Links and Resources

'Becoming' - Michelle Obama - https://becomingmichelleobama.com/

Ragati, Kenya - http://ragati.com/ 

Show Transcription: 

Hello, I'm Tina Tower, and you're listening to Her Empire Builder. So my first decade of business, I thought grinding and hustling and working harder than everyone else was my path to success. It was pretty successful by a lot of measures, but it led to burnout and adrenal fatigue. Then when I travelled around the world, on my family gap year, I discovered the simplicity and the reach of online business. And I completely fell in love. You have so much knowledge and expertise that's within, and I want to help you to package that so you can also help to lift others up. So how do you build a thriving million dollar business based on everything that's in your mind? This is her Empire Builder, the podcast.

Hello, and welcome to her Empire Builder you guys. It is Episode 100! You know, the strange thing about podcasting is when I record this, it's usually the weekend so that all is quiet and I'm sitting in an office by myself, and I'm here just writing the notes for this episode. I was just thinking far out, I've hit go 100 times on the podcast. And I'm proud! I'm really, really proud of that. And today, I'm going to be talking to you about the change that's happened in the last hundred episodes since I recorded the first one way back in 2017. And all week, we're going to be talking about the most popular episodes that have happened. And I would love for you guys to share what's been your favourite as well. And to celebrate 100 episodes, I have one extremely big favour to ask. And that is, can you please if you listen on Apple podcasts, can you jump on and leave a review for her Empire Builder. It would make me so happy, I read them all the time. And it does help a lot in like increasing the visibility of the podcast. That's really the way to do it and to inspire you. Here's one that was left last week by ‘nightollie’. I don’t know what their real name is, but ‘nightollie’ has said “It's amazing when you hear something at the exact right time for you. I often listen to you Tina on my daily walk and this morning's Episode 96 was just what I needed. This is me to a tee. I was frantically nodding saying yes, Not the stalking part thankfully. I absolutely need this right now, as I embark on a huge step in my business. I am worthy. I deserve this as do you.

Thank you! That is the best thing ever. And I'm so stoked ‘nightollie’, whoever you are, can you send me a message on Instagram and let me know who you are, because that is beautiful. And if you would like to give me a present for delivering you 100 amazing episodes, a review would do the trick. In the meantime, you can check out Instagram and Facebook where there is a lot of visible confetti throwing and party poppers and all of the celebratory things to mark this moment.

So as I said, I had a lot of ideas for what to do for the 100th episode. And I put it out on Instagram stories as well and a really common one that people wanted was 100 lessons that I have learnt. And you guys know I can talk quite a bit, and so if I even spent 60 seconds on each one of those lessons, that'd be a really, really long, boring episode. So I decided not to do that and instead, I'm kind of running you through the evolution and the change since I began. Because what I find is when someone wants to start something new, it's not perfect. And so they wait until they feel like they're more ready to get going. And I think if you want to do something, just start because there's no point in waiting for it to be perfect because our one constant in this life is change. Whatever it is you know, if you’re starting a podcast, the podcast you start with, if you’re starting a business, the business that you start with, whatever you have at the beginning it's going to morph, it's going to ebb and flow and change and you're going to take things you're going to learn and you're going to go you know what, what worked for me till this point isn't going to work for me there, or your audience is going to ask for different things. It's going to be different, and that is great. So the longtime listeners, you would know this has been very true to me because the last kind of five years, the previous 10 had been super stable. I continued on a very kind of linear, predictable, I want to say predictable but it was, it seemed to make sense a kind of thing. You know, I started suburban tutoring centres that then went into licensing that then went into franchising. So it kind of followed along this, this linear path.

And then I started my podcast when I sold my company. So I sold it and then wanted to get into podcasting and I didn't yet know what business I was going to do, I didn't know what I wanted to kind of do with the next stage of my life and what business I was going to start if I was going to keep going with anything or, like at that stage we were planning, planning to go you know, on our round the world trip, and then really part of us was very sold on buying a surf resort in Costa Rica and never returning to normal life ever again. And part of me longs for those days of having a surf resort in Costa Rica and part of me in these COVID times is bloody thankful that I'm not there with zero tourists. So, you know, it all happens for a reason, right. But my point is, I started the podcast because I wanted to have interesting conversations with really fabulous women. And I wanted to learn what made them successful, what made them tick, how they did all the different things that they did. And so I started the podcast as 'The Female Advantage'. And in 'The Female Advantage', it was just interviewing women that had achieved some really cool stuff in their life. It had no point, it had no sales funnel, it had nothing other than to just share inspiring stories.

And I loved it! And I got to meet some fabulous women through that. And I got to interview some women that I've known for a very long time and learn more about them and ask them questions in a different way. And it was fantastic. And then when we went on our round the world trip, so we left in … when did we leave? I can't even remember when we left. We left, what year is it now? 2020? Oh, my gosh, it's been a week you guys. So we got back in 2019, which means we left in 2018. So when we left, I put that podcast on hold, because I didn't want to be you know, in the middle of the Moroccan desert, trying to hook up to interview people on the other side of the world. So I thought, you know what, let's just have a break, we'll put it on hold. And I had no idea whether I would ever come back to that or what would happen. And this is the thing, sometimes we can just make these decisions and go is this serving us right now? Is it not? Is it time to push it? Or is it time to pause it. And that's okay, you have the freedom and the flexibility to do what's right for you in your life at that very moment. You are the boss of you. This is what I'm telling my kids all the time. But sometimes we have to remind ourselves.

So we went on our trip and kind of disappeared from the world which was, it was fabulous. It was so fabulous. I went 90 days with zero technology, like no phone, no email, no Instagram, no Facebook, no nothing …and oh my god, it was lovely. I did still have my laptop that I still did zoom with private clients because I always did business coaching. But that was it. And it was beautiful. And that was for the back half of 2018. And so then when last year hit, and I was in a place called Ragati in Kenya in Africa, and I spent the whole day reading Michelle Obama's ‘Becoming’ book. And I was preparing to come back out of this whole self imposed technological isolation, and ready to kind of start talking to the world again and felt like I had had a really big break. I was super burnt out before we went on our trip. and I really needed some time. You know when you hear that saying you go, you know, I don't need a Sunday sleep and I need to like sleep for a year. That's what I felt like. And you know, it took me three months to really feel like I had recovered and I had rested enough and I know that sounds insane …but sometimes we just work too hard. And we forget. So I'd read her book and I was ready to come back to Earth. And I didn't know still what I wanted to do. But I knew I wanted to start podcasting again because, man, I love podcasting. I just I love that, it's a space to not only interview other people and share their stories and share their ideas but also to share your own ideas and help inspire people and help to share thoughts that can spark ideas. I mean, really, that is my whole goal when I actually sit down and work out why do I podcast, it's because I want to be an idea sparker for you. I want you to be able to listen to any of the episodes and get that little thought in your head and go, hang on a minute. I think I could do this, no matter what it is, spark that idea that's been lying dormant in you and inspire you to go and take action and make it happen. That's why I do it. And so I decided over Christmas, I was going to write this book called 'An Intentional Life', and do the podcast called 'An Intentional Life'.

And so then I canned 'The Female Advantage', so I didn't do that back, and I started a new podcast called ‘An Intentional Life’. And it was very different. It was a lot of me speaking and interviewing others as well. And then it got a couple of months into it and I saw a wonderful woman release a book called ‘An Intentional Life’  and I was like ahhh!

You know it happens when you have these great ideas, and then someone else beats you to it. Anyway, I kept it as 'An Intentional Life' though for a while because I didn't know what I wanted to do next. I didn't know what I was going to call the book that I was thinking about and and how everything was going to happen. And then of course, you guys know the most recent bit, the most recent being that I came back into the world last year. And so 2019 in April I decided to kick it up a notch in my online courses. And so I started my online courses, got a huge amount of private coaching clients and set up everyone on strategy with how to package their expertise and their IP into these amazing learning programmes that can share their gifts with the world through publishing, and podcasting, and speaking, and webinars and funnels and all of the fun stuff. And so we kept going with that. And then it wasn't until late 2019, that I had the idea for 'Her Empire Builder'. And it kind of took all of those morphs, all of those iterations to figure out this is what I want to do. And not for the rest of my life. I very rarely commit to things for the rest of my life. The only thing I've ever committed to the rest of my life is my husband and my kids. That’s about it! Because the rest makes me nervous. On a side note, caveat, we moved into a new house last week and I'm also semi committed to staying here forever, because we've moved 11 times in 18 years, plus all our travel. And my whole family wants us to stay here and I'm like, oh my god, do I dig the grave in the backyard now? I mean, I don't know if I can cope with this! But I'm gonna try. Anyway, my point being, we don't have to go this is what I'm going to do now. This is me, this is my perception of self. This is it. I'm set. I'm locked in. You're never locked in, you can change your mind with the life that you've got at any moment. Amazingly, like drastically. We can make very different simple decisions to stair steer ourselves in a very different direction at the drop of a hat. But what I've committed to is for this next chapter, this is me, and I freakin love it. Love it. I feel like you know, when you've, you've done lots of different work and and it always feels good, and it always flows. But then you get into something, and you just feel so like I was born for this. And I know how corny that can sound. But I feel like what I'm doing right now I was born to do. I'm absolutely doing what I was made for. And so her Empire Builder, the podcast got rebranded into that. And so it started as 'An Intentional Life' then got rebranded as 'Her Empire Builder'. And then I thought, okay, what do I do with all the episodes from the female advantage? Do I just keep paying the subscription for that and just leave it as a separate thing? Or do I put all those episodes onto this podcast? And so that's what I did. I got the 18 episodes, because then we got to 18 episodes in the female advantage. But they were such incredible conversations with such incredible women that was so applicable still to listeners of 'Her Empire Builder'. So I wanted to be able to combine them together, so we put all of them in together. So now with Episode 100, it's gone through that whole change of welcome to 'An Intentional Life', and welcome to 'The Female Advantage', and now welcome to 'Her Empire', and hopefully that's how it's gonna stay for the next thousands and thousands of episodes until such time podcasts no longer exist. Because I love it.

So biggest message is doing something for long enough, it's going to change and we want it to change. You don't want to do the things that you've always done just because you've always done them. You want to constantly be evolving, constantly be asking is this the best way to serve my audience? Is this the best thing for my life right now? I mean, I was talking to someone the other day, and they were saying they're really stressed out by their podcast at the moment, it's taking a huge amount of energy and effort and they don't feel like they can keep up with it at the same time as delivering for their clients. And it's just getting really, really hard. I said, so just stop. And she was like, what do you mean just stop? And I was like stop, just put out a little episode and just say I'm very overwhelmed at the moment, I'm going into hibernation, and I'll be back. And, you know, it was it was one of those issues like no, I've committed to doing it every week. And I totally believe in honouring your commitment but it doesn't mean that you have to do it every week until you die. If your situation changes, you can change. We have permission to change, you can decide whatever direction you choose. I wanted to quote Dr. Zeus then, but I can't remember the exact quote, you know, it's out of that ‘all the places we'll go’. Oh, gosh, I've read that book so many hundreds of times to my kids and now I can't quite remember but you know, the one where it's like you go left you go right like you, you can see yourself any direction you choose. Anyway, something along those lines. But you can and I want you to remember that just because you started something one way, if there's a better way to do it change. Stop, morph, change. Because that's what's going to, that's what's going to keep you good. That's what's gonna keep you ahead of your competition. That's what's gonna keep people wanting more because it's always fresh and it's always changing and you're going you know what, this is what I think that we need next. And so that's what we're going for. So follow your dreams and do whatever it is that you want to do, is my is my biggest one for you.

Okay, so nice and short and sweet today. I want to say thank you for listening for 100 episodes. I know there is a lot of people that have been listening since the beginning. And it blows my mind. And it fills me with so much gratitude for you that you tune in each and every week, on the weeks that I do make it which is nearly every week. And you know, you leave such great feedback and you share it with your friends. I mean, I can't tell you how many people I've spoken to who said, “Oh I love your podcast”, and I go “How did you initially find it?” And the answer is 99% of the time, such and such a friend told me I should listen to this episode.

Like it's amazing. So for all of you beautiful listeners that have shared it with friends, I want to say thank you so much. Because I do this for you, you know is there's no doubt about it. The podcast now is a lovely way to talk to people to build a relationship to share knowledge that will then inevitably lead to my products with Her Empire Builder. So it is a sales funnel. And that's never anything that I'm going to hide from you because you know, you know! But at the same time podcasts takes a huge amount of effort. It takes a lot of effort to plan, to record, to get people to repurpose the content to publish it, to transcribe it, to create the cover images for it, for all the photos that go on, for the liaising with interviews and all of the different things that we do. And we do that and and we do that, you know, I always find podcasts are so amazing with the amount of knowledge that you can get from someone for free. And I do it because I love it. And I love being able to share that. But if there was no one to share it to, then it wouldn't be all that much fun. So if you do want to leave any feedback on the podcast, I would be so incredibly grateful if you could leave a review for it. I would also be grateful if you are listening to the podcast if you can share it on your Instagram story and tag me @tina_tower. Or if you want to go the next thing and you are a regular podcast listener, can you email me [email protected] because I'd love to hear from you. I know a lot of podcast listeners I know, and I look at the stats every week and I go “who are these hundreds and hundreds of people?” If that's you, can you let me know and introduce yourself because I want to know who you are.

Anyway, Happy 100th episode of 'Her Empire Builder' and thank you so much for listening.

Thank you for listening to this episode of her Empire Builder. If you loved it, please share it on Instagram and Facebook for your friends. And if you really want to deliver me smile, you can pop a review on iTunes. I'd love to hear from you. So if you have any questions, email me at [email protected] and if you want to know more about what we do, head over to tinatower.com. Now I truly hope this podcast gives you so much value and you can use it to dream big, plan well and take massive action in building your very own Empire, that’s just for you.