal — and expected — to get inspiration from others. When you do, and build on their work, it’s not a bad thing. But, reference their work as inspiring your thought spark! Celebrate it! That’s what the legit people do all the time, and that’s what you should be doing in Internet land (even especially when most others aren’t).

Don’t follow or buy if you’re too close

If you're too close — in terms of how you think, your ethos, or what you sell — and you can feel yourself thinking 'this stuff is GOLD', consider whether you should really buy from them or follow them. It's so, so easy to have someone else's content, unique thought or original concepts seep into our own content when we follow too closely. And if you're teaching or selling the same thing, that's not a good thing. This is especially true when you're starting out. It's so natural and normal to model others before we find our own feet — but that becomes problematic when you start following in their footsteps and getting too close creatively.

Use AI to get process inspiration, not perspective inspiration

Ai is incredible. It allows you to feed in other content sources, and use it to create your own content. But, there’s a line here — and even though AI won’t tell you this, here’s how I recommend approaching it. Use these tools to help you distil other peoples tips and tricks about how to approach something — but don’t steal their unique perspective or process and palm it off as your own.

Example One: Someone creates a killer YouTube video about how to structure an Instagram caption using storytelling. Use AI to help you create your own Instagram caption using that process, but don't lift the process or the creator's perspective on storytelling and palm it off as yours. That's not okay - that is the line.

Example Two: You follow someone that has a certain style of Instagram post that consistently goes viral. They are in a different niche. Feed that into AI and ask it for inspiration on how to create something similar for YOUR niche — but don't lift the actual perspective or content itself.

Develop original concepts

Those in creative industries like advertising are super familiar with the idea of 'high concept' work. Meaning, there is a difference between simply having an idea — and turning it into something unique. Usually, when you see something online that stands out, it's because it is an idea that has been crafted into something 'high concept'. Here's a hot tip: rather than lifting someone else's 'high concept' work, learn how to create your own. There's lots of ways to do this, but here's one way — twist two unique ideas or areas together.

Example One: A podcaster starts a new show where they interview mamas over martinis and ask them about their most unhinged parenting moments. The twist is that they put 'mum content' and 'drinking' and twisted it together to create something new!

Example Two: A burn-out coach comes up with a unique perspective around how wellness is actually making people more stressed. The twist is that they have taken two things that usually 'sit together' — burn out and wellness, and delivered a counterintuitive take on it by twisting it in the opposite direction.

So you’ve been copied: Is it time to call the Internet Police?

Here's the truth: if you haven't had this moment yet — it's coming. It's like an Internet rite of passage! If you've been copied, it means you're doing something original and I want to hand you a celebratory margarita and give your hot red cheeks a big hug and a kiss at the same time because it suuuuuucckkkkks and it hurts the most the first time it happens.

Here's what happened the first time I was copied: I called an Intellectual Property lawyer, spent $600 on a cease and desist letter and the person stopped — only for someone else to pop up a month later, whack-a-mole style.

The third time it happened? I lodged a trademark opposition dispute, the person changed their business name — and it all happened again a few months later.

The truth is, the Internet is the fucking WILD WILD WEST and as you start to grow and develop as a creator and founder you realise that you need to start picking your battles. It becomes expensive and creatively taxing if you don't and honestly? 86% of the time, I truly now think it's easier to just let it beeeeeeee, Frozen style.

That said, here's what does warrant direct action (and here's what I do):

Someone lifting your content hook, line and sinker and posting it as their own.

In this case, I always directly reach out. The best bit about these situations is that there's really no denying it — there are screenshots, and there are timestamps. In every instance where I have done this, the person has pulled it down. If it were to continue, you could progress it further — for me, it hasn't (that I know of).

Someone stealing your course or direct Intellectual Property

Like that time someone bought my course using a stolen credit card, lifted the whole thing and then started selling it on a pirate site (and stealing the credit card details of anyone that tried to buy it for $19) — yes, this really happened. In these cases, you can usually get it taken down pretty quick — google DMCA notices.

In other cases, the copying is less overt — aka sneakier, which arguably is worse (but unfortunately, is more difficult to do anything about).

Heres’ what I do otherwise:

Keep a copycat folder

You know the advice people give you about keeping a little love notes folder of all of the kind words and testimonials people give you? Well yeah, this is kind of the opposite of that and there is honestly something about it that feels so satisfying 😂 Like, I know what they are doing — but I just screenshot, and let it be. I have a full folder of people who have lifted my content, and they wouldn’t ever know. They are going along, thinking how clever they are — and I just feel weirdly smug knowing I know.

Go first

Continue to be a creator. Write! Publish! Hit send! The beautiful thing is that every little piece of content you create is contributing to your portfolio of work, and all of it has a beautiful little timestamp on it that tells you it’s yours — and it’s not the person who created the eerily similar thing 32 days later. Take pride in that.

Know that others know

Here’s the truth: if you’re leading the thought in your industry, people know it. They know that you went first. A lot of the time, they can also tell who is imitating. There’s usually conversations happening under the surface — students will send you screenshots, or let you know. The truth is, others know. Get your peace from that.

Be the creator to others that you would want others to be to you

If you love something someone else wrote, re-stack it. If you want to expand on an idea you heard from someone else, do it — and credit appropriately. If you feel like joining someone else’s program might inadvertently lead to you lifting their concepts — don’t buy it. Be the creator to others that you would want others to be to you.

Overall, I strongly believe that introducing a culture of attribution as the norm is the habit that has the single biggest potential for changing some of this.

Do: Reference, and then add your spin.

Don’t: Save for ‘inspiration’, and low key lift it hoping that they (and no-one else) will notice.

Here’s the bottom line

I believe in digital karma. I believe that mostly, the creative corners of the Internet are still a good place. I believe that the bad players mostly stay stuck anyway. I believe that AI can enhance, and that there is a way to use it for good. I believe that the beginners mean well, and will eventually find their own unique voice.

And I believe that the good creators should keep creating — even in the face of copycat competitors, and shady online business behaviour and hard work not being given the credit and kudos it always deserves.

That's how original thought spreads, and the Internet becomes a better place! Shout out to the creators who read this all the way to the end — if you're here, it means that you're keen on tuning your moral compass and contributing to the good in the Internet world.

Stay classy, creators of the Internet (and share far and wide 😉) ✌️

Resonate? Relate? Appreciate? Tap the ♥️, hit share or best of all leave a comment. It won’t go unanswered or unappreciated. Say something — I want to hear from you, and I will reply (and likely, check you out too!)

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Today: 400+ subscribers per article, 30 minutes to ideate a week's worth of social content, and a fast growing personal brand. The difference? I stopped fighting AI and started using it as my copilot.

Let me be completely honest about how I got here: until recently, I was firmly in the AI is going to ruin everything camp.

I watched creators pump out soulless content at lightning speed and thought: this is it. This is how authentic voices get drowned out forever. I refused to touch AI tools, convinced that using them would somehow compromise my integrity as a creator.

Then I took a step back from my business for months to work on a massive project (200,000 words that may never see the light of day), and when I came back? The internet had moved on without me. My reach had dwindled. My engagement was down. And I realised something important:

Being precious about AI wasn't serving me or my audience. It simply meant that the work I put in to original content was being drowned out. I was the only loser.

Meanwhile, a recent Substack study of over 2,000 publishers by revealed something fascinating: only 45% of creators are using AI tools at all. That means more than half still aren't using it for content creation.

But, that's changing fast and when it does, the noise is going to become deafening.

So I made a decision: instead of fighting the tide, I was going to figure out how to ride it without losing myself in the process.

In this Substack article, I'll share:

🤖 Why most creators are getting AI completely wrong (and the three camps everyone falls into)

🎯 My exact content system that uses AI as a copilot while keeping my authentic voice front and centre

📊 The real numbers: how this approach is driving 400+ email subscribers per article for less than $100/month

⚡ The step-by-step process I use to turn one long-form article into 5+ pieces of social content in 30 minutes

🔮 Why now is the last chance to build an authentic personal brand before the AI content tsunami hits

If you've been on the fence about AI and at the same time struggling to stand out in an increasingly noisy online world, this article will give you the exact strategy I now use to supercharge my personal brand growth without handing my creativity to a robot. It feels great, and it works like crazy.

Let’s dig in.

The Three Camps of AI Content Creation (And Why Two of Them Are Struggling)

Right now, the creator economy is dividing into three distinct camps, and only one of them is going to survive what's coming.

Camp One: The AI-First Creators

These are the people using AI to create heaps of content without any clear voice or unique perspective. They're the ones who never really showed up online before, didn't have a strong point of view when they did, and are now churning out content like it's the end of days.

Their stuff reads like it was written by a very polite robot who's never had a strong opinion about anything. It's technically correct, perfectly formatted, and completely forgettable.

Camp Two: The AI Purists

On the other end, you have the creators watching Camp One and talking about how AI is drowning out great content. Their great content. They're sitting in their ivory towers, refusing to touch AI with a ten-foot pole, while their reach slowly dwindles because they're being out-volumed by the robots.

I was firmly in this camp for months, honestly.

Camp Three: The AI Copilots (This is where the magic happens)

Then there's the third group: creators who are using AI as a copilot while keeping their authentic, human voice at the centre of everything they do.

They're creating beautiful, unique, deeply personal content and then using AI to amplify the hell out of it. They understand that AI isn't the enemy — it's a tool. And like any tool, it's all about how you use it.

This is where I've landed, and it's been a game-changer.

AI Content Creation Workflow: The Complete Behind-the-Scenes Breakdown

After six weeks of testing, refining, and perfecting, here's the exact system I use to create consistent, authentic content using AI as my underpaid but very capable content assistant.

Step One: Create Long Form Content By Hand

Everything starts with long-form content that is 100% me.

Every week, I sit down and write a Substack article about something I've actually experienced, learned the hard way, or have a unique perspective on. This is my "source of truth" — the foundation that everything else builds from.

Why this matters: AI can help you distribute your thoughts, but it can't have your thoughts for you. The magic happens when you have something genuinely unique to say, then use AI to help you say it in more places.

My process:

• Keep a content bank of ideas

• Choose a topic for the week and link it to a personal story or something I’ve done in my business.

• Write the full article in my voice, with my stories and perspectives

AI is then used for the final 10%: to come up with a killer hook or subject line and to clean up grammar and tighten sentences.

Publish on Substack as my primary long-form platform

Step Two: Content Amplification with AI (My Exact Process)

Once I have my human-created foundation, I use AI to help me turn that one piece of content into multiple pieces of short form content.

Here's my exact 20-minute process:

Minute 1-5: Article Analysis I feed my finished Substack article into AI and ask it to come up with three to five unique angles. I feed it context on my brand, voice and other elements that will help it.

Minute 6-20: Content Creation

For each angle I like, I use AI as my co pilot to create platform-relevant short form content. Instagram is my short form platform of choice, so it creates Reels scripts (using my words) carousels, hooks and captions.

I talk back and forth with it to refine it.

Creating the Content

I then record any videos, put the content into carousels and schedule it. Usually I do this throughout the week.

Finally, I schedule the content and set up a Manychat automation to deliver the full article to anyone who comments the keyword.

Here's an example:

The result: One long-form article becomes three to five pieces of social content, each with a unique angle, all driving traffic back to the original piece.

Step Three: The Amplification Engine

Here's where most people stop, but this is where the real magic happens. I use a small ad spend to amplify the social content that's performing best.

This isn't about going viral: it's about getting my authentic content in front of more of the right people who will genuinely connect with it.

My amplification strategy:

• Let organic content run for 24-48 hours

• Identify the top-performing posts

• Add it to my engagement campaign.

• It drives more traffic back to the Substack article and email signup

  

The Real Numbers: What This System Actually Delivers

I'm a numbers person, so let me break down exactly what this approach has delivered over the past few weeks:

Email Growth:

100+ organic subscribers per Substack article (across three to five Instagram posts)

300+ additional subscribers with ad spend

Total: 400+ new subscribers per article

Time Investment

This is where this strategy really sings. Creating Instagram content used to be my achilles heels, but now? I have five social media posts fleshed out in 20 minutes, and then just need to paste them, record them and schedule them (eventually, I will have someone else do this: AI is also able to do a lot of this now).

Creating the Substack article is where the time is: usually this is around one to two hours to create.

Overall, I’m saving around half a day of work a week just on this process.

Cost:

The cost? Around $99 a month for the AI content creation tools (AI apps, Manychat), and around $100 - $200 a month on engagement ads.

Compare that to the cost of a social media manager — and spending $3k to $5k a month for the same result (I say that as an ex-social media manager: the stuff AI is doing here is the same I was doing back then).

My Strong Suggestion: Build Your Personal Brand Moat Now

Here’s the truth.

If you've been putting off building your personal brand, don’t. Move it to the top of your to do list. Like, right now.

Doing so will likely take around 4-6 weeks of your time to get the system up and running. It did me. This allowed me to spend two days a week building the new content eco system and getting six weeks ahead with content (six long form articles, six newsletters and 24 Instagram posts).

This will drive 100’s of email subscribers and allow me to get ahead of the AI tsunami, where it will be harder to stand out.

In 12 months, the internet is going to be a completely different place, and it might be too late to do it so easily.

The brands with genuine connection and trust will have built the moat around their business now. Everyone else will be drowning in a sea of perfectly crafted, completely forgettable AI slop, trying desperately to pull people off social and into their audience but with a tidal wave of noise making it much harder.

Right now is the sweet spot, when AI is able to make this MUCH EASIER than it used to be to build personal brand, but where it's juuuuuust before everyone else completely catches on and they all have the same advantage (or know how to do it properly).

Trust me, go hard now. Future you will thank you.

Resonate? Relate? Appreciate? Tap the ♥️, hit share or best of all leave a comment. It won’t go unanswered or unappreciated. Say something — I want to hear from you, and I will reply (and likely, check you out too!)

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Just before my 16th birthday, my mom wrote a check from my account to buy me a BMW 328i, and that is how I learned to drive a stick shift.
– Confessions of a Trust Fund Baby

I blame my 6-week stint at the Black Cat Hostel in Antigua, Guatemala in my early twenties for introducing me to the world of trust fund babies. The Black Cat was legendary among backpackers—the kind of place where young 20-somethings landed to escape life for a while.

My brother Scott and I met loads of people in that dingy front bar, but Sebastian and Oliver stood out immediately. While the rest of us wore the same black t-shirt for the fifth day running, these two sported crisp Ralph Lauren polos and spoke with posh English accents that somehow made ordering a beer sound sophisticated. Better yet, they bought Jager shots for the entire bar every single night.

If this had been 2005, we would have left Guatemala with nothing but blurry memories and hangovers. But thanks to Facebook (this was 2007), I got a front-row seat to their post-backpacking lives. While my brother and I flew home to jobs, bills, and rent, Sebastian and Oliver never really landed. Every few months brought new photos: luxury yachts in the French Riviera, exclusive Ibiza beach clubs, Christmas skiing in Switzerland.

Their Facebook pages became my personal reality TV show—a window into a world I didn't even know existed.

Must be nice, I used to think. Imagine having a trust fund bankrolling your life with fat stacks of cash throwing off money each month like some kind of financial fairy godmother.

Only, maybe not? Research shows affluent offspring experience depression at rates 2-5 times higher than national averages.

William Kissam Vanderbilt summed it up:

Inherited wealth has left me with nothing to hope for, with nothing definite to seek or strive for.

Boo hoo, right?

Here’s the good news though, for those of us without rich parents: with a simple, high profit margin lifestyle business, you can become your own trust fund baby — and it's actually better than being born one because you’ll be doing something that genuinely lights you up on the journey there.

In this Substack article, I will walk through:

💰 How to calculate your "enough number" using the 4% rule (includes real numbers)

📊 Real compound interest math showing how investing $58k annually becomes $2.15M in 20 years

🎯 Step-by-step guide to reverse engineering your business revenue requirements to make work optional

🏢 How to build a high-margin lifestyle business that funds your freedom

⚡ Why creating your own "trust fund" beats inherited wealth

The ‘Make Work Optional’ Strategy in a Nutshell

Here's the strategy in a nutshell:

You build a simple, high cash flow lifestyle business (think online programs, coaching, consulting, software, productised services —anything where you're not trading time for money, or if you are you are doing it in a leveraged way).

These models are capable of high profit margins.

Instead of spending all that lovely profit on Birkin bags and business class flights to Europe, you systematically set a chunk of it aside each month and invest it into assets that grow over time. Eventually, those investments get big enough to pay you a salary—forever. That's when work becomes optional.

It's like building your own personal money-printing machine, except instead of inheriting it from rich parents, you create it yourself using your expertise and a laptop.

The Power of Compound Interest: Here’s How It Works in Practice

Let's say your business generates $100,000 a year in profit and you manage to invest $10,000 annually.

Let’s assume that $10,000 in investments pays on average a 7% return (the historical average of the S&P 500). Here's what might happen (keep in mind, these are assumptions — things in practice might be different!

After 10 years:

• You contributed: $100,000

• Free money from compound interest: $57,836

• Your TOTAL portfolio value: $157,836

After 20 years:

• You contributed: $200,000

• Free money from compound interest: $248,652

• Your TOTAL portfolio value: $448,652

By year 18, you're making more in compound interest than you're contributing. The money is literally making more money.

Now here's where it gets really exciting: Let's say you have a portfolio worth $500,000. Using the 4% rule (the safe withdrawal rate that won't deplete your investments), that portfolio would pay you $20,000 per year—forever.

Scale that up: a $1 million portfolio pays you $40,000/year.

A $2.5 million portfolio pays you $100,000/year.

That's your salary, generated by your investments, while you sleep.

How to Bring This to Life: Step By Step

Step 1: Work Out How Much You Need to Make Work Optional

This is your "enough number"—the total amount you need invested to live off forever using the 4% rule . If you need $80,000/year to live comfortably, you need $2 million invested ($80,000 ÷ 0.04)*

*Note: This doesn’t account for tax, and there are some that question the 4% rule — so this is just a rule of thumb for back of napkin math.

But let's get specific about what that $80,000 actually covers:

Fixed and Variable Expenses:

• Housing (mortgage/rent, insurance, utilities)

• Transportation (car payments, insurance, fuel)

• Health (insurance, gym, medical)

• Kids (daycare, school fees, activities)

• Bills (phone, internet, subscriptions)

• Food and entertainment

Lifestyle Spend:

This is where it gets fun. What would you spend on if money wasn't tight? For example:

• Travel: $20,000/year

• Skincare and wellness: $5,000/year

• Hobbies and interests: $3,000/year

• Dining and entertainment: $8,000/year

Add 10% for things you'll inevitably miss. Your total might look like this:

• Basic expenses: $50,000/year

• Lifestyle spend: $36,000/year

• Total needed: $86,000/year

Using the 4% rule: $86,000 ÷ 0.04 = $2.15 million invested

Step 2: Work Out How Much You Need to Contribute Annually

Now you reverse engineer: how much do you need to invest each year to reach $2.15 million?

Using compound interest calculators with a 7% return:

To reach $2.15 million in 15 years: invest $91,000/year

To reach $2.15 million in 20 years: invest $58,000/year

To reach $2.15 million in 25 years: invest $41,000/year

The earlier you start, the less you need to contribute annually thanks to compound interest.

Step 3: Start and Build Your Lifestyle Business

Now comes the fun part—building a business that can actually generate the profit you need. A lifestyle business is designed around your life, not the other way around. It’s a business built for cashflow to serve the needs of the founder, instead of being a traditional start-up.

The key to a simple, highly profitable lifestyle business? To productise your intellectual property into a unique to you set of steps, and then deliver a time leveraged offer that uses it.

By keeping things lean and simple, you can leverage you time, generate great profit margins and invest to make work optional.

Step 4: Reverse Engineer Your Business Revenue

If you need to invest $58,000/year and want to live on $86,000/year, your business needs to generate at least $144,000 in profit annually (before taxes).

But of course, there’s taxes and business expenses too!

So, you’ll need to figure out what they are so that you can come up with the amount of business revenue your business will need to generate each year to bring your work optional trust fund-esque dreams to life!

This is where a lifestyle business shines: their expenses can be lean, which means that their profit margins can be HIGH. There isn’t huge overhead, or team costs. This means that it’s possible to keep total revenue low but keep more of it.

Here’s how to do it:

• Work out your total founder requirements: In this example, $144,000.

• Work out rough tax: This will depend on where you are and your tax rates, but add this on top. For example, for me it’s 25% so it’s about $36,000 (plus any personal tax to remove it from the business).

• Add business expenses: Even with a good-margin business, you'll have some costs. Example:

  • Software subscriptions and tools ($3,000/year)

  • Website hosting and platforms ($1,500/year)

  • Professional development and courses ($4,000/year)

  • Marketing and advertising ($8,000/year)

  • Professional services (accountant, lawyer) ($4,000/year)

  • Contractor/VA support ($15,000/year)

  • Miscellaneous business expenses ($3,500/year)

  Total business expenses: ~$39,000/year

Your total revenue target: $180,000 + $39,000 = $219,000 in profit needed

But here's where profit margins make ALL the difference. If you need $219,000 in profit, your total revenue requirement changes dramatically based on your business model:

Good-margin business (60% profit margin):

• Revenue needed: $219,000 ÷ 0.60 = $365,000

• Examples: High-end consulting, done-for-you services, premium coaching programs

• You keep $219k, spend $146k on delivery costs

Low margin business (10% profit margin):

• Revenue needed: $219,000 ÷ 0.10 = $2,190,000

• Examples: Traditional, unleveraged, non-lifestyle business

• You keep $219k, spend $1.97M on delivery costs

The lifestyle business advantage: With a 60% margin business, you only need to generate $365k in revenue vs. over $2.1 million for a traditional low-margin business. That's the difference between running a focused Intellectual Property based lifestyle business versus managing a massive operation with enormous overhead and razor-thin margins.

This is why I'm obsessed with high-margin lifestyle businesses: you get to your "work optional" number with way less stress, complexity, and revenue pressure.

Why This Beats Being Born Rich

Here's the beautiful irony: when you build your own trust fund, you get all the financial benefits without the existential crisis.

Trust fund babies get:

• Money without purpose

• Freedom without fulfillment

• Depression rates 2-5x higher than average

• Nothing definite to seek or strive for

Self-made lifestyle business founders get:

• Money WITH purpose (you built something meaningful)

• Freedom WITH fulfilment (you chose work you love)

• The option to work because you want to, not because you have to

• Complete control over your time and priorities

• Time leverage along the way.

Plus, if you build this right, you'll probably never want to fully retire anyway. You'll have created work that energises rather than drains you.

The best part? You can start this process right now, regardless of where you're starting from. I started my lifestyle business seven years ago, and reached ‘work optional’ this year. The best bit? I don’t want to stop.

I want that for you, too!

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Before 2025, I thought surviving 28 hours of labor followed by an emergency C-section was the hardest thing I'd ever do.

Until this year, that is. This year, I wrote drafts one and two (so far!) of a non-fiction book (the hard way). And holy moses, has that been a reckoning.

I've done some gnarly things—built a business, navigated half-million-dollar launches, burned it all down in the name of wild alignment. But writing a book? Wow. Just wow. I'm tired. I'm proud. I'm emotionally exhausted and ready for a nap (or at least the two-week trip to NYC locked in for next month where I do not want to see a laptop in sight). Most of all, though? I've learned some things about how to write a non-fiction book that "me six months ago" would give her right arm to know.

I'm writing this Substack article for her, sharing 13 raw insights (not lessons, because I could very well be very, very wrong here) from the trenches of writing a non-fiction book: post-writing 220,000 words in six months and pre-all of the "stuff" that comes next. Like all of my writing (book included), my hope is that it helps the "old me's" of the future. At the very least, I hope it inspires you to get started, because if you're reading this, you probably have "I want to write a book" on your heart too. And if little old me managed to fumble my way through and somehow come out the other side (of the first of several mountains still to come!), I bet my bottom dollar you could too.

Why I Decided to Write a Non-Fiction Book (And Why You Should Start Now

Writing's always been my thing. At eight, I started my own newspaper called 'Especially for Kids,' distributed it to my entire school, and landed a column reviewing kids' books for the local paper. I was hooked, and thought I’d grow up to be a famous writer.

Of course, life happened and I parked my writing dream for a corporate suit and sexy six figure pay check: I became a lawyer instead. Happily, I'm not anymore and that story is a book in itself (perhaps the one I've written? 😉). Point is, writing has always been in my bones.

Last year my mum passed, and like when I lost my dad in my twenties, I was reminded we don't actually have forever. That lit a fire under me and brought me back to my big dreams.

Writing a book is, like so many things, something that we put on the 'one day' or the 'wouldn't it be nice' list. It’s one of those things we promise ourselves that we'll get to when we get around to it — when life is less busy, when the kids are a bit older, when income is more stable. Only the perfect time never quite comes; there are graveyards full of people that simply ran out of time and whose big, beautiful dreams died alongside them.

I know that's morbid. But it doesn't make it not true, does it?

The only silver lining that comes from grief is that it gives you a sense of perspective. For me, that perspective was around prioritising what deeply matters to me today. I wrote a big list of all of those things: the big things, the small things, the bucket list-y things. Then, I made a plan to bring them to life.

At the top of the list: write that goddamn book.

I'd put my dreams of calling myself an author in the 'someday' basket, telling myself logical lies: I need a bigger audience first, the business needs to be more stable, I can't focus with kids around.

Until one day, I stopped and let every single one of those excuses go. Today, I told myself. I start today.

And so, I just did.

13 Raw Insights From the Last 6 Months Spent Writing, and Rewriting, a Non-Fiction Book

Right now, I’m at the second draft stage — so I’m still at the start of the process, really. I’ll continue to document as I go if you’d like to hear about the journey? Let me know in the comments.

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Here’s 13 insights thus far.

One: Choose your catalyst and commit

I told myself that it was impossible to 'just start writing a book'. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't: but I believed that, and so it became true for me. I felt like I couldn’t just open a Google Doc and start; I needed some sort of springboard or catalyst to propel me into action.

Happily, that came in the form of a post I saw in my feed just before Christmas last year. It was from Fiona Killackey from My Daily Business, whose book Passion Purpose Profit I'd seen featured at the library a few weeks earlier. I'd picked it up and read it, and thought she'd done an incredible job. I sort of knew Fiona from business land and came across the post that way. It announced that she would be running her "How to Get Your Book Published" course in the new year.

That’s it! I thought. That’s my catalyst. I joined the course, and added 'write the book' to my 2025 goals list. Sorted (if only it were that simple, right?!)

Insight / Takeaway: Pick a catalyst. Maybe it's joining a course. Maybe it's finding an accountability buddy. Maybe it's reading this article and knowing it's a nudge from the universe to start.

Two: Keep the main thing, the main thing

You'd think that my next step after committing to write a book would be to work on writing it. Only, no. Instead, I started doing a million things that made me feel busy and accomplished so that it felt like I was 'moving toward my goal'. Things like 'posting on social to grow my audience'. Does that matter? Yes, but you can get stuck obsessing over it for months and months and not actually doing the main thing. I see that all the time with clients of mine who want to create programs, and yet I still did it myself.

I realised the error of my ways about two months into the year. Rather than doing the little things that would help me 'get ready' to write, I realised that I needed to just start writing.

Insight/takeaway: Do the main thing FIRST (it'll feel the hardest and the most challenging, so you probably won't want to). Then, fit the other 'stuff' you're prioritising in service of it around it.

Three: Get a mini-MBA in book writing and publishing

What a wonderful world we live in, in which we are surrounded by so much knowledge and insight literally at our fingertips. After committing to start the book writing process, I dove deep into learning all I could about book writing, publishing and how to get a book out into the world.

Fiona's course gave me a structured roadmap, but I also downloaded podcasts, subscribed to Substacks, bought books and immersed myself in the world of non-fiction book writing and publishing. I've learnt everything I can about traditional publishing vs. self-publishing, how to get a literary agent, what agents look for, how to write well, and the logistics of putting together a book proposal. Here’s the incredible news: all of this incredibly valuable insight is available for free (or for a good price, if you want it in a consolidated step-by-step format).

Insight/takeaway: There's no excuse for saying that you don't understand what to do, or what the process is. So much is available online — immerse yourself (but equally, don't get stuck in procrasti-learning either, there's a fine line).

Here’s a few resources that have helped me along the way, in case they are helpful to you too:

• [Course] How to Get Your Book Published by My Daily Business

• [Book] Get Signed By Lucinda Halpern

• [Podcast] Kind of a Big Book Deal Podcast by Meghan Stevenson

• [Podcast] Bound and Determined Podcast by Richelle Fredson

• [Substack] Grassroots Agenting by

• [Substack] Agents and Books by

There are also a lot of non-fiction authors that have shared their behind the scenes, and which I found super inspiring. Check out this and this by , this book launch diaries series by and this by (PS I am sure there are many others out there — if you know of other non-fiction authors sharing transparently, let me know in the comments!)

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Four: How to start writing your non-fiction book (don’t wait for a cabin in the woods)

About five weeks into the course with Fiona — after walking through non-fiction book proposals outlines and marketing plans and working with an editor — I felt stuck. On a Q+A, she opened up the floor for questions. My question was simple: 'How do I start writing?', I asked. Sometimes the best question is the most obvious one.

I had no idea how to write a book or where to start (did I just open a Google doc? Did I start from page one? HOW DO I ACTUALLY DO IT?!). Also, I never seemed to find the time to write. I explained to Fiona that my little girl was waking at 4am every morning, how tired I was from mum duties through the night and how I felt like Ineeded to get away for a few weeks to get started.

Fiona gave me the best advice I think I'd ever gotten (which she'd received from her own creativity coach!) It was simply this: you can't wait for a cabin in the woods. Meaning — there won't ever be the perfect time. She explained that she had written her own book in stolen moments. An hour here, three hours on a Sunday afternoon there. Bit by bit.

That really unlocked something for me. As a perfectionist, I was waiting for the perfect moment, for the perfect words, for my cabin in the woods. Only, those things would likely never come, and if I wanted a book? I needed to start anyway.

Insight / takeaway: It's beautiful to imagine writing as something done in peace, with a coffee and a pretty view and perfect conditions. If you're a mama, or a business owner, or maybe both though? You might not ever get that luxury. Don't wait for the perfect conditions: start now.

Five: Don't write a shitty first draft

This one might be controversial, and it somewhat contradicts the insight above around not waiting for perfect — but give me a chance to land the plane on this one. Everyone in 'book world' tells you to write a first draft messy, and to edit later.

Here's what happened to me when I tried to follow that advice: I wrote 100,000 words in three months, and hated it so much that I went back and needed to rewrite the entire thing again. So really, I've written two 100,000 word books in six months (when the goal was one 60,000 word book!) because I took the 'shitty first draft' approach. So yeah. I don't know if I agree with that advice, honestly. Likely, I would have saved myself a lot of time and words if I hadn’t taken it. Each to their own, but I think there is magic (and a lot of saved time) in going more slowly and thoroughly the first time.

Insight / takeaway: Listen to advice, but also to your intuition. Don't let perfectionism get in the way of writing anything at all, but also honour your natural creative instincts. If it helps you to tweak as you go, do it! Don't get lost in editing, but course-correcting along the way might save you huge time in the editing process.

Six: Write your own book

This might sound silly if you're new to the book writing world. But, fun fact: 50% - 90% of non fiction books on the bestseller lists are actually written by a 'ghostwriter'. And look, I get the appeal. When you're busy, you don't consider yourself a natural writer, and the whole process feels about as fun as eating plastic, the idea of 'outsourcing' the writing of a book might hold a certain appeal.

After trudging through the process of writing my own early drafts though, I implore you to write your own book. Here's why. Nothing — and I mean nothing — has given me more clarity around the nuance of what I do than writing a book on it. It has refined my unique perspective. It has crystalled my intellectual property and frameworks. It has unearthed my storytelling and connection pieces. And, it has given me rock solid clarity on my ideal avatar.

None of those things could have been achieved if I'd outsourced the writing (or at least, not to the same degree). Writing my own book as also given me something to be immensely proud of. A ghostwriter didn't write my book. AI didn't write my book. I wrote my book, painstaking word by painstaking word. That is something I will forever feel proud of.

Insight / takeaway: Writing your own damn book is a gift — yes, it unlocks a sense of clarity and pride you couldn't ever achieve if you offloaded the job to a ghostwriter.

Seven: Accept that it will take time

When I first started out on this journey, I saw people selling 'write your book in 30 days' courses, and sharing their experiences of locking themselves away to write a full non-fiction book in a week.

'Surely if they can do that, I can too?', I told myself.

Then I came across an interview with Tim Ferris.. In it, he shared that writing and preparing for the Four-Hour Work Week took him a year of full time work and then some. The interviewee asked him why he’d spent so long on the process, and Tim shared advice he'd received from a mentor:

'If you're going to write a book, write a fucking book', he’d be told — meaning that if you're serious about your reputation and legacy, writing a mediocre book is more of a liability than writing no book at all.

That stung, and it landed.

Now, not all books are written in the name of legacy. Some people may simply want a meaty business card, but that's not me. I realised that I wanted to write something I could be proud of. I wanted the message of this book to be something that landed. I wanted the book to make a real mark on the reader. Writing a book like that — or at least, trying to — takes time. And that's okay.

Here’s the truth you probably don’t want to hear. Writing my book has taken me almost 600 hours so far (I know, because I’ve timed it!), and I know that there will be many more hours to come to bring it to life.

It's sucked up a good six months of my life, and there are many moments when I wanted to throw my laptop against the wall.

I know I'll have a better book for it.

Insight / takeaway: Good work takes time and effort, and that's okay.

Eight: Your book will develop by writing it, not by thinking about writing it

I recommend creating a book outline for your non-fiction book, but I don't recommend spending weeks and weeks refining and re-doing it like I did. Perhaps everyone will be different in their creative process here, but for me? It was only by writing my book that I was able to properly order, articulate and refine the concept.

Now, this goes against all traditional book publishing advice, which strong recommends that you prepare a detailed book proposal before writing the book itself. I get why. A book proposal is a business case for your book, and allows the book publishers to decide whether the idea has legs, whether you're the right author to write it and whether the structure needs adjustments.

The risk of writing the full book first is that you'll end up needing to adjust some or all of it later on (Jenna Kutcher recorded an interesting podcast about her experience with this).

But my truth is that I couldn't have done this any other way. It was only by going through the process of writing (and, ahem, rewriting) the book that I was able to properly develop the concept: it revealed itself as I went. The book developed into the book I wanted to write by writing it; not by refining and re-refining the outline.

Insight / takeaway: Maybe don't listen to me on this one. I know the literary agents and book publishers will be cringing. But it's my truth, and the only way I could have made the book come to life — by writing it first. We will see if I come to regret this!

Nine: Writing isn't easy, even if you love it like me

I was made to write. I can't not write. It feels as natural and essential to me as air. And at the same time? It's hard as feck. Many, many times during the non-fiction book writing process I felt like giving up. Many, many times I hit walls and blocks I thought I wouldn't be able to get over. And many, many times I questioned why I put myself through this. And still, I did it.

Even as I write this now, I am trying to understand why. It's not 'fun' (in fact, much of the time it feels like having teeth pulled). It's not like it's a money maker (in fact, writing this book has already 'cost' me hundreds of thousands in lost opportunity cost — though I'm certain it will pay that back in authority in the future).

But what it does do is allow me to express myself. To share my ideas and stories to move people. To my work out into the world, and makes it exist beyond me. That feels like legacy, and worthwhile to me. It’s hard, and it’s worth the pain.

Insight / takeaway: I don't think writing is 'easy' for anyone. If you struggle, and the process feels hard — you're not doing anything wrong. Welcome to the club.

Ten: Break it down into pieces

Writing a book feels like climbing a mountain. When you're standing at the bottom looking up at the peak, it feels overwhelming and insurmountable. Impossible, even. And it is — if you approach it like a mountain.

The only thing that got me through the process of writing a non-fiction book was to break it down into little bite sized chunks of work. For me, it looked like setting a word count (mine was 70,000 words) and then committing to a particular word count each day. Most of the time, I was able to write around 1,500 - 2,000 words in a session before the brain fog would set in. Sometimes, I would fly through my word count goal. Others, I would get stuck and frustrated. Mostly, it evened out in the end.

Many times, I would still try to 'push' past that and end up feeling horrible and writing crap that I'd just end up deleting the next day. The lesson for me was an important one: book writing can't be rushed. By its very nature, it takes time and requires breathing room. You can't force it, and trying to will backfire. For someone that goes fast, this was difficult to come to peace with. Ultimately, I did and I consider that a gift that writing this book gave me. It taught me the art of slowing down, and the value of pacing.

Insight / takeaway: Break your big book goal up into smaller chunks. Find focus time for writing, and commit to it — but don't try to 'push through'. Regular, consistent writing sessions with defined goals attached to them for the win.

Eleven: Think of each chapter as an essay

This tip helped me so very much. Rather than writing a 'book', I broke each chapter down and wrote it as though each one was its own essay that could stand on its own. Each chapter had a consistent rhythm to it — starting with a story, then into practical teaching and finishing with action steps.

Insight / takeaway: Don't write a book; write a series of standalone essays that all work together to achieve an ultimate transformation.

Twelve: You'll feel really, really proud

The truth is, my book writing journey is just beginning. I've written the first draft, and the second and right now the manuscript is being reviewed by an editor for their initial thoughts (I'm scared!). Likely, there are many revisions to come.

I've also written a book proposal, and I have a shortlist of literary agents that I would love to have represent me.

I want a traditional publishing deal, and at the same time I know that it's a big ask and that I potentially have a lot of work ahead of me to get there. I am growing my audience like a mad woman. I need to pitch, and be okay with rejection and believe in my worth and in my idea.

Right now, the truth is? I've just conquered the first mountain, and there is another one right in front of me (and potentially more on the other side).

And yet, I feel fucking proud of myself. Like — really, really proud.

I could have started 2025 with the goal to write a book, and put it on the back burner the moment things got hard (and they did). I could have used becoming the primary parent, and the drop in income from my business that writing this book required, and the juggle of mum life and business life and all of the other excuses to stop me in my tracks: and they all would have been valid.

But, I knew. I knew that if I did that, I wouldn't write my book and ultimately the only person who would ever feel the deep, searing regret about that would be me.

And so, I did it.

I wrote a book.

I can always say that I wrote a book.

And yes, there's work ahead (which excites me).

And yes, it might not all go to plan.

But I controlled the thing I could control, which is taking the action. And at each step to come, I will continue to control the things I can control. Until eventually, one way or another, I will get to the end goal one way or another.

Thirteen: You don’t need a permission slip

I wrote my own permission slip, and this is me writing yours too.

Here's your permission slip to simply start writing — or finish, if you need that instead. The magic of right now is that you don't need to wait for someone to pick you, or spend years and years becoming the 'ultimate expert'.

You can pick yourself and start writing your little heart out right now.

You up for it?

Resonate? Relate? Appreciate? Tap the ♥️, hit share or best of all leave a comment. It won’t go unanswered or unappreciated. Say something — I want to hear from you, and I will reply with a happy heart.

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"Think of your energy as if it's expensive, as if it's like a luxury item."

Fucking WORD. Mic drop, in my opinion.

Here's why that hit me so hard: I know what it's like when you don't treat your energy as expensive. I know what happens when you give it away like it's unlimited.

The first three years of my kids' lives were a blur. I was building a business monster, caring for my very sick mama, hammering through postpartum depression twice, and doing it all with this twisted definition of 'success' in my sights. I had this pre-baby delusion that I needed to prove motherhood wouldn't change me.

Spoiler alert: it changed everything (for the better). But it took three years of burnout hell before I let it.

The Sledgehammer Years

My burnout crept up slowly, but honestly? I was probably in it for a good two years before I realised. Anxious. Apathetic. Wired but tired. Running at breakneck speed towards some arbitrary endgame that left me so burnt out that the moment I achieved it, I burned it all down to the ground.

Maybe it's being an Enneagram 3 ('the achiever'), or a line 3/5 generator in human design (the workhorse engine of the world), or being the eldest daughter in a typical middle-class Australian household where the mantra was "you can do anything if you work hard enough." Likely, all of the above.

What I know is this: hard work and putting in the reps is as natural to me as sunlight. So is striving, perfectionism, and achievement. Those attributes mean I can veeeery easily get caught up in all of this – gestures vaguely at an internet world that holds up seven figures and building big as the ultimate hallmarks of success.
I used to treat my energy as a tool to get ahead. Namely, as a sledgehammer.

I would use brute force energy to succeed – working all of the hours, doing all of the things. The worst bit? It worked. It really, really worked. And so, I kept doing it – half because of the rewards, and half because I was completely petrified that if I stopped so would everything I had worked so hard for.

Here's the most interesting bit: when I stopped? All of my fears came true. My revenue dropped. My desire to work reduced. My on paper 'success' wasn't as... shiny?
And at the same time:

I've never been less 'on paper' successful (right now: this will change again soon!) and yet my nervous system is loving me sick right now. I'm deliriously happy at the most insignificant moments and honestly most of the time.

I feel like me again. I read again. I listen to music again.

I caught myself singing out loud for two minutes on yesterday's walk before I even realised.

As far as alignment and clarity go? Right now, I'm at the top of the totem pole.

Energy as a Precious Resource, Not a Blunt Object

Recently, I took my daughter Sunny to the beach in the dead of winter. The sun was shining anyway because the Gold Coast (Australia) is magic like that. We walked through the most beautiful headland rainforest and sat all morning, playing in the sand, me sipping decaf coffee, her licking icy poles.

"This fills my bucket up, mama," she said.

I almost cried. Same girl, I thought. SAME.

The old me would never have skipped out on a 'work day' to walk with my tiny girl, debating whether trees have thoughts or if ocean water washed up from Africa. And fuck me, did that version of me miss out on some seriously special times.

That moment crystallised something crucial for me: that your energy is expensive (like Taylor says), and valuable.

Burning yourself to a crisp doesn't feel so bad in the early years, before you have kids or other 'uses' for that energy. You can go all in, and it feels pretty fun.

At a point though, that changes and rather than using your energy like a sledgehammer you're either forced (by your health, your family or to protect your peace) to do things differently, or you start to realise that the exchange is no longer worthwhile.

Energy is still a tool, but it becomes something you hand out with care.

Do it right - meaning, engineer a way to spend it on the right things, to get the right outcomes, with energy to spare - and get to a point of alignment.

That moment with Sunny felt like I'd finally gotten the balance right.

Here's the trick, though:

Getting there isn't a 'one and done' thing, either.

I used to think alignment was a destination you reach where you're finally "cured" of burnout and can live peacefully forever.

Here's what alignment actually is: a daily practice you come back to over, and over, and over again.

The difference? Everything.

Treating energy like the luxury item it is

A productivity expert I follow recently surveyed her audience – all female founders like us. The result? 75% were in the very highest burn out category. Not just tired. Not just stressed. So burnt out that it was physically affecting their health.

That makes me sad, and also – I've been there.

I've really fought this year to protect my energy, and I have seen the beautiful benefits that come from it. Also, I acknowledge that even having the ability to 'address burn out' is a privilege. When you're in survival mode and you're hunting for the dollars you need to put food on the table and you have 16,292 responsibilities, protecting your energy can feel like a task at the end of a very long to do list.

I don't have all of the answers; I'm learning myself. But I will say this: We have more power to protect our energy, and do things a different way, than we might think.
You might not think so right now: likely because you're also using brute force to get ahead. Spending all of your energy, so much so that your bucket is empty with nothing left to give.

Here's the good news, though:

Doing things a different way doesn't actually require MORE AND BIGGER. Actually, it requires less and smaller.

What actually works (spoiler: it's smaller than you think)

1. Small habits, not big changes: Habits, I have come to learn, are everything. And I know you know. But do you really know? Like, do you actually do anything about it? Habit stacking – little by little, bit by bit – has changed my life this year. If you want a simple place to start, read Atomic Habits by James Clear. Then, add a daily walk to your routine. That's it. Just those two things. And go from there.

2. Less complexity, not more scale: Marie Kondo your business. Does this offer spark joy? Does this client energize me? Does this task need to exist? If not, delete it. The clutter and complexity is burning through your energy like crazy, eliminate.

3. Less, not more: Working harder won't make you more successful. You can't work your way out of a shitty work model. But you CAN design a simple leveraged work model that requires less of you, not more. This is so big, I'm writing a book on it.

The truth is? I’m petrified of burning out again

And you know what? That fear is actually serving me now.

I know I'm always going to be just a silly decision or two away – made from ego, or proving myself, or chasing someone else's definition of success – from putting myself back there.

So I'm watching myself, every single day.

The prize? Your peace.

And that's something worth fighting for.

Think of your energy as if it's expensive, as if it's like a luxury item. Because it is. And once you start treating it that way, everything changes.

Let me know your comments, thoughts or follow up questions in the comments , I’ll happily answer any you have! ⬇️

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Here’s what I’ve learnt in the process.

"The truth is, if work is going well, somebody else is taking care of the kids." — Michelle Williams — Podcast Interview with Dax Shepherd

Mic drop, Michelle Williams — mic fucking drop.

Let me say straight up: sorry for all of the swearing. But I'm passionate about this, and if you opened this, you likely are too, so sorry not sorry. Here's the truth: there's a real, raw conversation that some mothers in business aren't having, and it's time to talk about it.

Before I had kids, I was petrified of the impact that having a baby would have on my big business dreams. Pet-rif-ied. I know for a fact that I'm not the only business mama who feels that way. I saw it in many of the beautiful, ambitious business mamas that came after me, and continue to see it in the beautiful mamas-to-be.

Now — I'd love to say that I could tell both them and the pre-baby me that she needn't worry; that a beautiful baby can be a happy complement to your business, and that you can have it all and that everything will be okay.

But, actually? It's not true.

There is a toxic narrative online at the moment that is painting a false picture of the reality of life after business and baby. Somewhere between the 'I almost forgot that this was the whole point' TikTok trends depicting mums in business tending to their little ones and the ‘look at me, I'm a mother in business doing everything right and I'm evidence that you can still have it all’ narrative, there are some hard truths being glossed over.

I want to talk about them because painting a pretty picture of what can be a pretty gnarly identity transformation doesn't really serve anyone.

So, here goes.

In this Substack article, I will share:

• Why Type A ambitious founders might struggle with new motherhood more than most, and the raw reality of what it looked like for me

• Why preparing your business for maternity leave and beyond might actually be a monumental waste of time (and what to consider doing instead)

• Whether having a baby and becoming a mother will, in fact, destroy your business

• The one thing no-one tells you about business and motherhood (and why it might be the best thing you ever do)

How Most Female Founders Approach Motherhood

I've noticed a pretty common pattern amongst most of the aspiring mamas in business around me. Usually, it's some version of the following:

Stage 1: They know they want a family, but worry about the impact on their ambitions and perhaps push it off for 'later'.

Stage 2: When they finally do TTC and find out they are having a beautiful little bubba, they go into mental overdrive to try to control and prepare everything in advance with a looming and un-extendable deadline on the horizon.

Stage 3: Whether it's one month postpartum in the depths of sleep deprivation, or one year later when their perfect little bubba transforms into an active little toddler that must be kept from kamikaze-ing from every surface at every second of the day, they spiral — usually behind the scenes, usually whilst trying to keep up the perfect facade and usually with a heavy helping of "what's wrong with me, and why can't I do this perfectly when it feels like everyone else CAN?!"

Honestly, I want to give every single mama at that stage (whenever it hits, and whether it's long or short) a big, beautiful hug. That moment is a reckoning: a big, beautiful, horrible, hard reckoning. I remember the moment I had mine; it shaped me into the woman I am today.

As an ambitious founder with a classic type-A personality, I have always prided myself on my ability to control things. Motherhood threw my ability to do that out the window. Suddenly, I was at the mercy of a little baby terrorist who wouldn't sleep. Most days, I was running on fumes — tired, touched-out and wondering why no-one talked about the crazy, wild ride I was experiencing.

WHERE WAS THE BROCHURE WARNING ME ABOUT ALL OF THIS STUFF? I wondered.

Truth is, no-one can warn you, and motherhood x business it's as beautiful as it is hard. Honestly, with time you start to forget, so blaming those that came before you doesn't really help either. Even now, reflecting back on the early days of motherhood — putting cabbage over my breasts to try and dull the sting from breastfeeding bites, my body no longer being my own, feeling so bone tired I could cry (and did, most days) — it all feels fuzzy and blurry.

But I do want to impart some wisdom, because I've learnt some things. Here's my truth (and I completely understand and respect that everyone's will be different).

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Three Real, Raw Truths About Babies, Business and Motherhood

Truth #1: Go Easy on the Mat Leave Preparation (PLEASE)

The number of women that I have seen almost kill themselves in the name of 'maternity leave prep' (myself included) is wild. It's like a particularly unique female founder form of business nesting. Seriously, though — save yourself the hassle.

Here's why: The person you are on the other side of motherhood will likely be so significantly different to the person that you are now that trying to make plans for her will probably be a big, fat waste of time.

Not to mention, pregnancy is fucking beautiful and spending seven or eight months in high-cortisol overdrive to try to get all of your ducks in a beautiful line is a waste of a special time. Don't speed up, SLOW DOWN.

This is the last time in your life (or for at least eighteen years) that you will have beautiful, sweet, slow time to go to the movies by yourself, or go to dinner with your partner without dropping $120 on a babysitter or begging your mum for a favour, or do some self-care without a drop of guilt in the world.

Don't work 86 hours a week running full pelt towards a finish line that will likely come too early or too late and leave you tired, drained and spent. You will need that beautiful energy for the weeks that come after.

The reality check: I get that you have bills to pay, and people to manage — but do the lightest version of prep, not the Type-A, make it perfect and make it BIG version. Just… chill, girl.

Truth #2: Becoming a Mother Will Crack You Open and Reassemble You (Even If You Think It Won't)

I died the day I became a mum — not literally, of course. And not all at once. For me, it happened slowly (mostly because I spent far, far too long trying desperately to cling to the old version of me).

Today, the pre-baby version of me no longer exists. Pre-baby, that would have horrified me. That girl was driven. She wanted it all, and was willing to do it all to get it. She worked all of the hours. Did all of the things. And hustled like a goddamn boss. The idea of not doing that wasn't even a question, and it's why the idea of motherhood and the loss of possibility it might bring weighed so heavily on her.

It's why it took years for the softening to happen. So many that in many ways she missed the beautiful early years of baby number one. So determined was she to keep up with her pre-baby expectations of herself, she sacrificed more than she would now — something only possible to realise with the benefit of hindsight — in a quest to do and have it all.

Business after baby: Around year three though — and post baby two — something shifted. Hindsight allowed that version of me to look back and see how seasonal it all was. How quickly it all went. And how fleeting it is when you don't slow down and give your full attention to the beautiful and devastating speed at which the journey is moving.

That realisation hit me slowly and then all at once — and for me, it's when I fundamentally shifted as a person. No longer was I willing to pay the price of admission to continue living as the old version of me. The cost was too high, and it was at the expense of truly savouring the beautiful new seasons I found myself in every year or two. The newborn season. The baby season. The toddler season. The little kid season. Each one happening before my eyes, and passing by in a blink.

Truth #3: Motherhood Doesn't Make You Less Successful — But It Will Shift Your Definition of It

Did motherhood destroy my business, and my ambition?

Objectively, yes — and I know the mamas-to-be might not want to hear this, but it's true. But here's the real truth: what actually happened is that my definition of success fundamentally shifted.

Pre-motherhood, I equated success with more and bigger. More money. More accolades. A bigger business... without ever questioning what I wanted it all for in the first place, and without any real 'penalty' for running at it full pelt.

I see the same definition of success and ambition peddled all over the Internet — and not surprisingly, mostly by young, childless men advocating 100-hour weeks, scaling to the moon and missing their friends' weddings for ten years as the only path to an absolute version of success that comes at the cost of almost everything else.

Here's what happens post-motherhood: that approach no longer aligns.

Working 12-hour days means missing school pick up, and the little chats in the car that feel so precious and priceless.

Pushing and pushing to make that extra $100k... or $1million... or [insert arbitrary revenue goal here!]... 'just because' starts to feel like it's costing more than it's worth.

And fulfilment starts to come not just from your business, but from the rich tapestry of your full life and the little person or people you created and who now live it with you.

The result? You don't become less successful, but your definition of what success actually means changes.

For me, that meant stopping the relentless pursuit of more and building a big business with big revenue and big team just because it looked good on paper, and instead slowing waaaaaaayyyyy down. These days, my revenue is smaller, but so are my hours and my levels of stress and overwhelm. I work less, and spend more time at the park and doing the school run.

And in my bones, it feels successful to me.

The Bottom Line

If I could sum this entire article up, it would be this: motherhood will change you and your business in ways you could never anticipate — for the better. It will transform you into a different person, and that will feel beautiful and hard and all of that is okay.

Don't feel like you need to keep up with the picture of 'successful motherhood' you painted for yourself pre-baby. She is a different person.

Embrace the you that you are now. Cherish every little moment of motherhood and business. And define success on your terms, for the beautiful person you are now (and the gorgeous little person now in your arms, and soon walking beside you).

You got this, mama: maybe not in the ways you imagined 'before' but if you allow it? In better ways. It's all magic, if you let it be 🪄

Resonate? Relate? Appreciate? Tap the ♥️, hit share or best of all leave a comment. It won’t go unanswered or unappreciated. Say something — I want to hear from you, and I will reply (and likely, check you out too!)

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When you’re a burnt out, doing-all-the-things female founder (and maybe a mother, too) with:

• A business to tend to;

• Kiddies you want to spend time with;

• Projects you dream of bringing to life;

• A dishwasher that seem to perennially need emptying; and

• A nervous system teetering on the brink with zero time to think let alone do two 45-minute workouts, follow a 100% no-cheat diet and drink your body weight in water each day..

.. 75 Hard is probably not the best thing to add to your plate.

I know, I know, I get it: it sounds appealing to do something like 75 Hard to actively feel like you are doing something to push yourself forward. For those not familiar with it, 75 Hard is a mental toughness challenge described as 'an ironman for your brain’ developed by man called Andy Frisella who looks very much like he should in the military (and maybe is/was.. who knows). It requires a very rigid schedule that requires you to:

1. Follow a nutrition plan of your choice–no alcohol or cheat meals allowed.

2. Do two 45-minute workouts each day, one indoors and another outdoors.

3. Drink a gallon of water each day.

4. Read 10 pages of a self-improvement plan each day.

5. Take a progress picture each day.

It’s extreme, very masculine and assumes you even have hours a day to spare. Honestly, it lost me at ‘do two 45-minute workouts a day’ and ‘drink a gallon of water’ (that’s four and a half litres for the Aussies and other non-Americans following along). Frankly, as a 42-year old woman with two kids under five, a business to run and a partner who works 5am - 6pm every day, it’s not for me.

The ethos behind 75 Hard is something I can get on board with, though. At its core, it’s about the compounding effect of small daily habits.

James Clear articulated the life-changing impact of small habits best in the opening chapter of his book Atomic Habits:

Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. The same way that money multiplies through compound interest, the effects of your habits multiply as you repeat them. They seem to make little difference on any given day and yet the impact they deliver over the months and years can be enormous. It is only when looking back two, five, or perhaps ten years later that the value of good habits and the cost of bad ones becomes strikingly apparent.

In this Substack article, I will break down the burnt-out female founder edition of 75 Hard that I think we could all benefit from getting on board with, including:

🪨 My rock bottom moment at the start of the year, and how a series of simple daily habits turned everything around in less than six months;

💪 My exact #75Hard 75 Soft schedule that worked for me, and the impact it has had on my life (including the dream project I managed to tick off my list).

🎉 An invitation to join me in a mid-year reset and start your own version of #75Hard with me.

Why I Decided to Do 75 Soft — and How It Happened

It’s been a big few years, and at the start of this year I felt depleted. I’d lost my spark entirely, and the most scary part was that I didn’t know how to get it back. Usually, I can get myself back on the horse relatively easily, but this period in my life was a whole other story. I’d lost my mum a few months earlier after two incredible tough years (more on that here), I’d let friendships slip amidst the hustle and bustle of care-giving and my business had burnt me to a crisp.

I’d love to say that I used a three-step formula to pull me out of it, but the truth is I didn’t. In fact, I discovered my version of 75 Soft almost by accident, and it started (like all good habit stacking does) with one simple change: I downloaded a Pilates app and committed to doing a work out every single day. The work out didn’t require me to drive anywhere (I have my kiddies with me and couldn’t anyway), and it didn’t take 45 minutes.

They were quick 15 - 20 minute workouts and they have changed my goddamn life. I do them messy. I do them with kids jumping on me. I do them in the dark mornings before anyone is awake. I just do them: mostly because I can tell myself they will be quick, and because I don’t have any excuse not to.

The best bit? I ACTUALLY ENJOY THEM. Like, want to and look forward to doing them each day

Over time, those workouts have:

• Shifted my energy: I start the day doing something I’m genuinely proud of, and it shifts my mental state;

• Improved my health: I have watched my body completely change, with actual muscles, improved posture and ZERO aches and pains (as a 42-year old who had many, this has been the biggest and best bit);

• Increased my motivation: I was struggling to want to do much at all; having the discipline to do these workouts had a knock on effect on other aspects of my business and life I was dragging in.

• Made me a better mum: I found myself not snapping as much, keeping my patience and becoming an all around better mum (I feel really proud of this!)

The biggest change, though? The knock on effect its had on other areas of my life.

The Accidental Impact of ONE Domino Habit on Every Area of My Business and Life

This habit became the ‘domino habit’ for me: the one habit that allowed me to start stacking others on top. Here’s what my version of 75 Soft ended up looking like.

75 Soft Challenge Rules:

• One Pilates session every day;

• One walk outside every day (even for five minutes);

• One hour of focus work on a project;

• Drink 2L of water;

• Daily Loops;

• Finance Goal.

I also read non-fiction every day, but I do that anyway so adding it for a ‘challenge’ felt like cheating (click here for a list of my recommended reads — I update it regularly!)

I tracked (and continue to track!) my progress with a simple progress tracker, which keeps me excited about not breaking my streak and I update it each morning when I sit down at my computer to work.

Most of these habits are fairly self-explanatory, but here are two that have changed the game for me from a business perspective.

One Hour of Focus Work on a Project Each Day

Do you have something you desperately want to achieve in your life, but you push it onto the back burner in favour of the things that make the money, the things that feel more urgent or the things that make ‘more sense’? What ‘something’ comes up for you when I ask that question? Maybe it’s a course you want to create? A podcast you want to launch? A charity you want to contribute to?

For me, it was to write a book.

It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do — and for years and years, I’ve pushed it back. It hasn’t been the right time. It hasn’t seemed realistic. I was scared and fearful and felt silly even admitting that I thought I could do it. It felt like a lot of work and I had no idea where to start.

At the start of the year, I decided to commit to starting anyway — not in a ‘big’ way, but simply by carving out an hour each day to get started. Truth is, I had no idea what ‘get started’ even meant: I opened a Google doc and closed it. I asked Claude how to get started writing a non-fiction book. I followed authors on Substack and started listening to relevant podcasts.

And then one day, about a week in, I went to the library and just.. started writing. Six months later, I have a book. A real, finished book. Now, the actual ins and outs of that are a whole different story and likely the focus of a future Substack, but I did it simply by committing to (at the start) one hour of work on it every single day.

Daily Loops

Ever receive a text from a friend, open it.. and forget to reply for 13,837 days? Because, same. Only, I didn’t want to be that person. So, I committed to a simple habit: at the end of each day, to spend five minutes ‘closing the loops’ — replying to text messages, shutting down tabs, finishing things.

On the flip side, I also committed to opening a new loop each day. Over the past few years of having babies and caring for loved ones, I dropped away from just about every other aspect of my life. Friendships waned, and I didn’t develop new business connections either. One day I woke up, and just felt super lonely. Truth is though, everything you have in life is a reflection of past decisions and so I decided to make new ones. My goal? To open a new thread every day — to reach out to someone, follow up with someone, make a new friend, connect with an old one. Specifically, I wanted to do it with business connections, to start to build relationships and feel a part of something again.

$20,000 Finance Goal

One area of my life where I knew I had become a little ‘loose’ was with my finances. I’ve always been of the mentality that I would focus on earning more rather than scrimping and budgeting to excess, but this year was a different story.

After losing my mum, I cut back significantly on work to give myself some much needed space — and that has meant a big financial step back. In many ways, that has been a blessing because it highlighted how financially loose I had become in many areas.

And so, I set myself a goal — to find $20,000 of money to invest into assets to contribute to my passive income goals. It was a way of me tightening up the belt both personally and in my business.

• Personal Finances: On the personal front, I opened a ‘scraps’ account and committed to filling it daily. In it, I put money that either I manage not to spend or that I come across in another way. Example: left unchecked, I will go to the shops on the weekend with the kids ‘just because’ and easily drop $60 on random ‘stuff’ I probably don’t strictly need (middle aisle at Aldi, anyone?) Since I started my scraps account, I don’t do that anymore.
  Here’s a few ways my scraps account fills up over time. I order my groceries online so I can make sure I get the best prices (this reduced my weekly grocery bill by $50+ every week, I use apps that give you cash back (eg Shopback), I buy things on sale when previously I never did and I buy with a more ‘minimalist’ mindset (asking ‘do I REALLY need this?’). I also find ways to make money. For example, I sold my old prams on Facebook Marketplace, and randomly found a $100 casino chip in my draw and cashed it in.
  I also created a personal budget, and added in everything we currently spend on. I then went through and looked for opportunities to optimise — everything from my electricity bill (saving $700 a year), to small subscriptions.
  The incentive? Knowing that my scraps account would be put to good use to invest in assets to grow my passive income. When your money has a ‘job’, you’re more mindful about spending it on silly things that don’t matter — and trust me, those dollars add up.

• Business Finances: I created a business expense spreadsheet, and listed out all of my business expenses. I then went through and looked for opportunities to cull or prune. This will be the subject of another Substack, because I have saved over $4,000 a month.

This wasn’t something I did all at once. It was a calendar appointment in my diary each week, and the compounding effect of little daily habits that built my scraps account and found areas in the business to optimise.

The Compounding Effect of my 75 Soft Challenge

It’s currently mid-way through the year. Here’s what’s happened since I started my ‘75 Soft’ challenge:

• Incredibly Strong and Healthy: I feel healthy, vibrant and strong with visible muscles from my daily Pilates — a habit I love and likely will never give up.

• Great Skin and Hydration: My skin feels soft with fewer fine lines thanks to my daily water habit;

• 100,000 Book Written: I’ve ticked my life bucket list item off and have written a 100,000 word book — something I am immensely proud of, feel very confident will help others (now, to look for a traditional publishing deal!)

• Friends Blossoming: My friendships are starting to bloom again, because I have taken responsibility for putting intentional focus into them. I’ve spent more time with personal friends this year than in a long time, and I am building business connections for the first time in years.

• $20,000 in Investments: I have $20,000 in investments which will now generate me almost $1,000 a year in passive income forever — without missing out on anything (simply from little habit shifts and intentional focus!)

Even better, these habits are now pretty much ingrained. I have no intention of stopping. What started for me as a bit of a reset has transformed me in ways I didn’t think were possible.

I’ll be renewing these habits as I move into the second half of the year, and would love to invite you to join me!

Your 75 Soft doesn’t need to be the same as mine. Perhaps there’s an area of your life that is being neglected and that you feel could benefit from the small compounding effect of stacking a habit? If so, swap it out. And then, come and join me! I’m going to document some of what I am doing over on my Instagram, and have a post for those committed to doing their own mid-year reset here — comment and let me know you’re in! 👀 ⬇️

I'll admit: I used to scoff a little when others would share their online founder tales of switching one software for another and saving a bit in the process. 'For the amount of time that takes, they'd be better off just keeping it', I'd think.

My strong view was that founders should focus on making money — not looking for random opportunities to save a buck or two. I thought over-budgeting and cutting back was a sign of scarcity thinking, but I've changed my tune.

Over the past year, I scaled my business down significantly. It's been a tough season personally, and I pared back to get myself right again (happily, I'm there! 🌸). When I made that decision, I looked at my cashflow forecast and expense list to ensure I could comfortably make ends meet with reduced revenue. Things looked great; I had about eight months of runway. Even so, I thought this would be a good opportunity to spring clean my business expenses. The result? I saved over $3,000 without much work at all.

In this article, I'll share:

🧠 The decision-making criteria I used to cut expenses without shooting myself in the foot time-wise
👀 My exact expense tally last financial year
💸 Exactly how I saved over four figures in less than two hours total
💾 Which software gave me discounts when I tried to downgrade or cancel, so you can do the same
📊 My exact expenses budget as a solopreneur before and after the cull

If you love behind-the-scenes peeks into the finances of other online founders, you'll love the nitty-gritty detail I share here! It might even inspire you to do your own expenses spring clean.

My Solopreneur Expense Budget Before the ‘Big Cull’

There was a time when my business expenses well exceeded $30,000 a month — multiple full-time team members, decent ad spend, and a bloated software and tech stack will do that to you. My business was also much bigger; around the one million dollar mark. Even with expenses over $30,000 monthly, I still enjoyed 50%+ profit margins. The math worked out.

In the last couple of years however, I scaled my business down quite a bit — just for a season. And so, my business expenses were fairly 'light’. Here’s a snapshot from the last financial year, in case you’re interested (all prices in AUD):

Marketing:
Facebook Advertising: $41,000
Accounting: $10,000

Operations
Internet: $1,100
Office - Computer Tools: $218
Office - Furniture: $390
Office - Supplies: $59
Office - Post and Shipping: $18
Office: Printing: $261
Hosting - Data: $461
Hosting - Domains: $432
Hosting: Video: $354
Outsourced Services - Legal $2,600
Outsourced Services - Grant Preparation: $2,597
Credit Card Fee (Amex Platinum) - $1,750

Software
Accounting Software: $1,000
Software - Email Marketing: $3,042
Software - G Suite: $840
Software - Zapier: $918
Software - Manychat: $792
Software - AI (Claude): $420
Software - Descript Pro: $464
Software - Kleq (course software): $1550
Software - Showit (Website Software): $707
Software - Hyros: $4,000 (cancelled)
Software - Lastpass: $54
Software - Keywords Everywhere: $43
Software - Circle: $3661
Software - Clickup: $165
Software - Helpscout: $435

Grand Total: $79,331 comprising —
Marketing: $51,000 (68.3% of total)
Operations: $10,240 (12.9% of total)
Software: $18,091 (22.8% of total)

Note: I had already culled a fair few of these expenses by the time I did this latest cull — most notably Hyros (which I love, and will likely reinstate when I start growing again soon and spending on ads again).

This, honestly, is still great and relatively lean. But, I was on a mission to do better.

My Solopreneur Tools and Software Purge: Decision Making Criteria

Here’s the decision making criteria I used to decide whether to cut or cut down on a tool or software expense:

• ❌ No Stealing My Time: If deleting an expense would mean I had to spend more time in the business, it wasn’t worth doing (especially if the saving was far less than my hourly rate).

• ❌ No Switch Costs: Equally, if I would need to spend ages on the actual switch and doing so would cost me much more (based on my hourly rate) than staying put, it wasn’t worth it.

• ❌ No Impact on Business: If the tool was essential to my daily operations or revenue generation, it stayed regardless of cost

In other words, I was simply looking for quick, easy wins — wasted money that I would easily be able to scoop up without too much time or drama.

The Solopreneur Software Tools I Haggled Down, Paused, Downgraded or Cut (And Why)

Haggled Down: Active Campaign

I've tried just about every email marketing tool out there — Mailchimp, Kit, Keap, you name it. As a tool, I still love Active Campaign. It's powerful, does everything I want, and I know it like the back of my hand.

As a business though? I'm mad at them. Like scorned woman who has just found out their partner has been having a wild affair for years behind your back mad. Their recent price hikes have gotten many smaller founders and creators offside, and they eventually 'got me' too.

The situation: I received an email advising that my existing plan would be 'updated' and I would need to pay almost $1,000 AUD more per year. When I reviewed their website, the plan most similar to my current one wasn't the plan I was being 'automatically' moved to. Makes sense, right? Apparently not.

The email runaround: I emailed Active Campaign asking for the discount to be applied to the plan most similar to my current plan instead. What followed was 16 frustrating emails back and forth that started like this:

Me: "I'd like to stay on the plan most similar to my current one"

AC: "You can downgrade to that plan, but it will cost $2,000 more per year than you're currently paying."

Wait, what? So I could downgrade back to the plan most similar to my current one, but it would cost $2,000 more a year than I was currently paying. Makes sense — not 🤦🏻‍♀️

Me: "But I'm not downgrading! I'm simply asking to stay on the plan most similar to the one I'm already on."

AC: "You can downgrade, but it would cost the same as the upgrade being offered."

Right... so I could downgrade, but it would cost the same as the upgrade?! WHAT AN OFFER 🤦🏻‍♀️ At this point, it all felt crazy - I was being automatically upgraded, told to pay $1k more for the 'privilege' only to be told that downgrading would cost the same as the upgrade.

The breaking point: Decided I would leave thanks to a crappy deal, huge values misalignment, and shocking customer service. I emailed them to let them know I was canceling.

The magic retention offer: It's at this point that they FINALLY, after a further 50-email exchange (yes, really), moved me to the Plus plan — the one I wanted and that is most similar to the one I was currently on anyway — for $232 AUD per month. A thousand dollars less than the 'best deal' they wanted to offer the first time around.

The aftermath: I'm still with them for now, but don't trust them for a second. In the process of finally allowing me to continue on the plan most similar to the one I was on, they ignored the fact that I was a long-standing customer, had been an affiliate recommending them, and that they made a series of ridiculous offers in the lead up.

Why I haven't switched yet: I'd like to move my entire operation over to Kit (whose values and ethos I align with). However, doing so right now would: a) cost me more, b) take up significant time, and c) mean I need to figure out how to make my more advanced automations work, which will take time, effort, and more money.

I still like Active Campaign as a tool, but the business, their values, and their customer service are all shocking.

The lesson: This was the biggest saving, and it shows that many software companies will make retention offers when you actually try to cancel. If you're looking to optimize expenses, it might be worth walking through the cancellation process to see what you get offered.

Total Annual Saving: $1,153

Paused: Kajabi

I signed up to Kajabi at the start of the year to be an affiliate and create templates for students. I've been paying $136 AUD monthly ever since, without actually using it — classic sunk cost fallacy.

When I went to cancel, they offered several options to keep me:

• Discount offers

• Free months

• Finally, a pause option for $29 USD monthly without losing my account or affiliate payments

I should have done this months earlier.

I should have done this months earlier, and would have if I had known it was an option.

This is a good example of a software that makes discount offers and better deals for the clients that request to leave. Lots of them do it, so if you’re in a pinch or want to optimise your expenses it might be worth walking through the cancellation process to see what you get offered.

Total Annual Saving: $1,080AUD.

Downgraded: Zapier and Manychat

Zapier

I went in and downgraded my plan, because I was using less than half the number of zaps. This one was a quick and easy win.

Total Annual Saving: $420AUD

Manychat

I wasn’t using or following up with the contacts in my Manychat, so deleted contacts to downgrade.

Total Annual Saving: $552AUD

This is a good reminder to downgrade tools when you are on a tier higher than the one you are using. They are quick, easy savings!

Total Saved

• Active Campaign: $3,937 → $2,784 (saved $1,153)

• Kajabi: $1,632 → $348 (saved $1,080)

• Zapier: $918 → $498 (saved $420)

• Manychat: $792 → $240 (saved $552)

Total Saving: $3,205.

Software and Tools I Counterintuitively Decided to Keep

Amex: I pay $1,750 a year for my Platinum Amex - but, to me, it’s worth it. I collect points with it that I can use for airline travel, and when I pay for trips with it I get 100% complimentary travel insurance (which covers the cost of the fee). I also receive free nights accommodation, and lounge passes.

What I Am Doing With the Saved Money

Right now, I’m on a mission to invest as much money as possible.

In this post, I shared my recent goal to ‘find’ $20,000 to add to my investments. This expenses cull was a part of that goal; it inspired me to find a way to keep things lean and reduce bloat.

The reduced expense spend goes into a bank account I call profit (I take a portion out and put it into my tax account first), and from there I invest it into assets that will help to make work optional for me.

Your Turn: Spring Clean Your Expenses

Use this as inspiration for your own mid-year expenses spring clean! It's easy for recurring subscriptions and unnecessary expenses to creep up, and we often push 'sorting it out' to later.

Action steps:

1. List all your recurring software subscriptions

2. Look for opportunities to downgrade, get a cancellation deal or get a better deal than the one you’re on

3. Calculate your savings and decide what to do with the money

Think about what you might do with any money you save, then go on a mission to find it!

What's your biggest expense you could cut or optimise? Comment below and let me know what you cull, downgrade or switch to! 👀⬇️

Every woman with kids (every woman, full stop) should do a solo trip once a year. I do one most years; this year it was to Bali. Ten days post-trip, I feel happy, relaxed and bursting with inspiration. In this ultimate guide, I’m breaking down how to do a solo Bali travel as a female founder. Your future self (and likely, your kids, partner and clients) will thank you — you’ll come back firing on all cylinders, pinky promise.

In this Substack article, I’ll break down:

• Exactly where to stay (and where not to), including where I stayed and the best location right now for solo females;

• My top tips for solo female dining in Bali, including the best brekkie, lunch and dinner spots right now and the best times to eat alone;

• The best co-working spaces for getting work done, coconut in hand 🥥;

• Healthy eats, pilates studios and the best massage spot on the Island right now;

• How to get around (without needing a motorbike licence or to spend hours in traffic on the main roads);

• How to swing a week or two off even when you think you can’t (due to time, funds, caregiving responsibilities, mum/woman guilt or all of the above);.

• Exactly what it all cost me (and how you can do it cheaper.. or dearer..)!

Who This Solo Bali Travel Guide is For

Warning: this guide isn’t for the Bali babes looking for tips on living the digital nomad dream with zero responsibilities. I’m not throwing shade here by the way, I kind of used to be one — I spent two months in Bali pre-kids and business. The thing is though, there’s plenty of content for you lot online (and let’s face it, you make most of it) but not enough for a certain type of woman: those with a bit on their plate these days and craving a touch more freedom than an hour of downtime to respond to email after their five year old has gone to bed. If you relate to any of the below (or a version of one of them)? It’s specifically for you.

• The overworked female founder working feel frankly a little dead inside — inspiration: gone. Needed? A complete change of scenery to get the spark back, stat.

• The school mum slash business owner with school age kids, limping to the end of term and feeling like they’ve spent ten weeks on a hamster wheel of wake up - make lunches - school run - coffee - work - pick up - dinner - repeat;

• The business-y gals who love what they do, but need a few days to give themselves a birds eye view and see things from a different perspective and get their mojo back;

• The touched-out, tapped-out mums of little ones who love their kids to death but feel like they’ve lost themselves amidst the haze of business and babies.

• .. And every woman in business in between.

Seems like you want it, too: when I posted about this trip over on Instagram (see post below) over 70 of you told me you wanted this guide! Let me know in the comments of this Substack if you read it and what you think 🙌 🥥

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How and Why I Swung a Solo Bali Trip With 18,342 Responsibilities and a Million Excuses Why Not

I have a three and a five year old, a partner that leaves for work at 5am and returns at 6pm, and no help from family nearby. I’ve also spent close to six months working on a huge project with no income generated from it, so money isn’t… flowing. I could have a million excuses for not taking a solo holiday (and in the past, I’ve grappled with them all). No more. Here’s how I did it anyway.

1. ‘I Can’t Afford It’
   A: Open a Scrap Money Account! I have a personal bank account I call ‘scraps’. Yes, really. In it, I put money that either I manage not to spend or that I come across in another way. Example: left unchecked, I will go to the shops on the weekend with the kids ‘just because’ and easily drop $60 on random ‘stuff’ I probably don’t strictly need (middle aisle at Aldi, anyone?) Since I started my scraps account, I don’t do that anymore. When your money has a ‘job’, you’re more mindful about spending it on silly things that don’t matter — and trust me, those dollars add up. Here’s a few ways my scraps account fills up over time. I order my groceries online so I can make sure I get the best prices (this reduced my weekly grocery bill by $50+ every week, I use apps that give you cash back (eg Shopback), I buy things on sale when previously I never did and I buy with a more ‘minimalist’ mindset (asking ‘do I REALLY need this?’). I also find ways to make money. For example, I sold my old prams on Facebook Marketplace, and randomly found a $100 casino chip in my draw and cashed it in. All of this adds up — and NONE of it came from my business. Now, do I have a business capable of raking in the $$$ when I ramp up again? Sure do; but these habits still help. Note: When I don’t have a trip like this coming up, I invest my ‘scraps’ money instead of spending it.

2. ‘I don’t have anyone to look after the kids’ .
   A: Ask For favours! My mother-in-law lives in Proserpine, and wants to spend time with the kids. With enough advance notice, she was happy to come down and care for the kiddies — and the kids were pumped too. I know this isn’t available to everyone, but I’m grateful I can lean on her and that she genuinely wants that time with our babies.

3. ‘I feel guilty leaving my family’.
   A: Ditch the guilt! Seriously, it’s a useless emotion. I love my family to death. AND I STILL LOVE DOING THINGS ALONE. Always have, always will. Just about every year I have done a solo trip like this, and I come back a better family member, business owner and person. Becoming a mum especially doesn’t mean you need to leave yourself at the door.

4. ‘It’s silly and unnecessary’
   A: Make this the highest ROI thing you do all year! I didn’t go to Bali to sit on a beach and do nothing (though, that’s totally worthwhile too!) Instead, it was a work-cation. As a working mum, it’s difficult for me to find the time to work on the projects that feel important to me. They can get lost in the urgent. This trip had a single purpose — to finish off a project I had been working on in pieces all year long. Honestly, taking the trip will probably end up being the highest ROI (return on investment) thing I’ve ever done in my business, because when this project launches I know it will supercharge my business. Pick a project, and make it the focus of your trip.

Okay, now that’s out of the way, let’s break down how to do a solo Bali trip right (as a female in your thirties plus!)

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The Perfect Average Day on a Solo Bali Work-Cay (The Female Founder Edition)

Bali is made for solo work-cations. MADE FOR THEM. Everything is easy and energy-giving: there are people working by pools with coconuts in hand literally everywhere, it’s the health mecca of the world and you can order anything and everything you need in two taps max. Here’s how I spent my days.

6.30am: Wake. Walk down to Pererenan Beach and along the coastline before the humidity hits. Pop a podcast in and make your way to Times Beach Warung. Sit on a beanbag and enjoy one of the best coffees on the Island with a good book to start your morning right.

8am: Walk back to the Villa. Breakfast is being served — choose from salmon, eggs and spinach, a dragonfruit smoothie bowl or rolled oats with fruit. Plan your day or chat to the staff or other guests (if there are any around) while you eat.

9am: Pilates. Walk up the road to the Pilates Project for the 9am mat pilates class. Snap a pic in the big mirror — Instagram proof for later.

10am: Work. Jump on a Gojek and head over to a coworking space or cafe. Order a fresh whole coconut (hydration) and matcha latte (cold!) and do some deep focus work on your project.

2pm: Walk and lunch. Head out for a little walk and change location — either to a new co-working space, or to have some lunch and work.

4pm: Massage or Facial. Head over for a relaxing 60 or 90 minute massage, or book a facial or scalp massage and blow dry. Ideally, alternate between the three each afternoon for the entire duration of your trip.

5.30: Reset. Head home and shower, or walk to one of the simple beach bars along Pererenan beach to watch the sunset. It’s not the prettiest beach in the world, but the sunset is beautiful.

6pm: Early Dinner. Head out for an early dinner and a glass of wine before the crowds and groups. Take your Kindle or journal to keep you company. See my solo dining tips further down!

7pm: Reading or Sauna, Pick up a choccie on the way home to eat with a cup of camomile tea. Optionally, head over to Sunday Mood or one of the million incredible gyms with recovery areas beforehand for an infrared sauna before bed.

And repeat.

The Best (and Safest Spots!) to Stay for Solo Female Bali Trip

In 2017, I stayed in a little apartment in the middle of Canggu and was as peaceful and happy as a clam. If I did that today, I’d probably choke from scooter exhaust fumes, end up swearing at least 1,242 times from traffic road rage, cry from noise over-sensitivity from all of the construction and book the first plane ticket home.

Unfortunately, Bali is a victim of its own digital nomad fame — and Canggu has suffered the most. What was once a beautiful, quiet and green pocket with beautiful cafes overlooking rice paddies is now a concrete jungle more overrun than Times Square on a Saturday afternoon. It’s a lot. It’s sad, and a reflection of our times: digital nomadism has been romantised, often to the detriment of the far-flung locations they glorify as ‘paradise’. Likely, I’m contributing to it even by writing this article (read this for some interesting thoughts the whole thing), and the whole situation makes me sad. All I can say is: tread lightly as you go.

In 2025, Pererenan (the next beach along) is the better, greener, quieter place to stay — it’s like the ‘old’ Canngu, and no doubt in a couple of years will suffer the same fate. But for now, it’s beautiful and tranquil. If you want a work-cation, I don’t think there’s a better place in the world for it right now. Beautiful world-class places to eat and gyms everywhere, laptop-friendly cafes and coworking spaces every few metres; it’s a vibe.

Where I stayed:

I stayed at Plawa Laguna, in a Queen room and it was fit for a queen. This place is perfect for solo females — there’s just five rooms so the beautiful staff get to know you and genuinely care about you, the room is almost brand new and gorgeous, there is 24/7 security and you can walk just about everywhere in no more than 10 minutes. I have a feeling this best kept secret won’t stay this way (or this price) for long — I paid full price (this isn’t an ad) and around $220 a night. Is there cheaper around? Absolutely, but if you want the best of the best — this is it, I couldn’t fault it.

Other options:

I didn’t stay at either of them but Zin and Chesa (both in Canggu but in relatively quiet pockets) were also on the shortlist.

The Best Bali Co-Working Spaces for Solo Female Digital Nomads

My fave place to work is a classic. It’s in Canggu but tucked up the beach end of a quiet street and it’s called Zin Cafe on Jalan Neylean. They have an upstairs area for laptops, and — like all of the co-working spaces in Bali — it’s a melting pot of people from all over the world working on interesting things. It’s easy to strike up conversations with people around you, if that’s your thing. Personally, I love that and I also love listening in on what others are doing. I met an incredible woman from Canada who retired at 41 to start a new business helping women rebuild after divorce (I have a feeling we will be friends for a long time!), a guy from Austria working in finance remotely, and even someone working for Nvidia.

I also went to Tribal Bali most days, and loved that too. I would order a coconut and work on a standing bench overlooking the pool.

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How and Where to Solo Dine in Bali

The only two times I hated solo dining on my trip were 1) when I tried to go too late at night (after 7pm) surrounded by groups and 2) when I was seated literally in the middle of everyone all by myself.

So, here are my hot tips for solo dining as a female in Bali:

• Book somewhere early;

• Ask for a corner table tucked out of the way; and

• Bring a Kindle or your journal (if there is enough light or its early enough) for company.

Doing it this way made going out to dinner feel like a treat, without getting weird stares or feeling on display.

Where to Go for Dinners:

• Shelter Pererenan: Luxe/special dinner spot (about $100 for a side, main and wine). The hottest dinner spot in Pererenan and incredible food. Ask for one of the inside tables near the kitchen.

• Mason Canggu: Luxe/special dinner spot (again, about $100 for a side, main and wine). My favourite food in Bali — woodfired meats.

• Openhouse Pererenan: Good for quick, casual dinners, always busy but incredible service and you won’t be out of place eating alone.

• Milk and Madu: Good for super casual early dinners, get one of the small tables at the front.

Health, Pilates and Massages — Hands Down the Best Bits About Solo Travel in Bali!

Want your brain to spark with new idea and fire on all cylinders on your solo female Bali working holiday? I know I do. Simply being in a new location gives me loads of inspiration, but I also do my best work when I’m active, well-rested and eating super well. Bali is the ultimate health mecca and there are millions of incredible options for all of the above. I am a creature of habit, so I stuck to the places I know and love.

Massage: Therapy Day Spa in Pererenan I have been going here for years and years (since they were located in Echo Beach and much smaller) and they just keep getting better.

Facial Massage: Face Therapy Spa in Pererenan (literally across the road from Plawa Laguna). I have the signature face therapy massage, but there are also buccal massage, gua sha and some other cool options.

Pilates: The Pilates Project in Pererenan has a heap of classes each day and is aesthetically gorg. Expect quite a few influencer-types, but that’s Canggu/Pererenan in general. I’m a slightly awkward and gawky pilates gal, and I still loved it. They have lots and lots of reformer classes, and a couple of mat classes each day. You can get a month long unlimited session pass for new clients for about 600,000IDR ($60AUDish). Note: If yoga is more your thing, I have heard great things about Path Yoga which is just down the road.

Gyms and Recovery Areas: Honestly, I didn’t visit one even though it was on the list. I wanted to check out Nirvana Life (mostly for the recovery areas) and Wrong Gym (which was just up the road) but didn’t make it.

So there you have it! Have I inspired you to take a solo trip? Do you have questions about doing a solo work slash holiday? Did you take a trip based on this article? I want to know EVERYTHING. Let me know in the comments 👀 ⬇️ And PS — consider this your permission slip to book the damn trip, in case you’re still waiting for one 🎫

This isn’t a ‘business’ post; so bear with me. Today is World Ovarian Cancer Day, and if you are a female or you know one – it’s relevant to you. It’s URGENT for you. I tossed up whether to post it here but for that reason alone, I did. Back to usual programming next week.

(And if you like the odd personal post here – let me know. I have a second publication in mind to post more of it).

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The few times my life has been flipped upside down, it’s happened with a simple phone call – usually in the afternoon, and usually on a perfect Autumn day.

(I’ve always hated phone calls, but I hate perfect Autumn days now too).

This phone call came in early March 2022.

Heavily pregnant with my second little girl, I was mostly au fait with motherhood by this point – though that hadn’t always been the case. I’d had my first little baby, Jimmy, two and a half years earlier and struggled with being a mum in those early days. Juggling a growing business and a little baby that hated sleep, I spent months and then years fraying at the edges.

Thankfully, my mum had been there – just as she always was.

Every afternoon since Jimmy’s birth – always armed with a smile and usually freshly pureed veggies too – my mum would show up at lunch time to walk our little Jimmy up and down the beach, feed him in the highchair and give me a chance to work.

She relished her role as ‘Nansy’, and the bond between the two of them was so tight.

Besties, they were.

This particular afternoon was just like every other. I worked in one room, she was singing to Jimmy and getting him ready for his walk in the other. Until, it wasn’t.

That afternoon, the phone rang and our entire lives crumbled. I heard the muffled conversation, and I knew. Somehow, I just knew. The strained tones. Her face. It wasn’t good.

A week later, we were sitting with the oncologist.

Primary Peritoneal Cancer, he said – a gynaecological cancer very similar in nature (and treatment options) to Ovarian Cancer.

We’d never heard of it, and anyway, after a hysterectomy at 42 SHE DIDN’T EVEN HAVE OVARIES ANYMORE.

It didn’t matter, apparently. The cancer had likely started in her fallopian tubes, spread to a little piece of ovarian tissue still hanging around and then moved into her peritoneum – a cellophane-like wrapping that lines the abdominal cavity.

There’d been no symptoms, until one day a couple of weeks before her belly had felt bloated and sore.

‘Ascites’, said the oncologist.

‘It’s fluid build up in your tummy – common with more, er, advanced cancer’.

‘Is this it?’ I wanted to shout. ‘Will I lose my beautiful mum; my everything? WHEN?’

I didn’t say that, though. It would have been too painful for her and for me.

Instead, I asked what stage the cancer was. His answer mostly told us everything we were both wondering anyway.

‘Stage 4’, he answered.

He looked at his notes.

‘Actually, 4B. Come in next week, we have an information session to help you through’.

The info session was a pamphlet and a tired powerpoint presentation in a small room with fluorescent lights. There was a small group of us. A couple in their sixties. A lady in her forties or so, alone. And us.

The session was typical of the care that followed. Formal. Barren.

‘You’ll lose your hair’, they said. We went shopping for a wig that afternoon.

‘Everyone’s prognosis is different’, they said. Only we’d Googled, and they didn’t look so different. In fact, the survival statistics for peritoneal and ovarian cancers look devastatingly slim across the board.

And finally – ‘we’ll schedule your first round of chemotherapy for next week’.

And so the merry go round began.

Anyone that has supported a family member or loved one closely through ‘the process’, or who (YOU ARE AMAZING) is going through ‘it’ now will know what I mean by that.

The weekly chemo appointments. The aftermath – a day or two of ‘zing’ thanks to heavy medication followed by four or five of heavy bed rest, bloated extremities, nausea, sickness. The loss of feeling in fingers and toes. The hair falling out in clumps – and the loss of identity that follows. The sudden illnesses and hospital visits where you wonder – is this it? The excruciatingly painful open chest surgeries. The quiet nights wondering what’s to come. The not knowing. The knowing. All of it.

I feel blessed to have been able to support my Mum through her most difficult days, just as she had supported me my entire life. I had a front row seat to every appointment, every surgery, every false hope.

I saw it all. And, I saw her.

My mum was the toughest always; but through those times? I’ve never seen someone so resilient, brave and heartstoppingly courageous.

‘You don’t really have a choice, do you?’, she told me, smiling. Always smiling.

But of course, I saw the fear too. It was quiet, spoken aloud just once or twice and otherwise present only in little flashes whenever we received the next piece of bad news.

I felt it too.

The fear that she wouldn’t get to see Jimmy every day, or watch my new little girl grow up, or have the energy to walk the beach path anymore. The fear that despite the little hopes, it could or would all come crashing down at any time. The lingering wonder whether today was her last July day, or summer day, or Christmas day. The fear that this.. all of *this”.. the treatments, the sickness, the merry go round, was all that was left. Knowing that it was. Hoping against hope that it wasn’t.

—

I lost my Mum on May 2 of last year; two and a bit years after diagnosis.

It was a few days short of both Ovarian Cancer Day and Mothers Day.

I miss her. Those three words feel like an understatement, but there aren’t really words for how I really feel anyway.

I’m not sure what’s worse – watching the person you love the most experience pain every single day, or trying to navigate the pain of not having them by your side, not ever again, for the rest of your life.

Of course, it’s both.

The truth is, losing a beloved parent changes you. I read somewhere a few weeks after that losing your mum feels like wanting to go home, and knowing you never can again. That’s it. It eats through the very fabric of your being and everything you hold true. It rips your security blanket from you.

I’m sad for me, but more than that – I’m sad for her.

My mum didn’t get to see my little boy start school this year. Or my little girl turn three. She doesn’t get to come shopping on Saturdays anymore, or walk to the park with us, or enjoy the rest of the ‘golden years’ she savoured so much.

She wasn’t ready to go; she told me so.

And for that, I’m not just sad but also? Angry.

Every woman should be, really.

Here’s why:

This isn’t just about my beautiful mum, or about me.

Every single day in Australia alone, we lose three women to ovarian cancer (her peritoneal cancer was always put in the ‘same bucket’; its cells are the same). Ovarian cancer is Australias most deadly female cancer (and actually, primary peritoneal cancer is not just female – men can get it too). And in cancer circles, ovarian cancer is universally known as the ‘wrong cancer’ to get.

The doctors, the nursing staff – they all know how it starts (usually, only diagnosed at advanced stages due to no early detection test), how it goes (woefully outdated treatment options that haven’t materially changed for THIRTY YEARS) and how it ends (one of the cancers with the very poorest prognoses due to chronic underfunding).

I could always see it on the faces of the medical staff in the chemo ward when they read my mums cancer type. The look they gave us. The knowing. It was never good.

The truth is, one in 130 women will get ovarian cancer in their lifetime. And worse, if they do it’s likely already going to be advanced (most ovarian cancer is detected at stage three or four), and their chances of survival one of the lowest of all cancers.

These are the precious lives of our beautiful mums, sisters, wives, daughters and friends. These are OUR precious lives.

It’s not okay.

And yet, due to chronic underfunding, we’re not giving ourselves and our loved ones the chance to fight this that that they all deserve. Without action, more than 2.2 million women will die from ovarian cancer over the next 10 years.

The only ‘good’ news that comes from knowing that? Is that actually, this doesn’t need to be ‘just the way it is’.

There is one key – research funding – that is capable of unlocking that for all of us and changing the story for millions of women in the future.

Research funding can give us the more that my mum deserved.

That every woman with ovarian and related cancers deserve.

We need three things:

1) An early detection test.

My mum found out that she had Ovarian Cancer when it was Stage 4b. She had no symptoms until the cancer had progressed to a point that there was very little hope.

That should appall you. It did me.

Here’s why that is the norm for most women who are diagnosed.

Right now, there is no early detection test for ovarian cancer. Even worse, there are no warning signs – other than those that whisper quietly and usually mirror menstrual pain or digestive issues.

No, a pap smear doesn’t detect it – that’s cervical cancer, and yet so many women walk around thinking they’re covered when they are very much not.

That’s a hard truth because ovarian cancer, when found early, can be cured.

According to UNSW Sydney Professor Caroline Ford, “If we can detect ovarian cancer at stage one, the survival rate should jump to around 90% which will be a game changer in tackling this disease.”

A day needs to come, and soon, where we can book into our GP just like we do with cervical cancer and book a regular screening appointment.

2) Better treatment options.

My mum had one treatment plan available to her:

Chemo, followed by open chest surgery (called ‘debulking surgery’), followed by more chemo.

Is it a cure?

No. There isn’t one.

These invasive treatments buy time, and usually not enough of it. More than half of ovarian cancer patients don’t live more than five years after diagnosis.

The truth is, ovarian (and peritoneal) cancer is difficult to treat because there are so many different sub-types. A week before my mum passed, she paid close to $10,000 for a report to help her determine whether there was any personalised treatment options available to her.

It was offered as an option far, far too late.

And, she didn’t live long enough to find out.

We can do better, by actively funding initiatives to increase five year survival rates for the next generation of women through development of testing and increased access to innovative personalised treatments.

3) For ovarian cancer (and related gynecological cancers) not to be the death sentence they currently are.

The 5-year survival rate for ovarian cancer is 46%. That’s the same rate that all cancer survival rates were at back in 1975 — meaning ovarian cancer is more than 30 years behind.

Whilst all cancer survival rates have increased to 70% in the thirty years since, ovarian cancer survival rates haven’t budged from 46% and in fact are declining.

The World Ovarian Cancer Coalition estimated in a recent report that if nothing changes, there will be an 81 per cent increase in ovarian cancer deaths in our region by 2050.

The culprit? Funding. It’s historically low, and always has been.

But! But! But! We can change it!

We did a tremendous job, and continue to do so, with breast cancer.

According to the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation, improvements in survival rates for breast cancer came from dedicated research, early detection tests, public campaigns and advocacy.

Five year survival rates for breast cancer are now over 91%. Breast cancer is no longer the death sentence that ovarian cancer still is.

We can do the same for ovarian cancer.

The goal?

For every woman diagnosed with ovarian cancer to have that first scary meeting with their cancer doctors that my mum had, only with a very different outcome:

To be told that their condition is treatable.

To be able to come home and tell their children that their condition is treatable.

And for them to continue to live, because their cancer was detected early enough and because the treatment options are now personalised enough thanks to the work done in the ten years prior.

May 8 (today, if you’re reading in real time) is World Ovarian Cancer day.

Here’s why I wrote this — because I know for SURE that it’s possible to change the outcome for women. Because we did for breast cancer. And because this actually doesn’t need to be a death sentence — and yet it still is, simply because it’s not getting enough funding to drive the research ALREADY BEING DONE BY INCREDIBLE PEOPLE.

Here’s a few ways you can help.

1) Look after yourself:

There’s two things you need to know – that a pap smear doesn’t NOT detect ovarian cancer, and that there are a few symptoms to look out for.

I remember my mum not coming to lunch with us one day because she, in her own words, ‘had a bit of gastro’. I reckon that was the OC, and that’s the sort of non-descript thing we need to take seriously.

Also, advocate for yourself. Go to the doctor, and make them listen to you. I think every woman can attest to being dismissed at once stage or another by the healthcare system or authority (like that time I passed out in a grotty public toilet at 21 from severe endometriosis pain, only for the policeman who found me to assume I was having a drug overdose and to ‘just get up’ – yes, really 🙄).

Don’t put up with it. If something feels off in your body, it probably is. Chase it up yourself, no-one else will.

2) Donate (individuals):

Pledge a donation to help the scientists working on a cure for this thing.

Help them to fund research for an early detection test and for personalised treatments to improve outcomes.

There are two people I recommend donating to:

• Gynaecological Cancer Research Group: Dr Caroline Ford (UNSW) and her team are actively working on an Early Detection Test.
  “We really need to focus on this disease. We need to develop an early detection test that will change the outlook for this disease, and therefore change the lives of millions worldwide. If we could pick up the cancer early, at what we call stage one, the survival rate is as good as a cure.”
  
  Please watch this: https://www.camillaandmarc.com/blogs/all/meet-the-research-team
  
  Donate funds to help their research (clothing company Camilla and Marc are spearheading donation efforts for Dr. Caroline Fords efforts, they also have a range of apparel with 100% of proceeds going to their research, you can purchase here).
  
  If you don’t have the funds and you live in Sydney, you can also donate blood.

• Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation [OCRF]: Donate here to support funding for different research initiatives.

3) Donate (businesses):

I have a vision for small, female-owned (or supportive!) businesses to band together to help fight this thing – committing 1% or a tiny portion of revenue each month to collectively make a big difference.

I’m working on the details of this behind the scenes (slowly, surely), but if you’re a female small business owner (and it likely is if you’re reading this on my Substack), let me know in the comments if this speaks to you — and make a tax-deductible business donation from your business in the meantime using the links above.

Parting note:

I get that lots of charities ask for donations. All of them are worthy.

Here’s why you should consider taking action.

I have spent many, many days for the last few years in chemo wards full of beautiful women with ovarian cancer diagnosed too late, and for whom there are no treatment options.

On the flip side, there people every day working so hard on an early detection test and to improve treatment options; and the only thing stopping them from making faster progress is funding.

We improved breast cancer outcomes to 91% with lots of people donating a little.

We can do it with ovarian cancer, too — like, REALLY. It’s very, very possible that with funding from donations on special awareness days like today that there could be an early detection test in the next few years.

PS If you’ve read to the end, let me know in the comments. I’ll give you a big virtual hug.

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A funny thing happens when you’re no longer willing to accept life happening to you; when you take the reins and decide instead to build it on your own terms.

If you’re not careful, or you’re simply naive (like I was), you can very easily end up swapping one gilded cage for another.

The biggest trap of all?

A false belief that freedom lies in achieving some undefined more.

Here’s what I mean:

For most of us stuck in the hustle, bustle and grind of the every day, we’re so wrapped up in what we DON’T have. Specifically, we worry about not having enough.

There’s not enough money to make ends meet, or to do the things we desire to. There’s not enough time to fit everything in, or to spend on the activities or with the people we most want to. There’s not enough colour or magic that comes from pursuing the things that feel good to us, and that give us energy and life.

And so, desire builds for what we perceive to be the opposite of not enough:

MORE.

‘If we have MORE’, we reason, ‘life will be better!’

If we’re ambitious and driven enough (innately, or because of tragedy or circumstance the pain of staying put becomes more painful than that of taking action), we start to actively chase that undefined ‘more’. More money. More time. More fulfillment. More of everything, with no guardrails to keep us in check and no clearly defined endpoint or ‘more’ finish line.

We assume that eventually, the relentless pursuit of more will unlock the freedom, or success, or fulfilment, or happiness we seek.

Only, it doesn’t. It was never going to.

Why? Because more isn’t a destination to be reached, after which you can consider yourself successful and ‘free’. It’s a false oasis, and it puts us on a hamster with no ‘end’ point. And really, that’s the whole point of more, isn’t it – that there’s always more of it.

And so, chasing it as the antidote to ‘not enough’ is a fool's game. It ends up becoming a trap more insidious than the not enoughness we were trying to escape in the first place.

Here’s what I propose:

To ditch more as the antidote for not enough. To shelve silly absolutes as the ‘postcard’ for what true freedom looks like. And instead, to define and then intentionally chase the opposite.

Not MORE, but instead?

Enough.

A defined goal, which is all success is anyway – knowing what you want, and getting it. Not more. Not the most. But enough.

So, let me ask you – what is your enough?

Enough money.. to live well, to enjoy life, and eventually to make work optional?

Enough time.. to serve well, to live a well-rounded life and to enjoy the work you do, too?

And enough of the things that fulfil you .. so that you can weave them into your every day and feel energised, spirited and on most days, with a pep in your step? What is that for you?

Knowing your enough will unlock everything.

And it requires less of you, in every way – and still gives you everything you want.

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This is Part Four in a series to help you set up a personal brand for success. You can view Part One here, Part Two here, and Part Three here. This is the final edition in the series.

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For a personal brand-based business to really SING, it needs a ‘talkaboutable edge’!

(Note: This is the final step in our four part series on setting your personal brand up for big attention and success).

Getting this right is like sprinkling magic fairy dust on your business.

Having a talkaboutable edge bakes BUZZ right into the very fabric of your business.

It makes people stop, sit up and pay attention when you start talking about it.

And, it makes everything you do to try to get attention after that point about fifty million times easier.

Think of it like the invisible ‘cherry on top’ that makes the tactics and work you layer on top pay off, like so —

• Instead of creating social media posts to crickets, your posts POP.

• Instead of pitching for guest podcast spots to polite ‘no thank yous’ (or more likely, radio silence), you have people begging you to appear on their show.

• And, instead of trying to beg, borrow and steal for people to find out about your business, they’re coming to YOU.

I kind of liken it to making your business the ‘it guy or girl’ – you know the ones, every generation has them.

(Daisy Edgar Jones right now, by the way).

There’s something about them, but you can’t ever quuuuuuite put your finger on what it is. They just seem to stand out, shine, and capture hearts and minds... making it all just feel so effortless to boot.

Crafting your ‘talkaboutable edge’ is designed to give your business that kind of vibe.

Dig it?

Get this final step right, and your future business you will come back and thank you with flowers, chocolates and fancy date nights forevermore.

The problem? Businesses HARDLY EVER DO THIS AT ALL.

Creative industries HAVE to do it – their products live and breath by their ability to do so!

Imagine Netflix coming out with a brand new series.

‘It’ll be a smash hit!’, they announce.

You wait and wait – how exciting.

When it finally airs, this is the title and tagline.

How to Automate Your Investing: Three Simple Steps Invest (A Series).

*Womp womp*

You wouldn’t tune in, right?

And yet, founders talk about their businesses like this every single day and wonder why they don’t stand out.

They try to get on podcasts with something like this:

“Hey! I’d love to add value on your podcast, I talk around the topic of investments and automating your investments. I think you’re listeners would love it!”

They create social media posts like this and wonder why they get zero engagement:

“How to Invest With Vanguard: 5 Minute Tutorial”

And they try to attract business with the same pitch.

*Womp womp WOOOOOOOMP*

Boring! Blah! Vanilla! Going around boring everyone to bloody tears.

No wonder they’re invisible.

Let’s instead think about how we could craft this into something with a talkaboutable edge.

Personal finance expert Ramit Sethi does exactly this! He creates a talkaboutable edge for his personal finance and automated investing education business.

Central to a great talkaboutable edge is to integrate into it a big MISSION that others can get on board with. The mission is the way you want to not just sell things, but make the world better. It should also pioneer a completely new way of doing it, too.

His big mission?

Inspiring others to ‘live their rich life’.

To expand, here’s an excerpt from his website:

Living a Small Life is a Tragedy:

Why does typical money advice focus on restriction? Don’t buy lattes. Don’t go on vacations. Don’t get new jeans. Just eat asparagus and hoard your money and maybe you can use it when you turn 80. Here’s a radical thought: What if you used your money to say “yes”?

Living your Rich Life isn’t about frugality — there are plenty of sites that will lecture you about disabling your oven light to save $0.11 per year. I wholeheartedly disagree.

A $5 coffee is not going to change your financial life. But learning how to automatically invest, how to select the right asset allocation, and how to negotiate a $15,000 raise will. Ask $30,000 questions, not $3 ones.

See how this flips the concept of investing on its head and instead leads with something that feels interesting and stands out?

That’s what we want!

Here’s EXACTLY how to do it:

How to Create a Talkaboutable Edge For Your Personal Brand Business

Step One: Define Your Thought Leadership

Crafting a talkaboutable edge requires thought leadership — in other words, to lead the thought in your space.

Thought leadership stops your business from becoming a commodity, something you ABSOLUTELY DO NOT WANT TO BE.

The definition of “commodity” is: “to render (a good or service) widely available and interchangeable with one provided by another company”.

Most business ideas are commoditised.

Anyone can do them, and there is no real differentiator.

Getting more specific with your niche and market helps to offset this a little, but ultimately others could simply choose the same niche and market. Even if you pick a specific niche and market that no-one else is serving, the moment its successful? You’ll have competitors come and join.

Before you know it, voila – your business is one of two, and then seven.. and then more.

The problem with your business idea being a commodity is that commodities usually compete on price, because it’s the only real differentiator. One business starts, and the other business undercuts them a little, and back and forth until its profitability is smashed to smithereens.

That’s a race to the bottom, and absolutely NOT where you want to end up.

Here’s how to define your thought leadership to avoid it!

Step One: Identify a (Big) Problem With the ‘Status Quo’

Rather than simply sounding the same as everyone else, and delivering the same solution, and having the same opinions – something most industries are guilty of doing – your job becomes to identify what’s fundamentally WRONG with one or more of those things and showing that there is a different way of doing things.

So, step one in defining your thought leadership is to identify a big problem with the status quo.

Take out a piece of paper (or build a two column table in Google Docs!) and divide it into two columns. Label column one ‘the old way’ and column two ‘the new way’.

In column one, make a big list of all of the things that are wrong with your industry.

• What’s broken in your industry?

• What are the tired old ways that other businesses are doing things?

• What’s something wrong with the standard ‘way things are’?

These are all the ‘enemy’; the old way of doing things that haven’t worked.

Your job is to highlight this!

Step Two: Flip it on its head.

In column two, brainstorm ways that you could flip each ‘thing’ on its head.

Give people a completely different solution or way of approaching the problem they have.

This new approach should intentionally ‘make an enemy’ of the old way, and use that stance to show people why your way is the new way.

Let’s use Ramit Sethi as an example to illustrate how this works in practice.

Ramit runs a lifestyle business selling productised IP.

His business niche is three layers deep –

Wealth > Personal Finance > Automated Investing

His market is (or at least, seems to be) people with traditional ‘jobs’ – they earn a salary for a paycheck.

All fairly ‘commoditised’ so far – there are PLENTY of finance experts that operate in this space.

The business positions itself in a category of one with a unique concept, which pits the ‘old way’ of managing personal finances with a ‘new way’.

The old way, and Ramit’s ‘enemy’:

The traditional ‘frugal’ approach to personal finance. Cutting back on things you love. Hoarding ALL of your money so you can finally use it when you’re 80. Worrying about spending on small things you love, like coffee. Pinching pennies and operating within restrictive budgets.

The new way, and Ramit's ‘new paradigm’:

Living a rich life now. Spending on all of the little luxuries you want to (because it’s the big decisions that actually matter more). Cut costs, but only on things you don’t love. Say yes to the things that light you up. Automate and forget.

The difference is night and day.

It’s the difference between:

I teach you how to manage your finances and automate your investing.

And:

I teach you how to Design your Rich Life. Design the life you’ve always imagined WITHOUT pinching pennies. Spend confidently on the things you love, and cut back mercilessly on the things you don’t.

You can FEEL the difference, right?

A talkaboutable edge takes something broken, old or wrong, flips it on its head and in doing so, STANDS OUT and rallies people around you.

The right people – the people who have tried the old way, or they’re tired of it – will join you.

And importantly, it won’t appeal to everyone, and so there are ALSO people who will be repelled by it. That’s a GOOD thing; if your edge is something everything is on board with its likely not polarising enough.

Step Two: Set Your Mission

The next step?

To develop a mission for your business idea that has your thought leadership wrapped into it.

Thought leadership requires you to develop a unique perspective.

Mission takes what you do, and makes it about MORE THAN YOU.

Together, they are magic.

Your job?

To position your new way as mission based - where it’s no longer just about you or your business idea, but how you’re going on a MISSION to use that idea to help people to experience that better way.

Example: I’m on a mission to help 1000 founders stop pinching pennies and live their rich life now.

Step Three: Develop Your Concept

Once you have your mission on lock, you can wrap a concept around it. A concept takes an idea, and makes it POP.

Founders aren’t accustomed to the art of developing a concept, but it’s ingrained in the book industry, the TV industry and the advertising world.

An idea is a commodity.

Anyone can have one.

A concept is a unique perspective through which someone looks at an idea, that stands out by virtue of being different and something people haven’t seen before.

Here’s an example of pitching a business idea:

“I help white-collar workers automate their investing so they can retire ten years earlier”.

There’s nothing WRONG with this as a business idea.

In fact, it gets five stars! It’s positioned to perfection with a specific niche that goes three layers deep, and its angled to solve a problem that a specific market has.

But as a concept? Something to get people to sit up and really pay attention?

It’s lacking.. zing.

A concept takes an idea a step further and gives it a talkaboutable edge.

It packages an idea up and delivers it in such a way that makes the person hearing it think – ‘wow, that’s really something!’

Let’s go back to our Ramit Sethi example, because he has achieved exactly this BOTH in the business world (where most people don’t!) and in the book and TV world too (where it’s a necessity to get picked up!)

He used it to pitch a TV Show which successfully went on to be a a six part Netflix series:

How to Get Rich: Financial detective Ramit Sethi embarks on a mission to help seven families fix their money problems, and make their lives richer – in just six weeks.

He used it to pitch a book to a publisher which went on to become a New York Times Bestseller:

I Will Teach You to Be Rich: Stop pinching pennies. Boost your income, spend on the things you love, and cut back mercilessly on the things you don’t. Live your rich life in six weeks.

And, he uses it as the fuel to drive attention and sales for his personal brand business, and the offers in his product suite.

All because he turns a basic idea into a bigger mission and wrapped an attention-grabbing concept around it.

Step Four: Infuse Your Concept into Everything You Do

Your concept is going to be the BIG through-line that you will use to colour everything in your business with your unique perspective.

You should use your concept for everything you do.

It will help you to stand out.

It will land you PR and guest podcast spots.

It will get people to listen to your podcast or tune into your Youtube channel.

It will give you a talkaboutable edge.

Use it to craft:

a) Your business pitch:

Your pitch is how you talk about your business to others. When you’re talking to other about your BUSINESS in circumstances outside pitching your offers, use a mission based concept.

b) Your long form content:

Come up with a concept for your long form content that ties everything together and makes it stand out, instead of just creating random pieces of concept.

These days, EVERYYYYYYONE and their dog is publishing content. This has picked up steam x 1,000,000 since AI marched onto the scene and made it easy for anyone to create it.. at scale.. in about 2.5 seconds.

So, the act of simply publishing is no longer enough to capture attention.

There are already a gazillion newsletters with boring ‘how to’ content being produced that could be Googled in two seconds. And eighty seven billion podcasts with people interviewing each other and going through their boring back stories before sharing a couple of tips.

How to do this is best illustrated using examples:

Example One: James Clear, Atomic Habits.

James Clear has a best selling book called ‘Atomic Habits’: An easy and proven way to build good habits and break bad ones.

Niche: Wealth/Health > Productivity > Habits.

Concept:

• Old way: Setting big goals and not meeting them.

• New way: Tiny habits, consistently repeated

• Mission: Compounding success through 1% actions every day.

Newsletter:

The 3-2-1 Newsletter: The most wisdom per word of any newsletter on the web.

He has applied this “tiny” concept to his newsletter. His newsletter uses a creative 3:2:1 approach, with 3 short ideas, 2 quotes and a question to ponder.

It is a productivity and habits newsletter, yes. But it stands out because he has developed a concept around it that aligns with his mission.

Example Two: Ellen Yin, Cubicle to CEO.

Ellen Yin has a podcast called ‘Cubicle to CEO’, where she shares financially transparent case study interviews..

Niche: Wealth > Entrepreneurship > Online Business For Service Providers and Coaches.

Concept:

• Old way: Traditional business gatekeeps and is male dominated.

• New way: Financial transparency.

• Mission: Empower female entrepreneurs and people of colour who are statistically marginalised to achieve financial success.

Newsletter:

The Cubicle to CEO newsletter and podcast shares behind-the-business case-study interviews with leading entrepreneurs and CEOs who share a specific revenue growth strategy they've successfully tested in their own business, how they executed it, and what their results were.

It’s not just an ‘interview’, it follows a specific format and keeps financial transparency at the core of every episode.

c) PR and outreach:

What do you think is more likely to get you a spot on a TV station, guest podcast or a guest article?

Saying this: I help people to build local newsletters.

Or, this: Lick is on a mission to power 1000 local newsletters by 2030 to help revitalize small towns across America using technology.

This is an actual concept by Ash Ambirge, and NO DOUBT she could use the latter to pitch for PR and likely get picked up. Why? Because it’s mission based (revitalising small towns!), introduces a new way (using technology!) and feels unique and different (thought leadership!).

And more.

So, there you have it.

How to infuse your personal brand with a talkaboutable edge to make it ZING!

Start with your thought leadership, make it mission based and then wrap a concept around it and infuse it into the very fabric of your personal brand.

This is Part Four in a series to help you set up a personal brand for success. You can view Part One here, part two here, and part three here. This is the final edition in the series.

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This is Part Three in a series to help you set up a personal brand for success. You can view Part One here, Part Two here and Part Four here. If you’re enjoying this content, subscribe to get notified for more.

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When I first quit my corporate job, it was to kickstart a career as a freelance social media manager.

It sounded so sexy on paper.

Work for yourself! Make your own money! Do it from anywhere!

Oh, how the reality did NOT live up to the brochure in my head.

Within days, I had a full-to-the-brim client roster.

‘Yay!’, I thought for all of two seconds — until it dawned on me that all I’d ACTUALLY managed to do was to swap my one boss in corporate for seven more.

Worse still, THESE bosses (I mean, clients) all came with with unreasonable expectations and a penchant for yelling mini-orders at me all day long.

Within weeks, my days were stacked and my income capped.

I felt like I was stuck on the inside of a 24/7 high intensity aerobic workout class without an exit door. I was posting, commenting, posting, commenting at all hours, all the time, without a break because SOCIAL MEDIA NEVER STOPS and angry Karens post hateful comments on client posts at 2am and yes, you need to fix it now Stevie!

Safe to say, that stint didn’t last long.

By month three, I was so far over it.

Happily, I’d managed saved some pennies along the way (I had no choice, I had no free time to spend money on anyway).

And so, I did what any good aspiring digital nomad would and hopped on a plane digi-nomad mecca, Canggu, Bali (it wasn’t so overrun with scooters, traffic and Insta-models then, I was an early adopter!) to somehow figure out how to cobble together an online course so I could blow that social media management popsicle stand forever (cue evil laugh — muahahahaha!)

Looking back on it all, I can see all of the ‘newbie founder’ mistakes I made that got me to that point of wanting to burn it all to the ground.

For starters, I’d picked the wrong business model.

As any good social media manager worth their salt knows, you generally max out at about five clients – and that’s assuming a heavy 40 to 50 hour a week workload.

Unless you hire staff or get away from charging by the hour, it’s tough going to make much more than minimum wage or work anything resembling a normal work week with anything more.

But more than that?

I’d botched my marketing, hard.

I had no niche — ‘I do social media!’, I’d boldly proclaimed.

Yeah cool, you and every other second person on the Internet Stevie. What I did was not special, it did not stand out and I was as much a commodity as a tub of butter.

I had no defined market — ‘I help everyone!’, I’d say.

Only, anyone with a heartbeat and a credit card isn’t exaccccctly a recipe for super tight messaging and positioning. I had no idea what problem I solved, I had no specific person in mind and I was about as invisible as a green frog on a mossy tree.

Oh, and also? I had no idea. About anything. So there was that, too.

And so, I’d ended up with a heap of crappy clients who all paid me peanuts (because commodities compete on price), who all did wildly different things (so I needed to reinvent the wheel and all of my processes for every single one) and REALLY NO WONDER I HATED BEING A SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER IN THOSE CIRCUMSTANCES — WHO WOULDN’T!

Fortunately, over time I learnt.

Oh, did I learn.

(A baptism of fire, I’d call it).

A few years after starting my little business though, things were looking up.

My Canggu stint was the turning point.

From there?

I successfully shifted business models.

I learnt (the very hard way) how to market like an absolute mothertrucker.

And I nailed the whole ‘online business founder’ thang to the tune of back-to-back six and multi-six figure launches $100k months and thousands of students.

So, what changed?

Simply, this:

I discovered that the secret to great marketing is actually hidden in its name, and also that up until that point I was doing it WOEFULLY.

Good marketing — marketing that sells your stuff? Requires that you speak very directly to a specific market.

It’s positioning your offer and message to them.

Market-ing.

It’s NOT enough just to have a niche, and to go three layers deep (I covered this in Part Two of this series here). You must then TAKE that niche and position it to solve ONE PERSONS PROBLEM.

THAT’S THE SECRET.

The problem, in my early days?

That I had a kind-of niche (but not really) — social media.

But then, I just started shouting that that’s what I did from the rooftops.. and it fell as flat as a pancake.

Like, NO-ONE wants social media.

Just like they don’t want a diet plan. Or a marketing strategy. Or a productivity system.

What they DO want is to have their SPECIFIC problem solved.

Aaaaand if your message doesn’t speak to that problem and instead bangs on about WHAT you do, you’ll completely miss them – because ‘them’ is actually everyone, and by speaking in broad generalities? You’re missing the BIG opportunity to tailor your message to one specific audience.

Example of NOT doing this well:

You – “Hi! I help people with their social media!”

‘Them’:

The real estate agent – “Sorry, I need to double my real estate appraisals”.

The author – “Sorry, I need to increase my audience to get a book proposal”.

The solar provider – “Sorry, I need more leads for my solar company”.

You get the point.

Instead, you want to niche — by going three layers deep and picking a unique vehicle.

And THEN, you want to pick a specific market that has a problem it can solve.

And THEN.. you want to speak to THAT.

Dat’s the magic! 🪄

Examples of this done really, really well:

“I help [specific market] luxury real estate agents [specific result from solving a problem] double their appraisals with a DM-focused LinkedIn strategy targeting high net worth individuals!”

Or..

“I help [specific market]self-published authors [specific result from solving a problem] secure book deals by building the level of author platform the top five publishing houses require from non-fiction writers”.

See what I did?

I took the vehicle, and I positioned it to solve a specific problem that one specific market has.

That’s market-ing, baby!

Approaching it this way works for two reason.

Firstly, it makes your marketing message message hyper-resonant.

You’re talking to a solution to a specific problem they have (‘getting a book deal!”, “doubling appraisals!”), and you’re able to use language that addresses that.

It’s the difference between saying “I help you get more leads with social media!”, and “I help you double your appraisals with a DM focused LinkedIn Strategy”.

Yes, the latter excludes a sub-section of the market – but that’s okay, and it’s kind of the point because by doing so you’re making it so damn clear that you CAN help the specific market you’re lasering in on.

You’re not talking in boring, vague generalities – your language has colour! And vibrancy! And it feels MADE FOR THEM!

Secondly, it meets your market where they’re at.

Not everyone is ready for your solution when you offer it.

In fact, some may not even know they need it.

Imagine this:

You’re driving along, and your car suddenly shudders to a stop on the side of the road.

“Oh nooooo”, you think.

“I KNEW I should have gotten the fuel gauge fixed! I must be out of fuel”.

And so, you jump out of the car, lock it up and start walking the twenty minutes back to the nearest gas station to fill up your jerry can. The attendant is kind enough to drive you back, and waits for you to fill it up and get started again.

Only – that doesn’t fix the problem at all.

Instead? The attendant pops the bonnet and finds that the battery has died.

Whoops! You’d gone to get petrol, but the problem was ACTUALLY a flat battery.

In marketing speak, that little scenario right there is a classic ‘customer journey’ fail.

You were what is called ‘problem aware’ — you knew your car had stopped.

But you weren’t ‘solution aware’ — you thought petrol was the issue, not a flat battery!

This customer journey and where your FUTURE BUYERS are on it matters so much when it comes to nailing your marketing message.

I’ll keep this bit short, because it involves some marketing jargon — but it’s important, so bear with me.

There are four stages of the customer journey.

Unaware: Someone has a problem, but they’re not aware of it or not really motivated to solve it.

Problem Aware: That person becomes aware that they have a problem, and they start actively looking for a way to solve it. They’re not quite yet sure of the right solution to it though, so they might be testing out or researching different options.

Solution Aware: The person – through trial and error, or research – becomes aware of the RIGHT solution, and starts actively looking for the right someone or something to buy to solve it.

Product Aware: The person is aware of YOUR offer within that solution category and is deciding whether to buy it.

In our little mock scenario you were problem aware – you knew the car had broken down.

But, you weren’t yet solution aware – you thought walking for twenty minutes to pick up some more fuel would solve it.

And so, if someone were to tell you that they had the best battery on the planet – you wouldn’t want it in the first place, because you’d THINK you needed more fuel.

And so, the key to great marketing is to:

a) Pick a niche (aka vehicle aka what you do);

b) Pick a specific market;

c) Find a problem that market has that your niche can solve; and

d) Speak to that problem in your marketing, NOT to the niche.

In other words, the VEHICLE is not the thing you amplify in your marketing message.

The PROBLEM is.

Your people KNOW they have problem. They might not yet know your vehicle is the best way to solve it (and if you just derpy derpy blab on about it, you’re basically invisible to them because they don’t even know they need your thing).

So, that covers WHY picking a specific market and speaking to their problem in your marketing matters so much.

Now, let’s dive into the step-by-step of how to do it.

Part One: Pick a Specific Market to Serve

1. Brainstorm Markets That Have a Problem Your Vehicle Can Solve.

Once you’re clear on your three layers deep niche (covered in Part Two of this series), make a big list of different markets that you could help with it.

Example:

Let’s say that you have narrowed down your niche to weight loss by creating healthy packed lunches that are better than take-out (Health > Weight Loss > Lunch Prep).

Here’s a few markets that niche could serve:

White Collar Professional Men.

Perimenopausal Women.

(And you’d list more here).

2. List Their Problems

Then, list out the specific nuanced problems that market has that you could solve.

Example:

White Collar Professional Men. Their specific problems related to weight loss might include sitting for long hours, limited time outside of long work outs to work out.

Perimenopausal Women. Their specific problems related to weight loss might include hormonal issues making it more difficult to shift weight, declining muscle mass due to aging or trying to manage a full family and work life and incorporate health and wellbeing.

You might want to conduct some market research, either online or in person (preferred!) to gain this intel.

Part Two: Make Sure It’s the RIGHT Market

Just as important as serving a specific market is making sure it’s the right now!

Pick the wrong market, and you’ll constantly feel like you’re trying to sell ice to eskimos.

Pick the right one, and as long as your message is specific and resonate they’ll be beating down your door to pay you attention and give you money.

Here’s how to do it:

1) Pick a Market With a Moniker

Make sure to pick a market that is easily accessible.

The best way to do this is to pick a market that already calls itself something — in other words, they already have a moniker.

This will make it infinitely easier to find groups of them,.

Examples:

Real Estate Agents

Surfers

Postpartum Mums

Watercolour Artists

All markets with monikers. And all of which likely already gather together, or read publications specific to them, or hang out online or in person in communities together.

An example of a market WITHOUT a moniker?

Tired mums.

People with bloat.

Uninspired women.

2) Make Sure Others Are Serving That Market

Make sure other people are successfully serving the market you want to serve.

Snoop around.

What other people, places and publications that speak directly to that market?

People: Are there online groups, communities, forums etc that cater to that market? Are there other personal brands that speak to it?

Places: Are there conferences, events or associations that cater to the market?

Publications: Are there podcasts, blogs, YouTube channels, online publications or other outlets that specifically cater to the market?

If so, it’s evidence that the market is already being served.

This is a good thing!

3) Pick a Profitable Market

It’s lovely to have a personal brand that serves others – in fact, that’s the ultimate goal!

But, you want to make money too.

So, be careful to pick a profitable market that is going to maximise your chances of doing so.

To be clear, though — picking a profitable market doesn’t mean marketing to rich people.

Instead, it means picking a market that spends on the problem you want to solve.

The subtle, important difference here is that they value getting the problem solved and they; and therefore that they are willing and able to spend more in that particular area than they would in other areas.

We all have areas where this is the case.

For me, it’s skincare.

Why?

Firstly, it solves what I perceive to be an urgent, painful problem for me – post 40, I want to slow down the aging process and look my best for my age. And secondly, I’m just wildly passionate about it in general – over and above other things in my life.

For that reason, I’m WILLING to allocate more of my spend to that specific area.

I’m also more ABLE to than I was in, say, my early twenties. My income is higher, I have more disposable cash and I am able to allocate it freely.

That’s what you want.

The easiest way to make sure you are choosing a profitable market is to look for evidence that that market you want to serve is already paying for solutions to the problem you want to solve.

To find this out, simply look for competition! Competition is GOOD — it means people are already spending money. No competition is baaaad. If no-one is making money solving the problem you want to solve for the market you want to solve it for, there’s likely a reason for it.

Part Three: Create a Positioning Statement Tailored To Your Specific Market

And now, for the pièce de résistance!

When you talk about what you do, the secret is to focus on the problem you solve for the market you have chosen — and simply include the niche/vehicle as the way you solve it.

The hero is the problem.

The way you solve it is just the supporting act.

Example:

White Collar Professional Men: “I help white-collar workers prepare packed lunches that help them lose 1kg a week without leaving their desk”.

Perimenopausal Women: “I help perimenopausal women gain prepare protein-rich packed lunches that help them maintain muscle mass throughout all of the hormonal shifts of their forties and fifties”.

And that, my friends, is how you position well to sell, sell, sell!

And so, there you have it!

That’s a wrap on Part Three of our series on how to set a personal brand-based business up for big money, big success and big impact from the get-go.

In Part One, we covered how to build out the hierarchy of your personal brand to allow it to feed and fuel your multi-passionate little soul and not leave you confined to talking about one topic forever (BORING).

In Part Two, we walked through how to niche each of the fun little projects underneath your personal brand by going three layers deep.

And in Part Three, we covered POSITIONING by choosing a specific market, and tailoring your marketing message to solve their problem (quite literally, market-ing!)

In the next installment in this series, we’ll cover how to take your (now) beautifully defined personal brand and give it a talkaboutable EDGE. This is the icing on the personal brand-building cake, and will bake SERIOUS BUZZ right into the very foundations of it.

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Oh, and let me know what you are thinking about the series so far!

Loving it? HATING IT? Have questions about how it all works? I’m here for you in the comments! 👇

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My working years started at fourteen and nine months – pretty much to the day.

I was frothing to get a job.

Luckily, my high school made it easy.

Two of the new business chains that had opened just around the corner were invited to our school to interview those interested in their first after school job.

One day after assembly, everyone keen on a job was told to line up behind a little interview table for their employer of choice.

The line for Rip Curl was out the door. Living on the Gold Coast in the surfing heartland of Burleigh Heads, everyone wanted to work there.

With my red hair, freckles and total lack of fashion sense, I figured I didn’t stand a chance.

So, I joined the tiny line at Bunnings.

It wasn’t sexy, and I didn’t have a clue about hardware.

But, two interviews later, I had a fresh new khaki green apron, cash register training and a gig as their newest garden department checkout chick.

Three afternoons a week and on Saturday mornings, my Dad would drop me at work and I would collect $14 an hour.

What I lacked in hardware know-how, I made up for in work ethic.

For three years I never missed a shift.

Here’s the thing, though.

I lived at home.

I didn’t spend money on clothes like the other girls my age.

And so, my money starting pooling.

“You need a savings account” – my Dad told me.

I set one up.

5% interest, it said.

With that interest coming in every month, for the first time I watched my money grow without any additional work.

I kept working.

It kept pooling.

“I have an idea” – my Dad said, when he saw it growing and growing.

“If you can get to $13,000”, he told me, “you and your brother could pool your money together and afford a house deposit”.

Me? I thought.

A HOUSE?!

It gave me purpose.

I increased my hours.

I worked Sunday, for double time and a half.

I spent every waking hour either working, or studying.

And a few years later, we did it.

It wasn’t pretty, but it WAS a house.

I wasn’t even 18, and I’d worked my butt off to become a homeowner.

That was 25 years ago.

Over the years, I watched that investment grow.

I continued to work.

But on the side? That investment earned too – with far less work, and effort.

It taught me something early, and it might be the most valuable early lesson I ever learnt.

It was this:

Active income is never passive.

Work is work.

But the income from your work can be funneled into assets that CAN be passive – and that, ultimately, is the game.

These days, I am passionate about sharing that message with others.

Even moreso in this online business world, where we have the capacity to build high profit margin businesses.

And, where a little know how on what to DO with that income is life-changing.

And so, I am sharing with you the six steps for building a business that will one day allow you to make work optional and to enjoy true passive income.

Step One: Build A Leveraged Business Model

Here’s the truth:

In a business, passive income doesn’t exist.

Sure, people sell it as the dream – especially when it comes to things like online courses.

The truth is, though?

That it’s a pipe dream.

Passive income in a business doesn’t exist.

What DOES exist, however, is leveraged income.

Leverage is the strategic use of tools, resources, or the efforts of others to multiply one's output without corresponding increases in input (source: Naval Ravikant).

It can be achieved in a number of ways – with code (building software), people (hiring team), capital (investing).. or intellectual property (creating courses, books, group programs etc).

My favourite combination?

An active business where leverage is achieved through intellectual property.

And then, funneling some of the income from that business into investments where leverage is achieved through compounding capital.

Understanding that it’s not the BUSINESS that gives you passive income is powerful.

It means that you won’t give up when you are doing the upfront work in build a leveraged business.

When you are creating the assets.

Building the sales machine.

Driving traffic.

You’ll instead know that you are building a leveraged business (with increasing time and profit over time without increasing output), which you can then leverage to build passive income OUTSIDE of the business.

Step Two: Understand the Game

Once you understand the game, you can play it to get what you want.

My favourite quote of all time is this one:

“The only true sign of intelligence is if you get what you want out of life”

– Naval Ravikant (do you sense a pattern emerging? I highly recommend reading The Almanac of Naval Ravikant).

So, the clarifying question is:

What do you want?

Here’s some clarifying questions:

What do you value?

What’s on your bucket list, and for when?

How many hours a week do you want to work?

What does a good lifestyle now look like?

How much does that cost?

Once you know what you want, you will be much better equipped to build a business to give you more of it.

(… Without endlessly chasing more, and ending up with a version of success that wasn’t even yours to begin with).

It will also help you reverse engineer into the right business endgame.

Ultimately, there are two types of businesses:

Lifestyle Business: A lifestyle business is created by the owner for the specific purpose of providing cashflow to pursue interests and wealth outside of the business.

Scale Business: When you start and operate a 'scale' business, you're ultimately

angling for an exit to give you a nice fat pay check to bankroll the rest of your

Days.

Both can generate considerable wealth, but in different ways.

With a scale business, you sacrifice profit margins to fuel your growth, you

need to entirely remove your personal brand from the picture, and you need a

big team, considerable scale and a view to jump well past $1-2 million in

revenue to get there.

With a lifestyle business however, the game is different.

Your goal is to generate business cash flow, and to invest that cashflow into assets outside of the business.

By doing so, those assets can compound (the money will grow itself) and can one day pay you a salary passively.

Problems occur when founders build lifestyle businesses, but don’t understand the game.

They enjoy the strong cash flow, but they don’t proactively invest it to one day make work optional.

Step Three: Define Your Enough Number

Once you understand the game, you can build a beautiful lifestyle business you enjoy running now.

It can give you cashflow, time leverage and fulfillment without needing to build a big beast to sell.

And, it can set you up for a “work optional” future at the same time.

The way to make it all happen?

To define, and then to reverse engineer into an enough number.

Your enough number is the specific revenue number that your business needs to make to:

1) Cover all operating expenses;

2) Cover all personal current lifestyle expenses; and

3) Cover investing at a rate that is going to make work optional in the timeline you specify.

Once you know that number, you can engineer an offer suite and sales strategy to generate the required volume of sales to achieve that number.

Side note? We have a course called Dream and Design where we teach you how to clarify your endgame, define your enough number. It’s included in Lifestyle Business School here.

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Step Four: Set Up Your Investments

A key part of this whole strategy is to make sure that you are setting aside cashflow to invest.

The power of investing often and early is that your money will grow more money.

Of course, you will need to research what to invest in.

This is where I recommend reading podcasts, listening to podcasts and speaking to professionals.

As a business owner, there are also options available to you that aren’t available to everyone.

My approach is to keep it simple.

Personally, my investments at this point are mostly in managed funds, where I can reduce risk with a diversified portfolio.

It’s set up as an early retirement account that will one day pay me a truly passive salary.

The more I contribute to it, the bigger my salary will one day be.*

Of course, I don’t draw down on this nestegg, which means that it grows itself.

Practically, the way I contribute to my managed funds is that I have a dedicated profit account.

Each month, I review my revenue and divide it into buckets based on percentages.

I have a tax bucket, a profit bucket, an operating expenses bucket, a marketing bucket and a team/salary bucket.

I transfer my profit percentage into my profit bucket, and each quarter that is transferred into managed funds.

(Side note – we have a course called Operational Elegance, where we teach you our bucket strategy and share all of our financial spreadsheets and systems with you. Sign up for our newsletter here to get notified when it’s next available).

For some great Australian focused books to get you started with deciding what is best for you here, I recommend the She’s on the Money book series.

Step Five: Let Compounding Work For You

The best part about investing?

That, over time, your money can grow more money.

And the earlier you invest it, the more time it has to grow and compound (which is why all of the experts recommend starting early with what you have).

Over time, the interest you earn from the investments grow and grow.

Here’s an example of what that can look like (using sample numbers) over time:

And again, over a 20 year horizon.

See? Compounding truly is the eighth wonder of the world.

Each dollar you invest will grow over time.

Step Six: Work Optional

Eventually, the profits from the business plus the compounded interest will have built up enough

assets that the founder is able to live off the investments (and not work at all,

or just do it for fun).

That is truly passive income.

And THAT – as a lifestyle business owner – is the game.

Now, here’s the clincher:

If you do it right, along the way you will have built a leveraged business that you enjoy running.

You will have chosen a subject matter that fulfills you and gives you purpose, you will have time leveraged baked in, and you will have high profit margins.

So, even though you’re building to make work optional, you PROBABLY won’t even want to retire anyway.

In Lifestyle Business School, that’s the type of business we teach you how to build.

We start by helping you build a leveraged business model that aligns with you as the founder.

Then, to define your enough number.

Then, to build the FULL business machine to get there – including everything from offer design, to sales systems, to automated funnel and traffic.

And finally, to refine using data to achieve your endgame.

It’s simple, but not easy.

And with six courses in one plus a supportive community, Lifestyle Business School equips you with everything you need to get there.

You can check it out here.

Ahhhh, attention (aka traffic, aka your ‘top of funnel’ in marketing speak).

The darling of the Internet!

Understandably so, it’s the tip of the proverbial Internet iceberg and the ONLY thing that’s visible when we’re scrolling online. And for that reason, we’re obsessed with it and start to think that the ultimate success of our online businesses lives and dies by it.

And whilst it’s true that it matters, it’s just one piece of the marketing funnel pie.

Let’s talk all things top of funnel – aka traffic, aka the darling of the Internet – and five ways to use it to grow your audience, fill your list and the attention your business needs to thrive.

#1: Top of Funnel Comes Last, Not First

There are gajillions of people teaching Instagram strategy, and how to grow on Tiktok, and YouTube channel hacks and how to DIY your Meta ads.

For that reason, you could be mistaken for assuming that it’s the ONLY thing that matters when it comes to building an online business right now.

But without the stuff underneath the iceberg – a trust system to build rapport and a sales system to convert that traffic successfully into sales – top of funnel strategy look like a sexy guy at the bar with NO game:

All looks (grabs attention). No depth (can’t keep it!)

That’s why I recommend that focusing on your top of funnel actually comes last when building out your marketing strategy, which is the opposite of how most people do it.

Instead of pouring a whole lot of people into a leaky bucket?

You instead work backwards:

1. Work out your sales system/goals (bottom of funnel)

2. Then, build out a trust system (middle of funnel)

3. And then finally (last, NOT first), start dancing on Reels (just kidding, you don’t have to dance, and Reels isn’t the be all and end all anymore anyway) (top of funnel).

When you:

a) build out your marketing backwards this way, and

b) you’re clear on the job of attention aka traffic and don’t try to give it every role in your business and get hella mad when it’s not doing them all,

.. a solid top of funnel marketing strategy will have maximum impact.

It will fuel your entire marketing system, and help you reach your big business goals.

And getting it won’t burn you out, because you’ll also have clarity as to how much you actually need.

So! Build. It. Backwards.

Don’t start with top of funnel – even though it’s the thing that is the most visible.

Start with your offer, and sales funnel.

Develop a trust ecosystem.

And only THEN start pouring fuel on the proverbial fire and filling it with enough of the right people to achieve your goals.

#2 Q. How Much Traffic Do You Need? A. Mo’ Sales, Mo’ Traffic:

So, how much traffic do you need to sell your stuff?

The answer is – it depends, mostly on your business model.

What are you selling, and how much does it cost?

This one decision has a huge impact on your business because it ultimately determines how many sales you need to meet your goals, and how much traffic you need to achieve that sales goal.

The higher the price? The fewer sales you need.

Which means the less traffic you need.

Which means that you can spend less time focused on your top of funnel (but likely, more time in delivery).

It also works in the inverse.

The lower the price? The more units you need to sell.

Which means more traffic.

And, MUCH more time spent marketing and filling up your top of funnel.

Does that sound fun an exciting to you? If yes, great! You can spend your days on creating content, and filling your funnel.

If it sounds like the marketing equivalent to pulling teeth without a drop of anesthesia? You might want to consider focusing on a higher ticket business model. This will allow you to focus mostly on creating a piece of longer form content a week to develop trust, but likely you won’t need to do much more than that to fill your funnels and reach your goals.

#3 Don’t Fill Your Funnel, Build Your List

If you have an online business right now, here’s how I recommend you approach traffic.

What not to do:

Try to shove people into a five day sales funnel, and then cry when they don’t buy your $2,000 thing stone cold having never heard of you before.

According to Google, even if someone IS the right fit for your offer only 5% them are ready to buy immediately at any one time.

Which means that if your funnel does an incredible job, 5% might be (likely more like 1% or 2%) and 95% won’t.

Instead, you want to focus your traffic and top of funnel strategy on starting a relationship.

Here’s what to do instead:

Get them on your email list.

That’s it.

That’s your top of funnel goal.

Once you’ve done that, you’ll pass the baton to middle of funnel to nurture them, build rapport and develop trust so that the next time you run a live or automated promotion they might be more ready to purchase from you.

With this logic in mind, the mantra is this:

The bigger and higher quality my email list, the better chance I will have to sell.

Over time, you will start to get to know how many people from your email list and audience (eg social) you are able to drive over to an offer when you run promotions (I call this your click power, here is a podcast about it), which can help you to more accurately forecast how many sales you might make.

By doing things this way, you are building the most valuable asset you can own online right now:

An inbuilt audience that knows, likes and trusts you and that you can deploy at the click of an email send to ANY funnel you decide to run.

#4 Get Message/Market Message Match Right FIRST

Traffic is two things:

Message, and distribution.

And honestly? Once you have the messaging piece right, SO MUCH of the work is done.

It’s so important to get that bit right first, because there is MANY a small business owner who feels swamped, overwhelmed and yet INVISIBLE because they’re doing allllllll of the marketing tings and still sitting on 126 followers, 26 email subscribers and donut days of sales most week.

The right messaging makes everything else so much easier.

So, how do you do it?

The short answer? Take a message, and make it so specific and resonant to one specific person that they WANT to hear more.. they’re seeking it out, nodding their head, INVESTED.

The long answer? I’ve created a five part series over on Substack, so check that out.

Once you have that in place, marketing becomes about effective distribution.

This is where traffic ‘getting’ comes in, which is the one thing everyone is obsessed with but that doesn’t work if you don’t have everything else in place first!

#5 Now FINALLY, HOW DO I GET ATTENTION?

Okay, so now we get to the good stuff!

It was essential to cover the bit before though, and most people don’t so they end up posting on social with NO funnel or trust system, having no idea of the amount of traffic they need and with a poor message that doesn’t resonate.

So now we’re clear on those things, let’s answer the big question.

How do you get attention – aka traffic?

At the end of the day, it’s not rocket science.

There’s three ways, you pick one and track the action you are taking on it and whether it is having the desired outcome.

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Here is your menu of options:

Build:

Building requires you to consistently publish content that showcases your thought leadership, and then to distribute it. Here are the steps:

1. Pick a discoverability channel: This is a channel that allows you to get in front of new audiences. Some channels are better at this than others.
   
   A simple hack to help you overall make your entire marketing funnel operate more efficiently is to choose a channel that has both discoverability and middle of funnel nurture opportunities built in.
   
   An example of channels that have this? YouTube, and Substack. Both are channels that allow you to create content to nurture, but that also have in-built discoverability.
   
   For example, on Substack you can create blogs/newsletters just like you could on your website. However, it is also a social media platform and you can post notes, and have others discover your Substack or get recommended by others.
   
   A more traditional discoverability only platforms is Tiktok. It’s a great way to get attention, but generally you will want to get people over to another platform and your email list to further nurture and develop trust with them.
   
   Instagram is a little of both.
   

2. Create growth focused top of funnel content: There is a big difference between top of funnel content, and more middle of funnel nurture content.
   
   Generally, top of funnel content is content that will help people who have never heard of you pay attention. Generally, the hooks are more polarising, they stand out, they are quick attention grabbers.
   
   Example: How I Got 10,000 Followers in 6 Days.
   
   In contrast, middle of funnel content will nurture but won’t necessarily be the initial piece of content that pulls people in.
   
   Example: ‘Are Funnels Dead?’ 20 Slide Carousel with a unique perspective.
   

3. Understand the unique nuances of the platform: This is where it can be help to learn from a platform expert, because every platform has nuances essential to understand for growth.
   

4. Publish consistently: Choose a growth-focused publishing cadence and consistently publish. Track your growth, and assess based on the results.

Borrow:

Borrowing traffic is about connecting and partnering with OTHER people, places or publications who have your audience. Look for opportunities to partner in a win/win way to share your platform. Here are the steps:

1. Dream 100: Make a list of 100 of the people, places and publications that have the same target market as you.
   

2. Develop relationships: Strategically develop relationships with them. For example, follow them on social media, complement their work, be visible.
   

3. Create win/win pitches: Build partnership pitches that create win/win opportunities for both parties.

Buy:

Buying traffic requires you to put your free offer in front of the right people. Here are the steps:

1. Choose an ad platform: Meta ads is the most popular, but it’s not the only one. There is also Google ads, Pinterest ads, Youtube ads, sponsorships and more.
   

2. Promote lead magnet: Promote the lead magnet you created when building out your middle of funnel to grow your email list.
   

Offset your ad costs with a low cost offer: On the thank you page of your offer, have a low cost offer funnel (I call this a Paid to Grow funnel) to offer people who download it. Combine it with an order bump and upsell. Together, the funnel can more than offset your ad spend, allowing you to scale your ads for free (or even get paid for it!)

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Here’s the secret – ALL OF THESE STRATEGIES WORK.

Like gangbusters, if you get good at them.

The secret is to start with one, and NAIL it.

Track the action you need to consistently take to bring it to life (eg for this Substack account, my goal is one in depth article a week). That way, you will be able to tell QUICKLY if the strategy isn’t working due to your lack of action.

Also track two key success metrics – one to measure the success of the strategy on platform (eg reach) and another to track whether it is successfully filling your email list (eg subscribers).

And repeat, iterating until it works.

Then, you might add another (but most people try to do this way to early, and focus on a million channels and do none of them well).

And THAT is how you do traffic in a 2,000 word nutshell.

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The System

This “build it backwards” approach to marketing — starting with your bottom of funnel, building out a robust middle of funnel and then filling it top of funnel — can be *beautifully* achieved using my Traffic Playbook “four C’s” system:

Campaign: Firstly, knowing what ‘style’ of campaign you intend to run in your business.

Clicks: Secondly, understanding how to calculate how many clicks you need to your campaign to achieve your sales goal, your current click power and how to bridge the gap between the two.

Content: Build out a “hard work once” middle of funnel system where you create a suite of content that goes out AUTOMATICALLY, and makes you a ‘star’ and feel like you’re EVERYWHERE to the people who enter your marketing funnel (without doing ALL OF THE THINGS).

Contacts: Drive contacts into your funnel to grow the volume and quality of contacts required to achieve your click power and reach your goals.

Right now, you can use the code TRAFFIC to get 70% off the full system for achieving this.

It includes:

• Campaign Traffic Recipes: Traffic ‘recipes’ with the exact formula for achieving your marketing goals for different campaign types — eg live launches, promotions, automated ‘evergreen’ funnels.
  

• Click Power Calculators: Calculators to help you determine exactly how many clicks you need to your campaigns to achieve your revenue goals (so you’re never guessing or leaving the whole process up to chance).
  

• Content System: A FULL content system for becoming a legend in your own lunchbox, appearing EVERYWHERE for your prospect and effectively communicating what they need to hear to be ready to buy from you with:

  • Thought Leadership Development: How to refine your niche and develop a message that cuts through and leads the thought in your industry, so you’re considered a leader with SERIOUSLY STAND OUT perspectives;
    

  • Full 10-Day Newsletter Sequence: Includes templates, themes and exactly what to write when and where (plus how to set it all up);
    

  • Full 10-Pack of Social Media Marketing Posts: Including how to set up a $3 a day system to distribute them over and over to JUST the people in your middle of funnel.
    

  • Full Strategic Content System: A full strategic content plan to develop 100+ post and pieces of content for any platform, including a full suite of top of funnel growth content, middle of funnel trust content and bottom of funnel sales content to move prospects from cold to sold.
    

• Contact Growth System: Everything you need to pour fuel on your top of funnel and drive EYEBALLS and attention to your business including:

  • Lead Magnet System: The templates, funnel and process for building out a lead magnet leads the RIGHT people PERFECTLY into your funnels and primes them to buy.
    

  • An Audience Growth System: Get paid to grow your email list with a system for scaling your top of funnel lead-getting with a low cost offer that pays for your marketing spend and primes people for your offers.
    

  • Contact Growth Strategies: Borrow and Buy strategies, calculators and templates to develop a top of funnel system to supercharge your audience building.

To get it, click here.