63: How The F*ck Do You Build A $10 Million Dollar Business In Only 10 Hours A Week? With Leonie Dawson

How the f*ck do you create a multimillion dollar business in only 10 hours a week?

Well in today's episode creative business owner Leonie Dawson is going to tell us just how she does it.

In this episode you will learn:

  • How to do more in less time
  • What Pareto's principle is and how you can use it in your business
  • How being your unapologetic self is actual the secret to the universe
  • Leonie's top money tip
  • That you can do whatever the F you want in your own business

You can listen to the episode above or read the unedited transcript below.

Transcript

Meaghan Smith  00:21

Hello beautiful people and welcome to another episode of the money mindful Podcast. I am your host Meaghan Jean Smith. I am a money mindset and life coach for women. I help women get out of their own way so they can live the extraordinary life they want to live on purpose. So one of the things that I most love to do in my life is blow my own mind with what is possible with what's possible with what I can do with what I can create. And this guest that I have on today kind of blows my mind with what she is doing. And if you haven't figured out what we're going to talk about by the title of the podcast, you will soon so she is an extraordinary woman who has created a multi million dollar business in just 10 hours a week what the actual f if that isn't extraordinary. I don't know what is Leonie. I am absolutely thrilled to have you on the show. Welcome,

Leonie Dawson  01:29

babe. Thanks for having me.

Meaghan Smith  01:31

So for those of you who don't know, Leonie Dawson, the awesomeness that you are in your business and all the things that you do, can you give us a little brief rundown on what's your blurb? What do you tell people about yourself? How do you introduce yourself?

Leonie Dawson  01:47

I am still somebody who I like I've created, you know, over $10 million in revenue with really high profit margins. I've done it in 10 hours a week, and I still do not have an elevator pitch. I went to a new optometrist yesterday and she's like, what do you do? I like I talk shit on the internet. She has Oh my god, really? I said, Yeah, she has, what are you talking about? And I said, anything I fuckin want. She's like, Okay, then. So that's as good as it gets. Yeah, I create goal workbooks that people can set their goals for the next year. And then I create a courses about creating a courses because I like to be meta. But I do a course about money and multiple streams of income. And I also do e courses about how to finish a book and sell it and all that kind of stuff. Whatever I feel interested in, I create something and share about it with people because I get obsessed about shit. And then I talk about it.

Meaghan Smith  02:44

So what you're saying is, you mean, you could just decide that you want to do something and then do it?

Leonie Dawson  02:51

Yeah, completely. And you can do it like super quickly. So like with money, manifest your multiple streams of income, like I had no interest in talking about money. And then one Friday night, I was like, lying awake, and I couldn't go to sleep. So I was just staring at the ceiling. And I had this idea. Like, oh, I'm supposed to do an ecourse. And I feel like I don't have an idea. It just gets given to me by the angels. And, you know, they just like mapped everything out in my head. And I was like, oh, okay, cool. And so that was on a Friday night. And by Monday afternoon, I'd opened enrollments for it and was teaching it A month later. So I like to move quickly with it because it's so much more fun that way.

Meaghan Smith  03:34

That is incredible. Okay, let's break this down. Hang on a second. I don't want to know the how just yet. Okay, because I know and I know every I know everybody listening is going to want to know the how, how does she do that? How do you whip out a course in one weekend? Right? And, and look, there are elements of things that you need to learn when you are developing a new skill or doing something new. But what I'm really interested in Leonie is leonie is what are you thinking? What what's your mindset? What are the thoughts that you have about yourself and your abilities that allows you to believe that to actually create something in a weekend and believe that you can do it? What are you thinking about yourself?

Leonie Dawson  04:22

Well, I'm not thinking about myself thinking about a project. It's fun, like, like I don't like I'm always saying to clients, like the more that you like, get your head stuck up, you're an asshole. Like, the last time you are creating like stop thinking about you and just think about creating instead like it's got nothing to do with you just make the fucking thing. Just do this thing fucking put it out in the world and you will get changed in that process and it'll be the most fun you've ever had.

Meaghan Smith  04:50

Right? Yeah, well, that's the thought though, this is gonna be fun.

Leonie Dawson  04:54

Yeah.

Meaghan Smith  04:56

Yeah, that's really interesting because I I've heard people talk about their businesses. And I've had thoughts like this myself before, I've had to kind of just kick myself up the bat and be like, come on, this is your passion, this is what you want to do. But when when I start thinking about something that feels a little bit like, Oh, I don't know if I want to do that. And then it's like, hang on a minute. This is an aspect of a business that I'm trying to create. Of course, I want to do it. Like, even if it's not the fun stuff, I'm putting my fingers in inverted commas, like my accounting, or what have you been? Even that I have to remind myself that's like, but I do want to do this, because this is part of what I want to create.

Leonie Dawson  05:37

Yeah, like, there's no other option out there. I'm not going to go back to a job. Like, why would I? Why would I want to do anything else. But this, this is a miracle. Like, I can't believe I got to do this as a job. I am hands down. ridiculously blessed to be able to say that I get to create and talk shit for a living, and do it in 10 hours a week. So I've got plenty of time to be a present mom with my kids. And just an absolute shit tonne of money more than the Prime Ministers of countries, you know, the more than the president likes it. Yeah, I get to do that. Like this is the best job in the world, even when there's tricky parts.

Meaghan Smith  06:19

Yeah, I like that. It's that it's the way that you you think about it. But can we go back a few steps because you didn't always have a business where you were doing millions of dollars? So how did? Where did this begin? How did this start for you?

Leonie Dawson  06:36

an urge to create something. So I'd always wanted to be an artist or creative or a writer. And my parents who were farmers were really adamant about the facts. No, you cannot have a creative career, because, you know, all other stuff. They believe the starving artists myth, myth, of course, you're gonna have to get an office job, there's no money and that would repeat over and over. You can't have a small business because all small businesses fail in the first five years. Yeah, yeah. So I was due to full, you know, and I was like, Okay, well, I guess I'll have to, like, be second, like, go second best then. And I would like to be Prime Minister of Australia, if I'm not going to, you know, be able to have my dream job, I might as well make some change in the world. So like, it was like just a very logical decision making process for me like, Okay, I will second best option, Prime Minister of Australia fine. So move to Canberra when I was 20. Did a Secretary of Public Policy and economics degree at Australian National University while working, the Department of industry, worked in Parliament House with some ministers, and really quickly realised like, Ah, I'm not going to be able to be all of myself in this environment. And I'm not actually going to be able to create the change that I want to see in the world through this path, because I realised that it's like your power in that way is is still limited. And I just couldn't give up on the dream of being a creative. I just couldn't, it was inside of me. And so I remember, like, flying home to my very small country town in North Queensland, and I felt like I had to come out to my dad. And I said to him, Dad, I need to tell you something goes to the airport, because I can't keep a secret. Like, it's just like, instant. Hey, Dad, hey, going. Okay, I've got to tell you something really important. And at that point in his life, he was just grunting. That's how we spoke. He just granted. And I said, Look, I've got to tell you something. I've decided I'm actually going to be an artist. That's that's what I'm going to do with the rest of my life. And he grunted again, to say, well, there's no money in that. And I said, Well, it looks like I come from a long line of dreamers because you're a farmer. And there's no money at that. And your family have all been farmers, and there's no money in that. So, like, you can't begrudge me the fact that I too, am a dreamer. We just want what we want. And he grunted against it. You think you're funny, don't you? And I said, I really do. Like, a long line of dreamers is like, perfect, like, like very proud of this. Um, and so it was just that desire to have a creative career that led me eventually into business. I thought about being a graphic designer, but realised it wouldn't fully encompass everything I wanted to do. And I just started building a side a business on the side as I worked. Please join government and built it up, built it up, built it up and kept on growing until by the time we were ready to have kids. My husband and I could both quit our jobs and just focus on our kids and our business.

Meaghan Smith  10:01

All right, that sounds like really matter of fact, like la dee da like, Yeah, I just decided to build this business and did it. And I, I believe that there is that happened because I see your business. I think it's fantastic. And I see you on social media and but did you see yourself at this level of business success when you started?

Leonie Dawson  10:26

Oh, no, God, no. My only goal at that point was the first goal was to earn, I think, $30,000 in one year, because that was kind of, at that point, what I think I could kind of survive off. And then the next goal after that was $100,000 a year, because then me and my husband, and I could both quit our jobs, and we could move back to our country town and raise our baby together. Relatively easy. So $100,000 is a big goal. And I really didn't think much beyond that. It was never a goal to like, you know, at least a million dollars a year. It just kept on growing after that. Because it's the same like skill set again, and again, like, Oh, what is it I need to do to grow this business? How do I have very growth and profit focused, like, focused attention on the business and do it in a way that's not going to take up all my time, because there's no point in me creating this creative business that I love so much. So that I can quit my office job and have a baby, but then have to spend all my time working in the business and not being a mom. So like, I have to have a business that I love, but it also is going to make me money without it needing a lot of time.

Meaghan Smith  11:50

Yeah, well, let's talk more about that time aspect. Like, how the fuck do you build a $10 million business in like revenue over the life of the business in 10 hours a week? Like, how is that possible? I mean, I know, amazing things are possible. But even for me, that kind of blows my mind.

Leonie Dawson  12:09

Sure. So the first thing that you need to do is you get yourself a baby that doesn't sleep. Okay? And then like, and not only that, they don't sleep, but like when they are away, they just cry constantly, if they're outside of their mom's arms, and the mom is the sole breadwinner, and so you just go fucking insane. And you think, How the fuck am I gonna make any money with you because like, you just cry all the time, and I have 000 out of time. So get yourself one of those, because they'll teach you very quickly, what is it that you need to do to grow a business in very small amounts time because you've got no fucking time. So if you can't get one of those, then you kind of need to enforce it upon yourself and stick. And I always say to people, like if you want to find out how to reduce your work hours, reduce your work hours, and you will very quickly realise what is busy work and what is actually profit making. Here's the thing, like, I read the book, The Four Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss. Back in 2006 2007, I think whatever it was, it came out. And I just took it literally, I was like what he did in four. I'm a bit slacker. So maybe I could do it in 10. You know, and I thought that was reasonable. And maybe that's because I'm like on the autistic spectrum. And so like, I do take things very literally, and I took him to heart, I was like, four hours, I'll do 10 and I just did it too heart, you know, like I just did? And I do I follow that paratos principle, which is at 20% of your actions create 80% of your results. So I'm only working you know, 20 25% of a normal workload. But I'm still creating like the vast sum of the revenue.

Meaghan Smith  13:58

What's that principle? I don't know that principle.

Leonie Dawson  14:00

Oh, sure. Okay, let me dive deep. Yeah. Okay, so parato is is Italian economist back like 100 200 years ago. And he was he likes to like study everything and see the patterns and shit. He was probably asperges because that's what we do. Anyway, so he looked at the Italian population and realised that the Italian population 20% of the Italian population owned 80% of the landmass. And of course, that's a whole other story about capitalism. But he, he noticed that that same concept held true across all different areas. So when he went into his garden 20% of his pea plants created 80% of the harvest. So there's is 20% of our population creates 80% of an outcome and that, that it hits across so many things, so 20% of crop, sorry, 20% of prisoners create 80% of crime. When Microsoft fix its top 20% of recurring crashes in its system, it fixed 80% of its of bugs that were found. So there's always this 20% creates 80%. So when you can apply it to your business, you might see that 20% of your marketing activity creates 80% of your sales, or 20% of your product range, you know, accounts for 20 to 80% of your profit margins, it's going to be in your business everywhere, there's, it's like, not everything is born equal. There's certain aspects of your activity that creates a much more powerful impact. And so you have to really be very clear about where you spend your time and only spend your time on the stuff that actually creates a maximum amount of impact.

Meaghan Smith  15:57

Right. Okay, I'm following you. So let's dig down on this a little bit further. Because when you said before you said that distinguishing between busy work and the work that was actually effective in your business, I'm not sure if they were the exact words you use. But yeah. So can you give us some examples of that? What's busy work, and what's work that's really effective in your business, because I know it would be different for other people.

Leonie Dawson  16:21

Sure. So I see social media posting, like social like doing social media work is probably one of the biggest time sucks for for business people. And, you know, you end up spending, spending a huge percentage of your time thinking about it, or looking at what everyone else is doing, or, you know, trying to think up content. When you could either do one of two things. One, you could just say, Actually, I'm not going to build my business through social media. And that is an absolutely totally fine thing to do. And there's lots of other ways to build your business, you could concentrate concentrate completely on email marketing, because we all know that email marketing actually provides a much higher returns than social media marketing. Secondly, you could decide to batch it sure, you're going to do some social media posts, but you are going to content plan and you are going to batch create all in a short period of time. And then you are going to use a scheduling software to put it out into the world and take the fucking thing off your phone. So you don't just spend all your time in scroll mode. Other busy work, when you look at all of the services that you offer, when you look at all of the work that you do, what is the stuff that's actually creating profit, because otherwise, it's just got a busy work. So one of the things I have people do in the gogetter workbooks each year, is have a look at your top selling products, services, whatever, each year, and then work out the ratio of what's creating the most amount of money for you and profit. So I remember doing this one year, and it was the year I decided to do some coaching retreats where people stayed in my home for five days. And I also was doing like six months coaching packages, and it was all kind of higher end stuff like it was, you know, a lot more expensive than other stuff I was producing. But when I looked at at the end of the year, it only earned me 40. I think it was like $45,000 or something, which of course is great. Like, I appreciate that. But considering I was looking at I think about $600,000 in revenue that year, it was a fairly small percent. And what's more, it had absolutely been a huge time and energy expense for me. Whereas with the workbooks, I'd earned $100,000 that year, and it had taken me about four days worth of work. So when you start looking really strategically at what's actually costing you time and money, and whether it's worth it and whether you should be spending your time in other areas instead, then you start kind of killing off the unimportant shit and just focusing on the real profit producers instead.

Meaghan Smith  19:19

Yeah, I love that killing off the fluff. I feel like I'm still in that phase, like learning how to do that and actually learning it. Almost like what you were saying about having a crying baby. I got really sick last year in November and was just lost my voice and because I see clients clients one on one, I was just with my I was putting all my energy into my clients and I just removed myself from social media. But what was really interesting was that I just kept creating business, even though I wasn't on social media because I have a podcast that comes out every week. And you know, I email my people every week and it was like, isn't that Interesting. And I enjoy being on social media like interacting with people because I I like that aspect of it. But it was a really good lesson for me to see that this isn't an essential thing that I have to put all my energy in all the time. So I think it's a really great point that you brought up that

Leonie Dawson  20:22

chronic illness is a great crying baby, I've had that as well. And you're like, Oh, no, I actually physically can't do a whole bunch of stuff. So I really can only do the very important things. I even have a post it note above my desk, and it says, If I only had two hours a week to work, what would I do? And I've got three things written on them. And so I'd really recommend to anyone asked yourself that question and put it over your desk, because those are the three things that drive your business. that's a that's a moneymakers. And everything else can go get fucked.

Meaghan Smith  20:56

I love it. I love it. Yeah. Getting really fucking intentional with what is important. Yeah,

Meaghan Smith  21:04

yeah. So you have a lot. Yeah, that's right. And you have a lot leonie of different courses and things because I've, I've stopped you, I've checked you out. And I've been and actually, this is one thing I really, really want to do. You're like how to create an E course? And oh, yeah, I've got to say, because it is extremely good value, the price point that you have, that is kind of unbelievable. And the only reason why I have not bought it is for that very reason about constraint, like really constraining to what is important right now in my business. And I mean, this podcast is about you, not about me. So I'm not going to go into all those details. But right now I'm focusing on a different aspect of building what I'm building in my business. And in the future, I see that as something and that literally last year, there must have been about five times that I passed through your website where I was like, I should just buy it now. Like really? And then I was like, stop, stop it, like constrain constrain. And it's really hard to do, you know, to not just do all the things.

Leonie Dawson  22:24

Yeah, you can't do all the things, choose the thing that's going to give you the most amount of money and the fastest and do that. Yeah, and people always like you know, all but Leonie you get to, like, do all of the things you've chosen, like, you know, you talk about every topic and you have equals different things. And I'm like, Yeah, but I do all of them all at once you do one fucking thing at a time. And you make money with that. And then you move on to the next thing.

Meaghan Smith  22:51

Yeah, yeah. And what I really like about you is that there's no limits. I mean, didn't you release erotica book or something like that? Did I say something like, tell me about that tell us about

Leonie Dawson  23:04

it was, it was so funny, it was just a gift to myself, really. So I'd been wanting to write an erotic romance novel for years. And was thinking to myself, Oh, like, I just, I don't know, like, like to give myself the time to do that. Like, you know, just because I knew I like need to block off some time from work. And then you know, it's kind of the opportunity cost of it. And I was kind of just boring myself talking about it, really. And I talked to my husband about it. And he's like, honestly, we've talked about this a lot. Just go do it. I don't care like and now. And then I talked to one of my coaches Kerry Rowett and she's like Leoni. You have built your business on fucking weird shit that you've just created in a weekend. Like, you'll go get a workbooks, like, would you have ever thought that would be used by 400,000 people worldwide? No, it was just some stupid, random crazy idea you had you just ran with it. So you need to give yourself time and space just to do stupid, crazy projects. Because that's the magic of Leoni. And I was like, ah, and so it is. And so this year during pandemic, I was like, Fuck, yeah, this is the time. So I spent I think it was about 10 days a lot, which doesn't seem like much but it felt like such a huge gift to myself to write it. And I totally cried when I finished writing it because I just felt so great. And then I just threw it up at the world hit number one in romance in Australia on Amazon, which is hilarious. And I like I read it like once a month at least because I just love really weird writing and I just it's just still feels like such a gift to me.

Meaghan Smith  24:48

That is so fun. Ah, that is just fantastic. I think I really hope if you don't know who Leonie is, if you've never heard of Leonie dawson go and check her out, go to her website, go check her out on Instagram. You, you've actually surprised me this year and with things like you've been doing this series of posts, we've been wearing these crazy hats.

Leonie Dawson  25:15

oh, yeah.

Meaghan Smith  25:16

And I love seeing that, because what that shows me is that you really can do whatever the fuck you want. And your people will find you and the people who are really offended by crazy hats. won't follow you, right, they won't buy from you. Or they'll just be like, yeah, that chicks weird. She wears crazy hats, but that's okay. And I just yeah, look past that. And

Leonie Dawson  25:47

yeah.

Meaghan Smith  25:50

Were you like that in the beginning, or have you developed that relationship with yourself as you've progressed with your business?

Leonie Dawson  25:59

No, I've always been an absolute fucking weirdo. And my school friends will attest to that, just like Jesus Christ, God, you know, in a nice way, like, even my old boss, when I worked in the Australian Government, she's like, we know leonie is here, where we have to remind her that there is such a thing as too much information.

Leonie Dawson  26:23

So I realised very early on in my life, I was a teenager when I realised that everybody was pretending to be something that they weren't. And that I could totally do that if I wanted to. However, it didn't seem like very much fun. And it also didn't seem like you know, even if you did succeed at pretending to be someone else, and like was was finally cool, and people liked you, you would probably feel weird because like, you'd feel unsure and timid inside because you know that people didn't love you for who you are just they love you for who you're pretending to be. So you'd have imposter syndrome. And so I just kind of like looked at this, I was about 13 or 14, I was like, Oh, well, this is like, this makes no sense. So what I could do instead, right, is just continue being an absolute, like, weirdo that I love being and amusing myself and having the most amount of fun with myself possible. And some people will really not like that. And some people really will. But it won't matter anyway, because I'll still get to be me. And that's the greatest gift of all. And I'll have a lot of fun with myself, because I regard myself as my own best friend. So like, we'll be solid either way. So it was a very logical choice to, to decide to be myself because it was like, one is fun and happy. And the other one is not what would I choose? Oh, I don't know. I think I'll choose to love myself and have fun with it.

Meaghan Smith  27:57

Yeah, it's common sense. But how did that goes down working in a government job? Because I'm pretty sure you weren't wearing crazy hats when you were in Canberra. Or maybe you were,

Leonie Dawson  28:10

you would think that look, honestly, it went down a lot better in my adult life than it did at school, like school was pretty challenging. Because a lot of you know, it's especially when you're a teenager, everyone is so has to try and be like each other. And so I ended up moving like I sent myself to boarding school because I was like, You know what, like, I just prefer not to have shit thrown at me every single day. I prefer not to be yelled at by other children like that would be fun to me. So I sent this out to boarding school, and that was awesome, had the best time. And, like, it's been a doddle really ever since because as soon as you're out of school, people stop feeling so freaked out about who they are. And they you know, and everybody is of all different ages, which is much healthier, I think. And they're all in different stages of life. And people are mostly just wanting to be amused, really. And so if you can provide a little bit of amusement in their life, they'll be sorted. So I used to do all sorts of crazy shit in my government job. I had a competition one day to see how many people I could hug in a day in my office. And I was running one of my best mates was in human resources, and we're all competing. And I want of course, because I'm very competitive. But I have like 300 people on a few of our government floors that that day with consent and it wasn't in pandemic time. So yeah, I just get up to crazy shit and just because I realised really early on if you got your work done and then abused people, you're like, people thought you're golden.

Meaghan Smith  29:53

So good. And what brings to what comes to mind when you tell me that is that I think In business, the one of the challenges that I have had is that it's supposed to be done a particular way. Like this, there's a way that we're supposed to do it. And when, when you get beyond that, and you realise it's not a how there's not a planned out, these are the steps you take. Everybody's business is different, like, I mean, you can follow a formula, but it's not gonna work exactly for you how it works for someone else, because it's not their business, it's your business, your the way that you come across, and what you create, and I mean, I'm, I've, I've learned that from doing but it sounds like you already had that skill before you even started from what you're saying.

Leonie Dawson  30:45

Well, also, like, you know, when it comes to creating my business, I didn't want to recreate my work environment in my business, you know what I mean? Like, I want to, like, wear a suit and have to look professional and not swear and not, you know, try to not be so inappropriate, when I could just like, be all of myself and be the wild expression of myself and know that like, it'd be cool, like, people will like that. Some people won't, it doesn't fucking matter. So it's like, why would you want to recreate an office environment in your business? You get to do whatever the fuck you want?

Meaghan Smith  31:24

Yes, and it's so freeing.

Leonie Dawson  31:28

Yeah, you can't make it ever.

Meaghan Smith  31:29

You can't make a mistake in the sense. I mean, it's like, I don't mean you're not gonna make files or whatever. But it's like, you're actually creating it the way that you want to do it the way that you want to be representing yourself as yourself. And so there's no way you can lose doing that when you show up as who you really are.

Leonie Dawson  31:49

It's true. You know, it's like, the whole reason that I do the crazy hats, is because I was seeing myself I really want to create more videos. But I don't want to get all dressed up for them. I don't like like, I don't like doing shit to my face. I don't want to like my hair. This is like as good as it's ever going to get because I don't give a fuck. I've got a hair cut like this specifically, so I don't have to touch it. Like it just it lives. I don't want to like get lies. I don't want to look glamorous, I don't like it just bores loving shit out of me if if other people love that great, but it boys ever loving shit out of me. And I could not feel less inspired by that particular idea. And so I was thinking, oh God, like how would I make it like super fun to make these videos and I was like, Oh my god, what if I found like the craziest fucking hats I could find on the internet. And so I spent like a few days like looking around for it. And I was cackling myself go oh my god, this is a funniest fucking thing ever. I do shit to amuse myself. Like honestly, like if anyone else finds it funny, great. But mostly it's for me. So I was like sending them to my assistant sitting in my best chair, this head I just bought. And so like, I found all these cool costume hats. So they're in my office now. And so now when it comes to creating like these, these videos where I want to give some like important business or organisational productivity advice, or marketing advice, or whatever I get to do well, looking like an absolute donkey that makes me laugh so hard. So I appreciate that other people love the crazy hat thing. And I also did it for my own amusement. That was my way of looking glamorous, like some people get their hair blow dried so they can feel camera ready. I buy a box of cat costume hats

Meaghan Smith  33:44

so many different options.

Leonie Dawson  33:47

Right? And so many different options and costume hats. It's an amazing, amazing world out there.

Meaghan Smith  33:53

All right, let's change gears a little bit. There's a few questions I want to ask you before we come to a close and what is different now about your life? And what's the same since you have grown a business that actually makes a lot of money.

Leonie Dawson  34:12

What's different is that I don't have to worry about how to like, um, like pay bills and stuff like, oh god, how can I make that happen? That's really nice. So we don't have to think about like, the painful money part of money management. And what we can instead do is like seek out really cool shit to do with money. I always say to my husband, I'm not really sure if I like eventually want to like leave in one spot. Like maybe I would like to live in a few different spots because there's a few different places in Australia. I really love that feel like home to me. So I eventually I might like to think about like us having like a potluck or something in a few different places and spending our life kind of you know, like a few months in different places. See how we go. So that's one option. But then other cool options is it like, I got an email from Australia wildlife Conservancy, which is they buy land for wildlife, and it's very important part of the climate crisis puzzle I feel to have that land for conservation. And they were trying to purchase a piece of land near us that had some endangered wildlife. And our they had to raise a whole bunch of money in like a very short period of time. And so we could just donate like, money to them. You know, like, I think we donated $25,000 last year to them, which is more than I used to earn in a year, just so they could buy more fucking land for possums and shit, that makes me really happy. So that stuff has changed. In terms of what hasn't changed. I'm still just an RD geek, who likes to hang out at home, who still wears like secondhand t shirts for my husband and doesn't really like to spend much money on other stuff. I just, I don't really give much of a shit.

Meaghan Smith  36:07

So good. So good. What do you teach your children about the business at all? Or about money?

Leonie Dawson  36:14

Yeah. Yeah, I do. Just in kind of incidental ways, because, you know, I've got a nearly 11 year old now. And they're not they're not like open for a big like, Oh, please mother instruct me, you know, like, Alright, so it's more just incidental. So like, if they I do I do my work around them, they have questions, I explain it to them. One of the biggest things that I love that I've taught them is the money thermometer, which I teach my money manifesting in multiple streams of income costs, is that so like with any goal, like, it can be a business goal, it could be a savings goal, it can be debt reduction goal, it can be any kind of goal, I create a money thermometer, you know, like there's fundraising, bucket things, yeah, then I colour it in as I go. And it's very motivating to me. So that was for a book launch I'm doing at the moment. And I've got a colouring because I think we've just hit over 200 grand now. But my kids love this. And they'll create their own for savings goals to get, you know, like the Lego created and stuff. Like you know, they want to buy LEGO sets. So though, put them on a thermometer, and they'll brainstorm how to make that money and how to save that money. And that stuff's really cool to me.

Meaghan Smith  37:33

That's really cool. All right, well, I always ask my guests at the end, if there's any money habit, or tip or something that you do on the regular or not even on the regular that you'd be willing to share that you think might be helpful for other people to try?

Leonie Dawson  37:51

Sure. Um, so I always like to calculate my net worth at the start of every year. And it's something that I get everyone to do and the goal getter workbooks as well. And so what you do is you put together like, you write a list of all of your assets, okay, all the things that you own. So that can be cars, it can be houses, it can be any investments, you have your superannuation, retirement, fund everything. And then you write a list of all the things that you owe. So your liabilities, like your credit cards, how much your mortgage is, any debts that you have. And then So, you take, so you minus the liabilities off your assets, and that gives you your net worth. And it's okay, if that net worth is in the negatives, right. Or if it's like very, very small at this point, it's just a base point for you to grow on. And you can set goals for your month and for you know, your year, so that you can start increasing that and growing your net worth. And it's very exciting.

Meaghan Smith  39:07

Such a good tip. And if you want to find out more about that, go back to you know, one of my first or second episodes and actually talk about that. I do that too. Not at the start of every year, but periodically, because I think it's such a great reference point, or anchor to just work out. Where am I? Where do I want to go? and be a little goals? Yeah, yeah. Love it. All right, Leoni. Let's wrap this up. First of all, so grateful that you gave us your time today to be on the show. And I'm so excited for all my listeners who don't know who you are, who are now going to go out and find out about you. So before I let you go tell us where can we find you tell us all the I'll put all the magical links in the show notes. But where can people find you?

Leonie Dawson  39:59

I always say it leoniedawson.com fuck social media you've press lock on a billion people and never seen this shit again. So just make sure you go to the adelson.com sign up for my love letter list and I will send you free shit absolutely every single week because I love giving free shit to people and sending them magical stuff and you can also go to my free shit page and find all of the free shit that I give away because I love giving it to people.

Meaghan Smith  40:24

Which can I say is actually called free shit on the website which I adore i that is one thing that really drew me into you. I was like yes, she swears she swears a lot. She's totally unapologetic about it fantastic. I absolutely love it.

Leonie Dawson  40:44

I will say like I do sometimes I get criticism from people about swearing and I was like I don't give a fuck like you're the you're the wrong spice love like swear like a motherfucker. And my dad who's a wild Bushman from a small town was visiting and he called my my auntie who was also my godmother, and she picked up the phone and guys Merry fuckin Christmas. Yeah. And he said Oh, I love fucking kids near me. Don't switch gears. Oh, hi bloody hose in and the whole conversation just maybe cackle because I thought, of course I fucking swear beer. These are my people. my godmother on her best behaviour.

Meaghan Smith  41:28

Oh, what a beautiful note to end on Leoni. Thank you so much for being with us here today.

Leonie Dawson  41:37

Oh, you're a babe. Thanks, Megan.

Meaghan Smith  41:39

Wow, what an extraordinary woman and an extraordinary life. You know what we are all capable of so much more than we think. And Leoni Dawson is certainly an example of that. reaching those elusive dream goals. It's totally available to you, right right now, like I teach women the exact tools they need to move from reacting to what life throws at them to being an active participant in their life and intentionally creating exactly what you want. I think Liana Dawson is a beautiful example of that. And if you want some of that if you want to tap into being your authentic self creating what you really want in your life, get in contact. That is exactly what I do. Don't dick around you listen to this podcast because what I say to you resonates with you. Talk to me book a consult, I can help you create the extraordinary life that you want. Alright, beautiful people. Until I speak to you next time. Have an amazing week. Bye Bye.

Episode references

Find out more about Leonie Dawson and her courses on her website here.

Be sure to join in on book club this month.  You can find out all the info and get the book here.

Pareto Principle

 

Please note as an affiliate of Leonie Dawson, I may receive payment at no extra cost to you if you purchase any of her courses using the link above.  

 

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