HER EMPIRE BUILDER PODCAST

HELPING YOU TO SHARE YOUR GIFTS WITH THE WORLD

Join business coach Tina Tower as she explore's how to build your empire by packaging your expertise into online courses, speaking, content, podcasting and credibility.

Tina has over 14 years of experience in starting, building and selling companies, she's a speaker, teacher, mumma and traveller. She's unapologetic about living an intentionally big life and if you want too, this show is designed to show you many different options to help you gain clarity over YOUR version of awesome.

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Show Transcription: 

Ep166 Adventures Back Out In The World

Hi friend, and welcome back. I have had a couple of weeks off the podcast after I finished my “Tina's Travel is Back Tour” [laughs]. So I got back on the weekend from five weeks away. I went on the most epic trip. I think when I got the idea that travel was back, I got a little carried away. I got a little bit excited and just kept adding on to the trip. I was like, well, I may as well do that, because it has been such a long time in between epic trips. I went to LA, then Palm Springs, Sedona, Costa Rica, Miami, Cabo Mexico, Orange County, and then finished off in Fiji. So what I want to share with you in today's episode is about the trip.

So, you know, you're not going to get that many business tips in this one, but just about the trip and how that worked, and how it worked from a business point of view with, you know, the work that I did while I was away. I launched while I was travelling, I ran a retreat, I was a participant in a retreat, I caught up with so many people, and I just want to share that experience with you because I know there's a few people that are still, you know, you may be trepidatious about travelling again or wondering if that's even possible. I can't even tell you the amount of messages I got while I was travelling about how it works when I leave family and when I leave team and how I keep the business running and if I took a break, or if I didn't take a break, and all of that sort of thing. So I'm going to run you through all of that because, I mean, really the reason that we run our own business is so we have the freedom and flexibility. In the absence of that for two years, oh, I was getting itchy, real itchy, that it felt so good to remember why I work so hard. To remember the beautiful life that we get to live as a result of this business that we get to build and the people that we get to serve and how we can actually do that from anywhere. So it felt wonderful to be back out living the laptop life, and, you know, I was a bit out of practice with the travel game and so I'll share a few stories from that. So if you're interested in any travel stories, stay tuned.

Hi, friend. I'm Tina Tower, Business Strategist and digital online empire builder. I've been in business since I was 20 years old and have since built and sold four businesses. I started in the world of online courses in 2017 and grew to a seven figure annual turnover in just under two years. To say I love the game of business is an understatement. I'm a world traveller, a mamma, a wife, a best selling author, and I love the freedom that we have to create the business and life that we want to live. It takes courage to break the rules and shake things up and do it your way. Through Her Empire Builder I share my experience and bring you lessons from some of the world's best to help you dream big, plan well and take massive action. It is absolutely possible to run a thriving, growing business that positively impacts the world and have a beautiful personal life without hustling and working yourself into exhaustion. I want that for you. Let's enjoy the journey my friend.

So I feel nothing but lucky that I actually got to do the trip [laughs] that we just planned. So our retreat, which we had in Palm Springs, it was scheduled for March 2020 and so I was in the US two days before starting to run the retreat when we got the email to get on a plane and turn around and come back home. I have been waiting ever since that moment to make it up to those members to run that retreat and to be back again. When we rescheduled it, of course, there was a part that was going, gosh, is this going to come off? Like, is it going to work or are we going to be filled with disappointment again? I do think that, you know, the pandemic really did condition us to be okay [laughs] with disappointment and kind of go, my theory was I'm going to proceed as if everything is going to be okay, and then at the moment, like, at the time that it doesn't become okay, I'll then, like, implement our contingency plan and find option B.

So I was, I had my fingers so firmly crossed. I mean, obviously, there was a resurgence of Covid again just before we were coming. So my trip was supposed to start in Tasmania for my friend's birthday party which had also been postponed and re-planned several times and her daughter got Covid the day before I was supposed to leave, so she had to cancel all of that, which was devastating. Then I went into full nervousness going, oh my gosh, like, the pressure of if I get Covid and can't travel, all of these people are travelling from all around the world to come to this retreat. Oh, it was nerve racking. So, you know, I was kind of in this limbo-land of just fingers so firmly crossed, and not actually, and I know, a lot of the ladies that came on our retreat felt the same. No one actually believed that we could do it until we were there.

So, you know, it was this, it was a really weird build up, because it was kind of, like, all the preparation that goes into being away. So I was going for five weeks and there has to be a huge amount of preparation with that, in terms of, like, things ready for the business, things ready for home, things ready for my family, all of the admin, everything, like, there's so much that goes into being on the road. So planning all of that, whilst in the back of my mind constantly going, gosh, is it going to be, like, am I just going to end up in a pool of crying, going, I can’t go [laughs].

So when I got to the airport and checked into that flight and got through to the other side, it was not even that point, actually, and then we got on the plane, because, I went to Fiji in January, that was our first trip back. We got on the plane and then they cancelled the flight and we had to get off the plane again. So there was all this going on in the back of my mind going, until I'm in the air [laughs] on the way, I don't believe this is real.

So, you know, I was just so prepared for Covid to strike me down at at any point. I mean, even as I travelled, I had half a little suitcase filled with medication to look after myself when I got it. I had prepared so many things because we had a launch happening while I was away as well, that if I did get it during launch, that everything was pre-written, pre-done. Like, I had fallback plans for things in case I couldn't perform. I don't know how I have dodged it. I did nine flights altogether. You know, there's so many people. I went into bars and pubs and yeah, I was out in the world. So I'm like, I bet you now that I'm back, I'm gonna get it at, like, the local supermarket. We'll see how we go.

Leaving was hard. I mean, I was pretty conditioned. I am a traveller and, you know, if you've been with me for a long time, you know that I travel a lot normally, so I was pretty used to, and the kids are pretty used to, the routine of, you know, Mums gone for a couple of weeks, this is what we're going to do, and all of that sort of thing. Having not left for two years there was that real, um, yeah, like, just hard, yeah, it was hard, but for them, this was the interesting thing, and I have a lot of Mums always ask, you know, how do you leave the kids, and when they were young, it was really hard. The thing that I have learned is I love travel. I'm super unapologetic about that. I love to have space. I love the creativity. I love letting my imagination run wild. I love being exposed to different cultures and languages and ideas and bigger picture thinking, and there’s, you know, that just doesn't happen in the four walls of my office when I do that every day. Like, it's just routine for me, it helps me function well and productively, but it doesn't bring my highest self. It doesn't, you know, get all of those ideas percolating and overflowing and that fountain of energy that I don't get anywhere else other than when I travel. So I really, really know that I need that.

You know, when the kids were little, like two and three-ish, and I'd go away for a week or two by myself, I would always get wracked with guilt. Like, wracked with guilt and think, gosh, what an awful mother I am wanting to leave my family and being selfish to go and stay on my own, and all of that sort of thing and then say, you know what, I'm a great Mum [laughs]. It's nothing that I I need to defend to anyone but I had to work it out in my own mind, and go, you know what, I can give my all when I'm here and I'm even better because I get filled up and I get really energised and I get excited. It was hard, like the two coexist together. I’m simultaneously, when I've travelled previously, having the absolute time of my life, whilst still having an aching heart about missing my family. The two can coexist at one time. Just because you travel doesn't mean you don't love your family. The same as, you know, I don't believe in the martyrdom of going, well, I have a family so I have to stay home and I can never go and chase my dreams. Like, I don't want to be that person so I can do both at one time. You can do both at one time.

The interesting thing of this trip was my boys are now 12 and 14 and so, they were kind of okay. So usually when I FaceTime them, when I'm away, like, you can see the pain in their faces. They're like going, I miss you Mum, like, please come back. So I only usually do, like, one or two FaceTimes the whole time I'm away because when they were young, especially Mat, my husband would say, look, it's better if you just don't call because then, you know, it's brought to the forefront of them missing you whereas when there's no correspondence, it's like they just get on with life, but this time, we spoke every single day, because they were like, yeah Mum, go set the world on fire. Go have fun, like do it up. I'm off to the surf, see-ya, like, they were just totally fine. That was bittersweet. It was kind of like, oh, shit, that whole era has ended now. They also got so much of me after the two years that they were like, when I came back especially, they were like, the house was so empty without you, like, it was so just quiet and we’re happy to have that back. I know when I left, everyone was like, oh, we can chill out for a bit here, like, Mum’s gone. So yeah, it's an interesting balance but leaving for me this time was harder than it was for them. So I mean, the upside of that is, I can travel a lot more now. So that's okay.

Yeah, so I got to the airport, I had all the things. I mean, even, granted, when we travelled around the world in 2018, with the family we went to 28 countries and I got laughed at the whole way because most people that are world travellers and frequent to travel can travel really light. So my friends, I've got one girlfriend that I travel really well with. We both are addicted to travel and so she's my person that we kind of go away with, she travels really light. There's a lot of friends that I go on trips with that travel, like, with a carry on bag, and that's it. Anyway, even when I travelled around the world, I had two huge suitcases, plus a backpack, plus a handbag and this trip because I was running the retreat, I had a whole lot of, like, the workbooks and the props and gifts and all of that sort of stuff. So I had three suitcases. So I looked like a bit of a comedy sketch walking through the airport wheeling three suitcases. I had two hats on my head, my backpack, like, a canvas tote thing filled with other stuff and my handbag. Like, I was decorated like a Christmas tree but for me, I would rather have everything that I need. So I'm happy to carry things but it’s, I just, I just have never been able to do the whole carry on bag thing.

Anyway, my first stop was LA. So I got to LA and immediately as I walked out of the airport was just like, oh my god, I'm here. I cannot believe I made it, like, we're back here. So I hired a car. I got given, like, this, think of a car, like, a gangster looking car and I go, oh yeah, and drove out of the airport on my way to the hotel in Hollywood. So the place I love to stay is called the London Hotel. It's my second favourite LA hotel, the Beverly Hills Hotel is my favourite but man, oh man, is it expensive. So I've only ever stayed there once and every time I go to LA I look at staying there again and I’m like, I can't do it.

Anyway, the London Hotel is exceptional. So I went there and as I drove, like, I was about 10 minutes in and already I'm driving on the opposite side of the road sitting on the different side of the car. With, all the cars in America are so big. So, like, everyone's zooming past me and I'm trying to figure out which lane you go in to turn and it's just all, it's all, you know, the sensors are overloaded, which is exactly what I wanted. Then this rock flicks up and cracks the whole windscreen. Like, I've got this car, like, the next three week, there’s a crack in the windscreen straight across it.

Anyway, get there, loved that. I stayed there for the night so that I could get over any jet lag and then the next morning, drove out to Palm Springs, and Palm Springs, the place could be a spirit animal. Oh my gosh, I love Palm Springs. If you follow me on social media, you know, I love Palm Springs. Like, I just cannot wait to go back there again, already. I've booked our retreat there again for March next year in 2023 and I just cannot wait. That will be the only one. I’ll then find a new place in the US but I just needed to do it one more time. It's just the best and, you know, even when I got there and walking down the streets, like I'd only been away, and this is the benefit of taking space. I know a lot of people seem to find it really hard to take space for themselves. It's either the guilt that overcomes or you feel selfish, or whatever that is, but after, like, so far, not even 72 hours, I reckon it was, like, 48 hours, and just looking up and being in the clouds and being by myself as well, so I could let my thoughts all run wild and not be interrupted and just feel like I could disappear from the world a little bit. I could just feel, like, the world of possibilities open back up again. I mean, I was walking down the street, and I saw this, oh my gosh, the architecture.

Oh, I’m just, I'm so in love with that, but I was walking down the street and saw this house for sale. I'm like, oh my gosh, it's divine. Like, I wonder what it would take to own that house. So I look it up and I ring the real estate agent and it's $6 million. I'm like, okay, okay, small issue, don't have $6 million, also can't buy a property in the US, but I'm like, how could you make that happen? So I'm just walking down the street going, okay, well, you know, I might have 60 friends that could all put in, you know, $100,000 and different money, and the return on investment is great because you rent it out for $5,000 a day. You know, like, my mind's just going, but when I was walking down the street thinking of that, I'm going, oh my gosh, like, I haven't thought like that in a long time. Where I'm like, what are the possibilities? Like, let my imagination run wild with different ideas. Not ideas I'm necessarily going to act on or not ideas that are realistic in any way, shape, or form, but just let it go. Let it run wild, let it think, what if, how could that work? What is the possibility of that? Like, imagine a whole different reality, that you've just kept yourself in the same reality for so long, because that's the box that you've put yourself in. That’s why I love travel, because oh my gosh, I jump way out of that box and I let my mind go crazy. So it’s just, it's expensive. It really, really is and so I felt like that.

I then had the most beautiful photo shoots. So Claire, who is my photographer here, in my local area, I flew her across, which you know, was very expensive to pay someone's flights and accommodation and travel and meals and everything in between, but what I wanted was, to me having a photo shoot in Palm Springs was so important. I really wanted all of the images both for my social media, and I want to redo my website with the whole Palm Springs vibe because I'm obsessed, obviously, but it was important. So I didn't want to risk it on a photographer that I didn't know so I flew Claire across. We actually did photo shoots for each other. So we kind of did half me and then I turned to the camera and did the other half on her because I wanted her to get some great photos as well. It was amazing and I can't wait to start sharing all of those photos with you because I wanted to share a heap of them when I was there but the time just got away from me. So, anyway, you're going to be seeing Palm Springs for, like, the next six months. I'm going to relive it again and again and again. So that was really cool.

Then finally we got to run the retreat. So to do the retreat, I had booked this incredibly bougie house. It just was a dream of mine. It was a dream of mine to be able to have that beautiful house and have that space that people could come to and just have that expansion. Think differently, imagine the different possibilities when they were getting so loved up and spoiled. I mean we had, there was only 12, and we had like the world class speakers. We had Clint Salter, who runs a multimillion dollar membership dance studio owners association. We had Heather Sager who was all about finding your voice and having the confidence to share your story and how to weave that in. We had Tiffany Lee Bymaster who was someone that I have, you know, I’ve loved and respected her work for such a long time. Now, you know, we became instant friends, which is beautiful, that having speakers of that level for just 12 people in the room where you could get their opinions and ask them questions, like, that in itself was just like, so cool. It was so cool.

We had a private chef that did all of our catering, we went out and had a sound bath. So we went out to Joshua Tree which is about an hour's drive. So that was a bit of a pain in the butt, having to drive but, you know, we went to the sound bath and I really wanted that experience. It was something that I'd seen a couple of years earlier, when I was in Palm Springs, I was like, this would be really cool to do with members. To all just lay and have that experience and people had the most trippy experiences from it. Then we went to a honky-tonk bar, like in the middle of nowhere, which was gorgeous to just have the sun setting and everyone taking their photos dancing in the sunset, and then Pappy and Harriet's which was the honky-tonk bar. Yeah, we had to wait about an hour to get in, as you have to do in a lot of these awesome places but then we finally got in there. We didn't know we were on this table at the front near the stage and there was, like, a show going to start as soon as we finished our dinner. So we finished our dinner and then, like, stayed for the first few few songs of this, like, 70 year old man and lady singing the coolest country music and I, like, oh my gosh, like this is travel, you know, where you get unexpected surprises. You're like, this is awesome. So we did that.

What else did we do at the retreat? We had hot seats. So what I like to do in small retreats, if you're ever running small retreats, is people hear a lot of me talking at them in our programs. You might run a lot of masterclasses and different things like that, that I like to, when we're on small retreats, have people get exactly what they need. So we did hot seats for everyone where they got to say, like, what they're working on, and what they're stuck on, and can get not only my opinion on that, but the opinion of the group. We have such smart ladies in Her Empire Builder, that everybody is so knowledgeable and experienced and can help give different perspectives in that as well.

Then on the second morning, because we were in such a beautiful space too and I'm so big on personal brand and marketing, we did mini photo shoots for everyone. So everyone got like a photo shoot with tonnes of images that they can use for each other. So it was, you know, it was such a success and I'm so incredibly grateful that we just got to show up first of all [laughs]. That, you know, everyone came and everyone was so different, you know, there was some people at all different levels of business. As always, there's always people there that are like, am I good enough to be here? Like, this is really intense. You know, so we go through so many different emotions while we're there. There's just so much growth that comes out of small retreats that, you know, I just love them.

So, we've got Uluru next, I can't wait, in June for all of our members in Australia, and then we’ve got Palm Springs again next March. So if you're a member get on those. If you're not a member, we open doors again in October. So if you join in October, you'll get an invite to the retreat that's happening in March until we sell out of those tickets. So not everybody gets to come, it's first in best dressed.

So after Palm Springs, I had, I’d booked into a retreat in Costa Rica with a lady called Jill Stanton who I did a 12 week business coaching stint with last year and loved her. She was putting together this retreat for millionaire women. So, women that make more than a million dollars a year to come together for this retreat. When she released it, like, mid last year, like July, August, we were in lockdown at the time, and there was no, like, hope on the horizon, that there was any chance that I could make it to Costa Rica, like six months later, but of course, I wanted to try and I didn't want to miss out on the opportunity. So I was like, you know what? I'm gonna book in. I knew it's non refundable. I'm putting all my eggs in the basket, and just with the hope that I'm going to be able to go there.

So I'm just so grateful that we got to go there but I had, in between Palm Springs and Costa Rica starting, like, three days. So I went up to Sedona for that three days. I'd always wanted to go there and see the mountains. It's right on the edge of the Grand Canyon. So it was this six hour drive from Palm Springs to Sedona, which in itself was like an experience [laughs]. We're driving along and I hadn't done the conversion from miles per hour to kilometres per hour and so we're driving along and, you know, we hit like 100 miles per hour and there's cars screaming past me. I'm going, gosh, this feels fast, even in my tank of a gangster car this feels fast. Then I, like, pulled in at the petrol station and Googled on my phone 100 miles per hour to kilometres. I'm like, that was like 145 [laughs]. Like, no wonder it felt fast, it’s dangerous. That, you know, you’ve got to drive with everybody else or it's even more dangerous. So that was crazy.

Then I got to Sedona and stayed in the most beautiful Airbnb that was, like, this little apartment that was at the highest point in Sedona. So it had this magnificent view with the sunset and a little fire pit and everything like that. It was hot when I got there. So it was about 40 degrees celsius, and I was like, okay, well, this is warm, but you know, we're in the desert. Then the next morning I woke up, I'm like, it’s a bit brisk and I had to drive to the airport, Grand Canyon Airport, which was about 40 minutes away and I got in the car and started driving. As I'm driving up the hill, like not a mountain, it wasn't super steep. It was just like, you know, driving up a little hill, and there’s cars coming down the other way with snow on the windscreens and I’m going, what? Like, I was so confused. I’m like, what? Yesterday was 40 degrees. Like it does feel like it's a little bit cooler now but, what? Anyway, keep driving. Literally 10 minutes later, a snowstorm starts. So like everything got whited out and snow is just pelting down on the windscreen and I'm not used to driving in another country, let alone through the snow. Let alone being so frickin confused at, what, wasn't it really hot? Just, I was so confused. So, like, I pulled over at the side of the road just to get out of the car and just soak up the moment for a little bit. Like, I'm twirling around at the side of the road with the snow pouring down.

Cars are driving past, like, just looking at me, like, what? This lady's crazy because not only was I twirling around in the snow at the side of a highway but I was also, like, in a t-shirt and I had a light cardigan on because that's all I took. I was only going to warm tropical places so I didn't have a snow jacket and was there going, oh, this is brisk. I mean, obviously Tina, it was a snowstorm. So I Googled on my phone because everything was coming up in Fahrenheit, so I Googled on my phone and it was -1 degrees and I'm going what? How does it change like in 24 hours from 40 degrees to -1. Like that is crazy.

Anyway, drove the rest of the time through the snow to the airport, and then went and had an overnight in Dallas airport on my way to Costa Rica. So I got to Costa Rica, and oh my gosh, like it's, I was a little, um, you know, I didn't know what to expect. I mean, realistically, Jill had such an easy job because she could have done anything and everyone would have been stoked, because we were just away, but man, oh man, did she blow everyone's socks off.

So we went there. It was life changing. Like it was a life changing few days. It was just, like, every woman that was there was so awesome. There was no, like, I find when you are in a group where everyone's very successful, there’s no facade. Like, you know, you go to some business groups or different things and you, people have, have a bit of like, their armour on. Like they have their facade. They have a bit of bravado in going, you know, everyone wants to make themselves, like, kind of look good. Like, no one wants to show their real selves because, like, they want everyone to think that they're doing well, like, all of that sort of thing. When you're in places where everyone's just like, super successful, there's nothing to prove and so everyone was just so come as you are, just take me as I am. Like, everyone was just so themselves and settled into that, like, raw vulnerability straightaway, which was just so beautiful. It was the most incredible experience. I mean, we spent the first day all out on a catamaran sailing around and having the most beautiful food and drinks.

Then the next day, the next day, oh my gosh, like what an emotional roller coaster this day is right? So we went, drove an hour on a bus like through into the jungle, and then went jungle canopying. So, we could go zip-lining which I think probably half the people said that they would do. I said I would do it because I'm a, like, yes person. I'm like, I want the experience. I want different things, even though I'm petrified of heights. Like, I don't like it. I used to push myself for lots of things when I was younger. Then last time I went bungee jumping I'm like, you know what? This isn't for me anymore. I am no longer available for high things. However, when you're in Costa Rica, you want to go zip-lining and I thought zip-lining would be fun.

Zip-lining was fun. I liked zip-lining across there but the bit I did not like was we got to this gorge and it's like deep, deep down, and all that there was, was, like, this rope hanging in between these two giant rocks. So they just clip you to this rope and they’re like, swing to the other side. I’m like, no. Like, no, no, nope not swinging to the other side, but we’d zip-lined to this little rock. So we’re, like, 10 of us standing on this rock with nowhere to go but swing across to the other side. So I was first in the line, and I couldn't go first and Liz, this awesome woman, went across first and just, like, embraced it. Like, there was no fear there. She was just like, yeahhhhh. Meanwhile, I’m, like, shaking like a leaf and so I had to go next because otherwise, I mean, I think I would have passed out. I don't know what I would have done. So I had to go next and went across and screamed like this most blood curdling scream. So embarrassing but I thought, like, this may be it for me. I may die here and now.

Anyway, we did that, finish that then went and got massages. So you know, going from high to low, like, talk about a workout for your nervous system and then we go and get back on the bus again to go back to the hotel, and Jill surprises us all with helicopters back to the hotel. I'm like, oh, my gosh. Like, oh my gosh. So we get into the helicopter and take off and we’re all losing our minds. There's no, like, yes, this is just how we roll. Today, everyone was just like, oh my god, what is this life? This is the best thing ever. We're so lucky. Like, we're all just crying and hugging each other and just, it was just beautiful.

So that was like, that was a day, right? That was, like, a big day and then on the third day, the last day of it, we had a business medium, who was one of the participants there, Andrea, and she, oh my god, she changed my world. I mean, I might do a whole episode just on that later because I'm conscious I've already been talking for half an hour, but it was one of the most life changing experiences I've ever had and she did that in, like, 15 minutes. Yeah, I'm still making sense of it but it was amazing because I am, I'm a little woo but I'm pragmatic. Like I'm very systems based. I'm very, like, results driven. I'm very, you know, you want to get lucky, you want to manifest something, you work your arse off and as time has gone on, especially in the last 12 months, I've really started opening myself up a lot more to the universe and opening myself up to the magic and, you know, not being so tight with my control and making sense of everything. So it's an interesting journey that I'm going on, but I will, I'll do a session, (ah like a session), I'll do an episode later on that, because I'd really love to share it with you. I think you'd get a lot of value out of everything that happened in that.

So that was Costa Rica. Then we left Costa Rica and I went to Miami. So by that stage, I was getting ready to launch. So I was, you know, running a launch whilst travelling is challenging [laughs] because, you know, there's so much other things going on, but the good part was I couldn't obsess over it like I normally do, I had to let it flow a lot more. So I was trying to plan the launch at the same time so I went and stayed with my my friend Clint, and you know, I got to stay in his home, which was lovely, and we went out every day and then I started the launch while I was there. So I would then, like, at night just from 7pm to kind of 10:00pm, 11:00pm, run all my live sessions and all my calls and all of that sort of thing. So it was like living this double life; I could play in the day and work at night and just had these two things coexisting which was just beautiful and a really nice balance to be able to do it, but I'm going, like, even running, we were running the challenge while I was at Clint’s house and going, normally like everything's so set up so perfectly. You know, I have my two screens and I have my light boxes and I have my webcam and I have like all my notes and everything's like a real big deal, but I was running out from the corner of his lounge room on my laptop, like, just kind of put into the corner and I didn't have good lighting with me, and so, but it got done and it was amazing and it converted so well and everyone had such a good time and got so much value. I think it was because I was so relaxed about it. That in a lesson in itself was so good.

Then, after I left Miami, I had, so the reason that I stayed was because I had Costa Rica booked in and then I was speaking for my friend Dale at his conference in Fiji and we had the launch booked in, in between. So I knew by that stage, I will have been away for three weeks. So I was going, my initial plan was to come home and then go to Fiji with the family but I knew I'd get home and everyone would be like, oh, Mum's back, like, let normal life return and launch is anything but normal life. You know, it’s, it's full on. There’s, there's a lot of things going on. Like, there’s, there's a higher volume of work than there normally is, and so I didn't want to get home and be like, hi guys, um, I'll be in my office, see you next week kind of thing. So I was like, it's easier than going home and behaving like that. It's easier to just stay away. So I was like, well, I've got this week in between Miami and being in Fiji and still launching, where do I want to launch from? So I literally looked everywhere to go, where is gonna give me good energy, where is gonna to be a really beautiful space, all of that sort of thing, and I settled on Cabo.

So we went to, I went to a place in Cabo that was gorgeous. It was like all these white buildings with bright blue doors and pink Bougainvillea and yellow hammocks and, like it was, it was so much more beautiful in real life than the pictures that I had seen, so I was super stoked about that, and smashed the launch. We had the best launch we have ever had and I think it was because I had the good energy. I had come fresh off Costa Rica, fresh off seeing Clint in Miami, and I was feeling so good and so expanded and just wanting to serve and wanting to help other women have this life that I'm so lucky to have, and knowing that the only reason I get to live it is because of the business that I run and the way that I serve people and the way that I show up and the dedication that I have, and wanting to help you do the same thing as that. So it was great to be able to do it and insane. Like I was running one webinar, and I'm sitting there at my laptop, looking out over the water. Like I had 180 degree ocean views and a whale is like 200 metres away, jumping up and breaching right in front of me. I'm like, oh, my god, trying not to, like, loose my mind while on the webinar. I'm going, like, that's just different to sitting in my office. Like it's just different but I'm surprised I didn't turn into an avocado with all of the guacamole that I had eaten but it was incredible.

So getting to run launch from there was beautiful and, you know, even engagement wise, the engagement in a launch. Normally going into launch mode engagement will dip slightly. Like, story views will go down different things because you're going into sales mode, and so, for some people, they're like, you know what, I'm going to switch off while this fire hydrant of marketing is happening but because I was travelling engagement actually went up. My engagement actually went off too. So it was just, you know, I got back and I said, you know what, I think the only natural, logical thing to do now is just travel every launch. So there's that, and I'm serious. I think that's what I'm going to do.

So I did that and then after Cabo, I called into Orange County for a couple of days. I went to the Kajabi office there. So Kajabi, the software that I use has their HQ there and we're doing a couple of projects together that will unfold over the coming months, which I am kind of pinching myself about, but we've got that coming up so I was going to meet with the team there. Then finally it got to Good Friday and whilst I had travelled and obviously had the time of my life, I worked every single day. There was not a day that I didn't have work to do. So I crammed as much as I could in and you know, early in the morning, late in the evening was spent on emails, on videos, on calls, on all of that sort of thing. So, having gone from one place to another place and had like the most incredible experiences and more emotion and energy than I'd had in the last year, I finally got a day where I didn't have anything on and I slept all day. Like, I just laid in bed and watched corny Hallmark Christmas movies and, like, my favourite was the Hallmark movie Rescuing Ruby which was this beautiful, beautiful movie about, anyway, it's not important what Rescuing Ruby was about, it was all about, like, just having a day to just relax and do nothing.

Then I went from there to, you know, it’s just, actually before I got off Orange County, like, it's one of my favourite places. I stay at this place on the boardwalk at Newport Beach and it's such an eclectic place. Like I find a lot of the time in Australia, we have a lot of sameness. So there's, you know, people don't embrace their individualism like they do in the US and I just love being in that environment and going, like, anything goes. Like, you can just really embrace who you are and show up like that and just, everyone's like, yeah, you do you, like, go for it. I was sitting at this bar, like, I was leaving at 10:00pm that night and so I was, like, I had to check out of my hotel at 12:00pm, and so I just, like, hung out at this bar that was looking out over the boardwalk. So I could watch all the people go past and they were blaring country music, like, I mean, blaring. You couldn't even hear the person next to you. Like, you had to mouth things to order things and the energy in the place, like, people having the time of their lives, and people walking past the front and just dancing as they walk past. Like, I'm going, oh my gosh, like, this is everything I love about travel.

So I went from there and then finally got to Fiji and reunited with my family. So they flew across and we met there together so that we could do the conference together for Business Blueprint and it was lovely to jump up on the stage there. I did two keynotes while we were there, and, you know, the boys got to see me speak, which they haven't. So yeah, it was really nice to be able to share that with them and be reunited, but I think, you know, now that I've gotten home, like, it's so good to be back. It's so good to be back to all the creature comforts. Not good having the “to do list” coming out of my butt. Not good having the mountain of mail and being back to reality but now I've joined a mastermind in the US. So every three months, I'll just be going back because I know that it's something that I need and my whole message with this episode is really take what you need. Like, if you need something to perform well in business, in life, go do it. Like, show up fully as you and really embrace that.

So that's my travel story. That was my adventures. I hope that it, I hope that it inspires you to take some massive action yourself. That is my, that is my big goal with it. It is a big, big, beautiful world that we live in and it's back. We get to go out in it, we get to expand our minds, we get to have different experiences and, you know, this whole life is for living and going how can we, how can we have a more enriched experience? How can we deliver more value to the world and experience joy while we're doing it? So get out there. Have the best time and I will see you next week. Next week we're going into book month. I'm talking all about book publishing. So if you've got an idea to publish a book or you want to market a book, you are going to love the next four episodes. Have the absolute best day.

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Her Empire Builder. If you loved it, please share it on Instagram for your friends and be sure to tag me @tina_tower so I can say thank you and if you really want to deliver me smiles, you can pop on review on Apple podcasts. I would love to hear from you so if you have any questions at all, email me at [email protected] and if you would like to work with me further all of the free resources and my courses can be found at www.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. Have the greatest day.