Welcome to the Leonie Dawson Show, the place for soulful, spirited women to grow, to dream, to create, to shine their own way in life and in business every single day.

Friends, welcome back to the podcast.

Today I am joined by one of my absolute favorite people on the planet and the person that my children call Second Mother.

And so every time I hear from Mandy, I'll say children gather around.

We've heard from Second Mother and they say.

Mother.

How we all just sit around and talk about how much we love you.

And so that is how I feel like everyone feels about Mandy.

Mandy is the author of Shine from Within, which is a beautiful book for teens about self-confidence and shining from within even during those tricky teen years.

She is a teen mentor and guide, and she also teaches other people how to be teen mentors and guides globally.

And she is one of the most scrumptious humans.

So thanks for coming on the podcast, Mandy.

I'm so excited.

I've missed you so much.

I love you so much.

I love listening to your podcast.

I can't believe I get to just have a have some time chatting with you.

I want to say as well how we met.

So we've like known each other online for a long time, like kind of known of each other in terms of like we were in each other's circles.

And then we were both living on the Sunshine Coast at the same point in time.

And I connected with Tash Corbyn and I was like, we really need to gather the women folk together.

Who do you know in this area?

Who's, you know, our kind of human who's in business is beautiful.

And she's like Mandy Wurtzi.

And I was like, Oh my God, I finally get to meet Mandy Wurtzi.

And then you came along and I was just like in wah, like, Oh my goodness, what a beautiful human.

Like I knew that you were a beautiful human, but like in person you're just like even more of a beautiful human.

And to be in your presence is like, to be in this kind of Oasis of peace.

Like it's like peace sort of like emanates out from you.

And there's been times during like conferences or when I did a photo shoot and you were there and I'm just like exhausted by the end of the day.

And so I'm just like glum onto Mandy's side just to have a little be in the Oasis of love.

Be.

Yeah, I think you're my second favorite person in the whole world.

I love you so much.

Yeah.

That was a magical time, wasn't I kidding.

It's so special when you get to connect with other women in business and have a have a little mastermind and do it in person.

It's kind of.

It's so novel and it's also kind of ruined me.

Like, I do want to be clear about that.

It has ruined me because it set my expectations so high in terms of like, oh, I've, I've witnessed Nirvana, I've experienced like next level.

And so now being away from that community, I'm like, what am I doing?

Yeah, now that I've, now that I've left Sunshine Coast too, I'm like, oh, well, that's OK, Leonie's left too.

I'm not, I'm not mixing anything.

It's true.

I mean, I did say to Chris, like Albert Mandy's, Mandy's not there anymore.

So even if we did move back, it's it's not going to be the same because Mandy won't be there.

But I was even saying attached the other day.

Do you remember that one day where we like we're having cacao and the rainforests together at Renata and Roberto's place?

And it was just one of the most magical days under the sun.

And it was just this moment of like, what is our lives like?

I can't really forget to do this on a school day, you know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That was yeah.

That was so special.

A group of humans.

Such a beautiful group.

So with the work that you do, I wanted to ask like, how did you get started in that?

Like, well, how did you find your calling to go?

I actually want to mentor teen girls.

When I was, when I was a teenager, I did this like department course at the in grade 12 I think.

And it was a week long course.

I remember and learning some things like how to introduce yourself and things like that I actually found really helpful.

Like just some of those life skills and adulting.

I think I just feel like I'm such an awkward person and learning some of those basic things.

I was like, OK, I know what to do now when I'm in, when I meet someone.

And I just, I loved it.

And so I ended up training up with them to be one of their trainers too.

And so all through uni I would go into schools and run confidence programs or run holiday programs in the school holidays and loved it.

But I never expected to do it as a job.

Yeah, it was just kind of this thing on the side that I really loved doing.

But then I started it.

I started it just after I had gone through like a two year journey with cancer.

I'd spent two years going through stage 4 cancer in my mid 20s.

And at the end of that I just so it's just so much that I'd learnt during that time where I was like, I wish I knew this as a teen or there was a lot of reflection on those teen years, I suppose of yeah, I wish I had a had a mentor at that time.

And but it was also a bit of like, OK, like I've survived this.

What, what would actually bring me joy in life and what, what can I do now that, that I would really enjoy doing and that I can kind of do gently while I'm recovering and, and all of those things.

And so my mind was just going a bit nuts with all these ideas.

I wanted to do like let's bring teen girls together for a week long retreat where I get to bring in all my favorite people that I've been learning from.

And we can do nourishing things like yoga on the beach and fun stuff like a little photo shoot.

And I can see how beautiful they are and all this kind of stuff.

And so that was the first event that I did was just let's make this this really fun experience for about 10 girls.

And then it sort of grew from there.

Yeah, I loved it and kept going.

You don't make so much sense to you going through your cancer journey and like stage 4, Kate said.

Cancer journey, like the freaking big one, you know, and that absolute clarity that came to your life where you were like actually like, I don't have a guarantee of how much time I have left.

And so the time I do have here, I want it to count.

And you have made that count so hard.

And your life is like a living love note to life itself in terms of how you approach it with like so much mindfulness, so much thoughtfulness, so much heart, and like the gifts that you bring into the world.

It's so evident.

I'm wondering when you went through that kids journey, how old were you?

So like late, late 20s, is that like around the 27 point?

24 I was diagnosed.

Oh my goodness.

Yeah.

I'd, I'd just finished uni, I decided I wanted to just go and have a bit of a like a gap year kind of thing.

And I went to Europe and was modelling in Italy and Germany.

I had these agents there.

I had this.

It was like every day in Florence, and I was living in Florence for a period.

I would walk across the Ponte Vecchio and get a croissant and go to Salvatore Ferragamo for, for a show.

Like it was this ridiculous life.

But one day I found this lump on my neck and, and yeah, I was due to come back.

So.

So I had it checked and it was, yeah, it was quite the shock because I felt fine, you know, I was just a little bit, a bit tired and had this little lump on my neck.

But yeah, it was, yeah, it was a lot, a lot to kind of process.

And then my, I was with Davey at the time and he just dropped everything and, and took care of me and, and we just did a lot of research and tried to do it naturally and also did all the chemo and the radiation stuff.

And it was just, yeah, pretty, pretty intense couple of years.

And at the end of it, we then just got a got a container and put it on the back of a block of land and like into the end of the Sunshine Coast and just lived fully off the grid for about a year, just recovering and pondering and yeah, kind of thinking about what's next.

But it's a lot to go through any kind of 20s.

And I'm so grateful for it because you just, yeah, you kind of realize what's more important, I suppose.

Or yeah, yeah.

But I, yeah, I was 24.

I'm probably 27 at the end of it all by the time I'd finished chemo and radiation and all that fun stuff.

I mean, just because there's this whole, you know, the philosophy, the astrological philosophy of Saturn return, which is around the 27 point where the Saturn returns to its spot where it was when you were first born.

And with it comes this opportunity to examine your life and decide what you want to take forward, what new life you want to birth forward.

And if there's like a whole bunch of baggage or stories that you're no longer willing to hold on to as well.

And like I had a like a intense sat return and yours, it sounds like triple fold going through that journey.

And I think it has served you so profoundly and so well.

And it also happens when you're another 27 years later, like when you're kind of mid 50s, early to mid 50s, it happens again.

And so you have that opportunity.

My husband's going through it at the moment.

And I was like, oh, I think this might be second.

Sat in return my love.

Have fun.

I know, I know.

And like, it's, I get what you mean about like, what a gift because I guess, you know, my brother died when I was 14.

And I consider it as one of the biggest blessings of my life to have that brush with profound mortality and grief and the way that it makes you see things as infinitely more precious.

And also, you might as well just have so much fucking fun while you're here.

All right.

Yeah, Yeah.

It's like the most amount of fun.

It's like illusion of stability and all these things.

It's just nonsense.

So yeah, let's have a bit of fun.

It's.

A bit of fun.

I love the department course too.

Like it's I like as an autistic kid, I would have really liked being told how to how to adult and even now I find books.

It was one book called like how to be an adult and it was kind of like this cartoon book obviously designed for young like young adults.

And I have heard the shit out of that book.

I was like could have really benefited me 20 something years ago.

So it's good to get explicit instruction around these things.

I want to make it very clear as well, like I do not think like when I think of you, I do not think awkward like because you said I'm an awkward person.

I was like, that is the last thing on earth that I think of you as.

Like I just see you as somebody who is full of so much grace instead.

Because I learned it.

I did table etiquette in this bloody course.

It's all, it's all a lie, Leonie.

It's a little mask.

It's it's a mask over the top of the awkward.

Look, even if you are awkward, you know I love that.

You know I love that.

But I still haven't experienced you.

So you can unmask and get as awkward as you freaking, like, around me anytime you like.

Yeah.

Weirder babes.

You need to get so much weirder.

I you know that I feel like that's the the next era.

It's just how weird can you be?

Weird Mandy, weird Mandy era.

Oh, I can't wait.

So with your work with teenagers, what do you feel like is like the big things that you need to to tell them?

Like what it with the work that you do consistently over many years, what do you feel like are the big things that come up for them?

And what is like the number one thing that you want to impart impart upon them?

It always just comes back to your you're OK just the way you are.

You're perfect the way you are.

But if perfect feels too intense or like something else, you have to live up to it.

Just yeah, you're OK, It's the way you are.

I think a lot of the time people can come into this work with an idea of what they want to teach, what wisdom they want to impart on young people, or, yeah, what advice they can give them.

But honestly, if you can just hold a space for them to feel heard and to have have a non judgmental space where they can kind of express different opinions and try things out and and not feel like they have to be locked into that either.

Just a space that feels safe enough for them to have a play and to yeah, try different identities on and everything.

That's way more beneficial.

You know that whenever I've asked what they most want from adults, it's usually I just love it when someone really listens to me because they've got a lot of adults in their life teaching them and in really specific roles.

And so if, if you can be that person to, yeah, to just listen and not try to fix things, that's always the the best thing.

And I've been on this research kick lately.

I love a rabbit hole.

God, tell me about your rabbit hole.

Such a big rabbit hole because, you know, I know in practice what this looks like.

I know how much it helps.

I know how important mentors are to young people.

But yeah, there's a lot of research around it too, of course, that, you know, with every additional adults in a young person's life that's there as a support, it adds another layer of protection.

It builds their resilience.

And it's been proven over and over again that the more, the more supportive adults in a young person's life, the better.

You know, of course we know that.

But yeah, to have that kind of evidence to back it up, too, even if they've got the most amazing parents at home and really great teachers at school.

And if there's, you know, if you add one more, it's only going to add more magic.

Yeah.

It's only gonna to build them up even more.

Yeah.

I feel sad and you know, I think that's such a big thing to remember, right?

Like we don't actually have to always like teach our kids and just being a space holder, like a placeholder, a witness.

Yep, you got this babe is a really, really useful role to play even as a parent.

Like I don't feel like I really, I'm imparting much to my kids, more just like, oh, I'll just see who they are next and to not get too attached to them in their different eras as well.

Because they're going to change.

They're going to shift into a different part of themselves.

And I don't want to stay attached to who they used to be.

I don't want to like constantly be grieving like them being a toddler, like not having that toddler cutie pie anymore or now we've got, you know, a nearly 16 year old is I want to be there to see and what she is now because as you know, my eldest kid is like a very sweet natured human and she's starting to experience like a little bit more fire.

And I think, well, this is good because you need a little bit of fire to get through life as well.

Like that's going to serve her super well.

Like if she, she's been the nice and sensitive one her whole life and it'll be beautiful for her to have like a bit of spark and a bit of fire and an ability to tell someone to fuck off if she needs to tell someone to fuck off, you know?

Yes, encourage that.

Fuck off.

Oh, that's so special.

I'm so lucky to have you as their Mama.

They're so lucky to have you as a second mummy.

I want to I want to tell everyone as well.

So the first time my kids met Mandy is we went to a games night with a bunch of some of some of our other friends and my kids were the only ones there.

They'd kind of be like, no, I'm coming to this.

And I was like, all right, sounds good.

And I'm a very competitive board game player, as are the other people that were there.

Many is not competitive.

And So what would happen is you're not competitive.

OK, well, you're not competitive.

You weren't competitive in this environment.

We were playing Catan, which is famously, famously, like, long and, you know, exhaustive.

And at one point my youngest daughter just sort of turns to you and says, oh, can I have that card of yours, Mandy?

And you said, yeah, of course, darling.

You just gave her like, you freaking land and resources and shit.

And they were like, wow, Mandy or just like, give me, just give me things.

And then, you know, they'd ask me.

I'm like, and then there's like, I'm arguing badly with Maddie.

Like, that's not the rule.

That's not, you know, it was getting like, quite aggressive.

And then meanwhile, like Mandy is just like this living deity of grace and beauty.

And the hilarious part is like, Mandy still won.

Mandy still won over games even with her giving all of the shit away.

And she did it with so much grace and like love and joy and everyone enjoyed playing with you.

I can't say it cannot be said about me because I'm a nightmare.

It did get a little bit heated.

I just remember driving home and my kids just saying, me, Andy is the nicest person I've ever met in my life, the kindest, most gentle hearted person I've ever met in my life.

And my big kid was like mommy.

I just feel like she's a second mother to us now.

And I was like, yes, please, That you need that in your life.

Dolls like this is a really good response to have.

And so I just felt so thrilled that they'd like gotten to experience the Mandy magic in their lives.

It means, you know how much that means to me, to, you know, I can't have kids of my own.

And so to know that I've got little baby kids sitting there with you is so, so special.

And you know, The thing is like you, you do, you mother the whole world so effortlessly.

And you just I had this tribe of children that came from other Williams and it's such a such a blessing that you're in the world and doing this work honestly, like it's a real fucking miracle.

I hope you know that every fucking day.

Do you think I text you when I saw Qatar and said who was good at this again like I did give you a good bit of a dish that's.

Nice, that's nice.

That's like the most savage that you will get.

Yeah, I really pondered whether to send it or not.

So cute.

You're so cute.

So you've been running like an online business for a long ass time now, right?

How many years?

Yeah, 13 years.

2012 it started.

Is that 13?

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

And you've been location independent as well during that whole time and completely location independent like full time travelling for the last 18 months.

So what's that journey being like?

Yeah, it never.

I never saw it as an online business when I started because it was all about workshops in person in the local community and then getting into school.

So I didn't spend much time on socials or building that kind of online community.

It was more important to put Flyers in the cafe and get a little story in the local paper, that kind of stuff.

Yeah, but I think, you know, I never thought I would do anything online for teens especially, you know, I just really felt that how important it is for them to connect human to human in the flesh.

And, you know, there's enough online stuff around.

But when people started asking how can I kind of do this too, how can I also run workshops and things, that's when I started.

The seeds for the youth mental training were kind of planted and that's always been online and it's been really special to see hundreds of people come through that in 30 plus countries now running their own stuff for teens wherever they are.

That's been special and something I never could have thought would would happen.

And then my COVID hit.

That's when I launched the online Academy for the kids.

And yeah, I've loved that so much and it and it has given this whole nother level of freedom where I just can, can do absolutely everything online now.

And I think it's probably taken 18 months to to navigate that and and see if we could do it.

There was definitely a part of me that just felt like I don't know if my business can survive while I also travel.

I was really worried about that.

I don't know why, because it's no different.

You work the same as you do at home when wherever you are.

Yeah.

But it, it was something in me, I suppose it felt like I'm not allowed to do this.

Maybe you can't, you can't be travelling.

I'll be mixing it up, changing place to place and make money online, but almost a bit like, how dare you?

Maybe it's probably about the time I started listening to your podcast more and like listening to that meditation you did recently on the podcast and things like that of like, it's OK, There's you can, you can dream up whatever you like.

It's yeah, you've got you can like how special to be able to create something out of nothing and make money as you move around the world and still find ways to.

Yeah.

Do you think we're very lucky?

Yeah, and privileged, obviously.

And it would.

It's also like when people are, you know.

I've moved around a lot, you know that.

I've lived all over Australia and people like, Oh my God, have you managed that?

I'm like, it doesn't matter as long as we've got like good Internet speed before we move somewhere, my husband like checks the Internet speeds there.

I'm like, can we do that there?

Yes, we can.

Let's go, let's go.

And it makes sense too as well to feel anxious, like if I'm doing travelling full time, how do I manage to weave in a business into that?

So in terms of your daily ritual, have you kind of like found a daily ritual that works for you now?

Yeah, yes and no.

The thing that really surprised me actually is how much place has had a big impact on who I am and how I can show up.

Like which, you know, when you're travelling, you're obviously moving through different spaces and cultures and, and it's and you, you're fully immersed in it.

And when you're home, place is such a it's a backdrop for everything and you have that, that stability and comfort and everything.

And I knew moving around would be feel very untethered and, and need to have some really strong rituals, I think to kind of tap into the key momentum in the business and to to keep feeling connected as well.

Because I love my work.

I don't, I don't want to not do it.

But really we've just, we just have the same rituals we've always had, the same kind of, you know, we go out for a walk in the morning, get a coffee and there's a few hours in the middle of the day where I can do some, some deeper work.

And my calls are kind of weaved in through there.

But yeah, what what surprised me I think is in places like Vietnam, where it's so chaotic and colorful and loud, there's always, you can always see karaoke playing somewhere.

It really drew out this more visible person in me too.

Like I could really launch things and be really visible because to kind of hideaway just felt ridiculous in a place like that.

It just really gave permission to just be a bit more loud and a bit a bit more out there.

Yeah, a bit more visible.

And then when we got to somewhere like Busan in South Korea, it's so quiet and everywhere is like classical music.

And even in a shopping center, there was this amazing display of water coming down from the roof with all these different colors and classical music.

And then everyone just dispersed quietly afterwards.

It's just so such a beautiful, magical place and felt so elegant, you know, after being in the chaos of Vietnam.

And that's where I was able to, to do deeper work.

And I've done a lot of work on the back end of the business this year and I could really sink into that in that place.

And then when we got to Bali, it was different again.

It was, it was a little bit of everything and a lot more about connection.

And and so I hadn't factored any of that into the trouble of like, instead of trying to force myself into a place and try and work the same way everywhere we go with with strong rituals and things like that, I've found if I'm a little bit more soft door open with it, what the place can kind of draw out of me is is is a bit of magic too.

It's kind of working with the place and the culture and the people and everything a little bit more.

I don't know.

Does that make sense?

That makes so much sense.

I'm spell that also, it kind of feels like I was just reading a book about light lines and like earth grits and things like that.

And I'm just wondering like it's like an opportunity for you to experience other parts of your identity, other aspects of yourself, like when you're in Busan, that kind of elegance.

I remember like the over your stories as well with like the snow coming down in Busan and I was like, Oh my gosh, I look so graceful.

And then it also makes sense when like Vietnam is just pumping away having a grand old party and you're like, I guess I'm having a party now.

I'm going to turn you up.

This is this is Vietnam, Mandy now.

Yeah, Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

I'm kind of excited to see what the next, what the next place might might bring out.

Yeah.

Do you have plans for like next places to go or you just in the in the fallow period at the moment?

We are, we're just dog sitting for my mom in Brizzy at the moment for a few weeks.

But then we're we're going to do Thailand, Hong Kong and then Portugal and kind of spend next year exploring Europe, I think.

So that feels different again.

Yeah, we've, we haven't made it that far yet.

Holy shit I cannot wait to see European Mandy like French.

Man.

Portuguese Mandy, this is going to be amazing.

This is going to be and it feels like it just like adds in like more elements to your whole energy, your whole identity, everything like it's, it's gorgeous.

I can see the elements around you.

And now coming back to Brisbane, like your home ground.

Do you feel the ways in which you were different And do you feel like there's a different energy in in the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane that affects your energy?

Yeah, it's probably more about the history.

Yeah, I think when you're coming back home, you feel so much more.

You kind of transported instantly back in mom's place.

There's so many photos of me as a kid and a teenager.

It's like you get transported back to that time instantly.

So I feel more vulnerable here actually and can't wait to get going again, which which we weren't sure would happen.

We, we wondered if we'd get back and feel like, you know, this is just easy and let's just settle and get a home again and get our stuff out of storage again.

But we're both like, energized and ready to keep, to keep going and keep exploring what this might look like for us.

Yeah.

Have a bit of fun and maybe, like, capture it a little bit more too.

Yeah.

See what travel Mandy and Davy might look like.

What we can put out into the world is something totally different and separate to shine from maybe.

And that kind of feels fun.

It does, I mean, that TikTok account there, Davy started wanting to change my seat.

The TikTok account that Davey started of just documenting your travels and these kind of video collages was just gorgeous.

And I was like, wow, I'm travelling along with you guys.

And then as well, because you started doing your iPad journaling and sharing your kind of travel Diaries.

And I can so see how that could keep shifting over time as well and grow into something even more new and exciting.

Do you feel like having to create a kind of portable office of sorts and had to make you more minimalistic in terms of your office setup?

Yeah, definitely.

Yeah.

That's when I got the when I got the iPad and started doing things more.

The only way you know, like, and every day, every week, I use your weekly plan, your monthly planner and your weekly planner that you have.

And it's just such a fun way to have a bit of structure in my, in my life and have it all on on the iPad has been really good.

But I've also really loved picking up art journals everywhere we go and still sketching and things like that.

It's been really fun, too.

Yes, it's a very minimal system, sort of.

I did send a box full of stationery and stuff home from Korea because it's just so much fun.

You have to.

You'd have to.

You'd have to.

It's like when we're playing out, like we know when we eventually get to Japan, we're just like, well, let's just take a spare suitcase for the stationary shit that we are about to go down on.

Yes, we have our priorities.

We have our priorities.

I remember there's a YouTube and alpha red, I think his name is Alfred.

But no, the children assure me it's Alpha Red and he loves mango and become Japanese culture and he ended up spending $20,000 on shit while he was there.

And I was like, that is a really good use of time and money.

Like what a great investment.

He just like just was like you get this.

Oh my God, can you see this?

Like, wow, wow, wow.

Yes, I'm considering upgrading my luggage, but I don't want to.

I do.

I do.

I want to take as little as possible this time so I can keep picking stuff up along the way.

Yeah.

That's delicious.

So Portugal, what is calling you to that part of the world?

Is it just that you haven't been before?

Is it you're just excited to experience Southern Europe?

Yeah, a bit of both.

Haven't have never been there, but Lisbon is also one of the top vegan friendly cities in the world too.

And food's really important to us, so we'll always go places like that.

Yeah.

It's so much fun to find vegan food in different places.

And when you can't find much, we get grumpy very quickly.

So of course, that's enough of a draw.

It's just it's a vegan friendly city.

Yeah.

Let's go.

Yeah, if it's got good food.

I mean, I did see your vegan restaurants in Busan and like on TikTok, I was like a lot of some good shit right there, you know?

What have I talked to you about Susan Branch?

Because I'm obsessed.

With her, no.

OK, so.

It's, you never get a book, but Susan Branch is, I think she's in her late 70s.

And she has written a few memoirs.

But what I would recommend buying is the third one, which is about her going over to England.

And it's like a travel diary, but she handwrites and illustrates the whole thing.

And then she like, puts in pictures, like photos that she's taken as well.

And she goes to like Beatrix Potter's house and like, and just goes on this beautiful journey.

It's such a beautiful book.

It's one of my favorite books in the world.

And it's so handcrafted and so scrumptious.

And I feel like I just want more of that in the world.

I want more those kinds of books in the world of people going places and writing these journals and then having them published.

And I'm all over it.

So if I can have the Mandy version of that, like, can I just put my order in now for that?

I would love that.

Yummy.

I'm so inspired, yes, that's what I want to do.

I want to do that.

Yeah.

And I love, like I've really loved exploring more of the gentle business side of things too.

And running like the Gentle Business Collective this year was really fun.

Yeah.

I think.

I think more of that, like sketching and travelling and slow moving and gentle business stuff all feels really nice and scrumptious too.

But also still all of shine from within because I love.

All of the things.

So in terms in terms of the setup of like your gentle business collective, how do you, how does that look?

How do you run that?

I love knowing the insides of everyone's businesses.

Yeah.

It's a like a three month mini mastermind.

Yeah, with a few, with a few people.

We ran it like in cycles of the moon and went with the moon cycles.

So there was that natural kind of rest and progress embedded in there.

But it was really casual.

It was just, it was calls.

It was a chat and someone on one coaching as well.

So yeah, it was nice.

Yeah.

I feel like I could do it again.

I did it once this year, but I don't like I could do something like that again.

Yeah.

And I want to join your master.

Oh, you should.

I want to mastermind for myself too.

Love it.

You were freaking loved.

It's so freaking magical.

Oh my God.

I can't even cope.

It's just being wild.

Yeah, with your last mind, like what's your intention for people to get out of it?

Like, how do you want to?

What energy do you want them to tap into while they're in it?

Someone that was in it this year, she lives in Las Vegas, so she's got pretty intense energy around her.

And she said she goes, it's like you're a therapist for my business.

And I'd never thought of thought of it that way before.

And I'm not a therapist, but yeah, that's space for the validation and the, and the community and comfort and all of those things.

And to know that it's a, it's a, it's a group of people who have that same intention, you know, that we want absolute success and impact and all of those things, of course, but that it can also nourish you and it can also give you what you need.

And, and that, yeah, that importance of taking care of ourselves while we're, while we're doing it.

Yeah.

But we had people at all different stages too.

I think it's, I think it's coming to that point where you're like, what, what do I want next?

How can I make this happen in a way that feels really, really good for me and have that have that support around me for this, for this, you know, intense kind of period.

It's it's like you're really helping people feel like I can create something sustainable here, A business that doesn't wipe me out, that doesn't like feel like the ultimate sacrifice.

You know, I hear so much like nonsense around business.

Like, you know, business is 24/7 hustle.

You know, it's working 80 hours a week, so you don't have to work 40 hours a week for somebody else.

And I just think, what in the world?

I don't want that business.

I'm not signed up for that.

That's the kind of business I want to feel gentle and luxurious and it feels nourishing and you know, just delicious and like the best fun we can have with our lives.

And I feel like you were such a beautiful proponent and living example of that.

And I love that you are continuing to share that work and that space with people for people to go like I actually belong here and there is a way for me to do this that doesn't require me to cut off 2 arms.

Yeah, and not everyone has.

I, I think I take our friends and stuff for granted a lot of the time that not everyone has people around them that have been doing it for a long time that are finding their own ways of doing things that are working 10 hours a week and making fucking millions of dollars, Leonie, and having such an impact.

So many people don't have that.

Hey, why?

Yeah.

And then we can just do it our own ways.

We don't have to do it like everybody else.

What's the point of doing it like them?

Oh hey, are you coming to retreat Friends Retreat Business Friends retreat in like May or whenever we're finally locking dates for it?

Yes, I was going to ask you, I want the debt.

I want at least a month so that I can make sure that I can I can get there.

Yeah.

All right.

Nice, nice.

Yes, definitely.

I really want to be there.

You can and my my brother, he just last year I was like, you know, this travels been really amazing.

But what would make it even better is if we could just do business class everywhere.

That would be like the only way that this could get any better than what it is.

And in my mind I thought, OK, well, that means you need to earn quite a bit more and that's fun.

Let's just plant that little seed.

Let me put it down there.

And then my brother went and got a job with Cathay Pacific.

He's just moved to Hong Kong and he's put me and Davy on his like family discount thing.

So now it's like $300.00 for me to go business class from Brisbane to Portugal or something outrageous, so I'm coming back for it.

Oh my God, your brother is.

Thank you so much for your sacrifice to humanity brother.

You are the greatest egg on the planet.

What a treat Chris was just re.

Dreaming in to do this.

Right, you just definitely could really do a great idea.

Let me supported nurture you in that direction.

You don't need to work for Life Flight.

He was working for Life Flight for years.

Rescuing.

That's not what you need.

You don't need rescuing your business class seats.

Go to the, go to the corporate world.

Go into it.

Yeah, please, I mean like burnout right, right with life lights is is wild.

It's a it's an intense life.

Thank you for your service brother and enjoy the like just having to deal with annoying people instead maybe wish they were unconscious so we didn't have to deal with them.

That's.

Why I never had four people on the plane or something?

The doctor, the nurse, and the one person, the patient.

Who's unconscious and can't?

I like making terrible jokes about things.

I was going to say, Oh yes.

Chris has been reading a book called Retire Life Ready by James Wrigley, who is an Australian financial advisor.

And he kind of blew up on the Ticky talkie.

And I've watched his videos for years and thought, no, that's really solid advice.

So he bought his latest book that's just come out.

And one of the things that it mentioned was that when you are like, especially once you're retired and looking at traveling, James Wrigley always recommends that you go business class and that you need to factor into that for especially once you're like retired.

And I'm just like, let's not even think about when we're retired.

It's just like our set standard now.

Like it is our set standard now.

It's it's yeah, it's needed.

It's worth it.

It's yeah.

But I still was like, I can't, I couldn't justify it.

Yeah, you can now.

Thanks.

Now I can yes, yes please.

I will be on standby but only for business class, yes.

Yes, Oh my goodness, Oh my love.

Thank you so much for spending your time with me today.

Where should people hang out with you if they're like, I need more Mandy in in my life?

Go to amandarootsy.com dot AUI think and that links off to shine from within Instagram.

I spend a bit of time on Instagram commenting on your nonsense.

Not nonsense.

Your magic is no nonsense.

It is absolutely nonsense.

Yeah, I have a podcast too, the Youth Mentor podcast.

It's very specific to yeah, if you're an educator or a mentor or maybe even as a parent, there'd be some good stuff there too.

But yeah, I should interview you for that actually.

Please can I yes, I love talking shit about nothing that I know.

It's so good, so good.

But.

You do know you're such a wise, magical Mama?

I think it would be beautiful.

Thank you.

Now, if anyone else has got like an astrophysics podcast out there that you want to invite me on, absolutely, I will.

Come on.

And I will give my forthright opinion, because if there's one thing that I have, there's a lot of opinions about things I probably shouldn't.

It's the Scorpio way.

It's the Scorpio way.

So they should buy your book, Shine from within.

It should subscribe to your podcast.

Do you have a mailing list?

People should be getting your mailing list, Yeah.

Yeah, definitely, yeah, because there's one on Shine From Within.

You can get a bunch of free resources.

Yeah, I like lots of stuff there.

I did start a sub stack actually called Untethered.

Shut up, shut up.

I was going to ask if you want to do that untethered.

So what the fuck up, lady?

And yeah, we are going to do some kind of a youtuby tick tocky thing.

Just sharing our travel adventures.

At some point, yeah.

Magic.

Freaking magic.

Sun Thai life I think Davy set it up as.

Oh yeah.

Oh, I love that.

I love that.

I love you so much and thank you for joining me on today's call.

My Queens are.

Loving me.