The Rising’s Growing Together Podcast - She Had the Successful Life… So Why Did She Walk Away? | Serena

Episode Date: September 27, 2026

She had the successful business, the money, the holidays and the career she had worked incredibly hard to build.So why did she walk away?In this episode of The Rising’s Growing Together Podcast, we sit down with Serena to talk about what happens when the life you've worked so hard to create isn't actually the life you want anymore.Serena built and sold her own recruitment business, moved from the UK to Hungary with her young daughter, stepped away from the traditional career path and eventually built a life around the things she genuinely loves: travel, fitness, motherhood and freedom.We talk about:• Redefining what success actually means• Money vs time when you have children• Why having it all doesn't necessarily mean doing it all• Walking away from a successful business• Building a fitness business around busy women• The reality behind running an Airbnb• Creating income around your lifestyle• Travel, motherhood and taking your children around the world• Network marketing and the freedom it can create• Why consistency matters more than overnight success• Learning to switch off when you're your own boss• Boundaries, people pleasing and knowing when to say no• And what it really means to build a life on your own termsThis is a conversation about ambition, freedom, motherhood, money and figuring out what you actually want your life to look like.Because success doesn't have to look the way you were told it should.

Hi guys, welcome back to an episode of the pod with me, Billy. And me, Charlotte. And today we have a very special guest. We have Serena with us. And I'm really excited. We've actually had this on the cards for a while, trying to like pin down dates and stuff. So I'm really glad.

Yes. Really glad we managed to do it. But yeah, like I say, I think we've all been surviving summer. Yeah. And now September's in full swing, even though it's not cooled down. No. But we won't complain. No.

But at least now we have a bit more of a routine. We're in a routine. We love routine. Yeah. Yeah, it's essential. Yeah, no, I'm glad we've been able to make this work. I mean, I think one of the main reasons I really wanted you to come on is because I think the audience will really relate to a lot of what's going on. And yeah, you've got a very busy life. But I think more than anything, what impression you've given me from what I've seen online and coming to our events is just that you seem to really live life and you've created a life kind of on your. your terms and something that you like really enjoy so that's kind of what I want to dive into yeah great yeah so um before we kick off we ask all of our guests what is one phrase or motto that you're living life by right now oh gosh there's quite a few right um giving to us we love a quote well it's funny actually because my niece got this one into me which is yolo yeah so you know you only lived once it pringed didn't we i feel like everyone was like you're like Yola.

Yeah. But it's so true. But it's, you know, I'm not saying it. I never say it. No one's ever heard me say it. But I do believe very much in. Yeah. We are literally only here once.

We do not know how long we've got. Today could be our last, you know, you don't know. Yeah. So get everything you can out of life. Yeah. So, yeah. I think I have to remind myself more of that. Because we take life so seriously.

Seriously. So seriously, you know, and I, like all of us get stressed, worked up over. things that actually aren't that important and sometimes don't prioritize the things that are and prioritise the things that aren't. But yeah, you know, just I guess being more conscious about trying to get all the good things and trying to put the rubbish, unimportant things to one side. Yeah. No, definitely. I think that's something everybody can live by and should, like, say, remind themselves because we do fall out of that habit. But yeah, I think something that goes with that as what I always remind myself is if it's not going to matter in five years,

don't waste more than five minutes thinking or worry about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. That's a good one. I like that one. But it definitely comes off of what I see of your life anyway. Yeah. Yeah. Well, trying. Talking about that, how much of the life that you live now is something that you've intentionally created and how much of it is kind of just happened. Where do you think it's six. Oh, that's a good question. You're going to be asking me loads of questions. I've never thought about it. I've never thought about this in my life, but no, I'm the pressure. I would say over the last four or five years, maybe a bit more, to be honest, I left, I moved away from England to live in Hungary. I lived in Hungary for six years in

Budapest. And before I left England, I sold my business. I had a recruitment company and I worked very, very, very hard. I worked a lot of hours and when I knew I was leaving it was kind of a case of I need to sell it because if I don't sell it, I will literally probably not have a business left. So at that point, I was having a baby,

I was pregnant and it was kind of like, okay, I don't want to carry on working life at that pace. Yes. So I then started to sort of maneuver into a bit of a different lifestyle which was a bit slower pace. I didn't really want to go back to working for somebody else full time. I knew that.

I definitely didn't want to do that, but it was kind of building something that wasn't loads of pressure, but I could fit around life and being a mum. So I would say probably since having my daughter eight, nearly nine years ago, was when I knew what I didn't want, how to get to what I did want.

I didn't really know, but I knew, yeah, that sort of building a life a bit more on my terms. Of course, when I had my business, I had a good lifestyle, I had lots of holidays and did loads of stuff, but I also worked bloody hard, you know, 12, 14 hour days, every day. It was hard work.

So that was really the point where I knew I wanted something different. Yeah, I think kids will do that to you. I agree. Yeah, yeah, definitely. And just remember having that experience of okay, it's not that it was a bad experience. I worked hard and I got to where I wanted to, you know, but I don't want to do that again. No, yeah, 100%. Well, I think it's just phases of life.

I feel like I've done it. I feel like I've grinded in my 20s. And even when I had my first son for a good couple of years after, really grinded to the point now that, yeah, I've worked kind of my way up, like the corporate ladder, to a point where I have a good job, leadership role, but it's not as intense as it was beforehand. It's more responsibility and things like that,

but in a different way. It's a different kind of pressure. Because, yeah, the long days, the long hours, that's not sustainable. I think it's great to experience. and it gives you a lot of skills. Yeah, totally. But then, yeah, it's time for a change.

What made you choose Hungary? Because my daughter's father had, when we met, he'd already accepted a job there. He's Spanish. And we met in England when I was learning Spanish at a language exchange group. And he'd already accepted a job in Budapest. And he was then, we were having a long distance relationship. Something had to give. He wasn't really that keen to come back.

And I kind of felt like, do you know what? I'll give it a go. I'll choose a different life. Something completely different, which living in Hungary is a very different experience. It's not like living in Spain, you know, the language for one. And it's not, you know, here you can adapt if you don't speak Spanish in Hungary. It can be quite difficult. So yeah, I just felt like I always, I guess years ago felt like one day I would live abroad.

Yeah. And I hadn't done it. And I'd travel throughout Asia and South American. I'd like to, but they're so far away. They're so far away. And then it was like, right, this is the time. So this is the sign. Let's just sell everything and move off with a two-month-old baby.

That's brave. That's a bold way. That's brave. Sometimes the life circumstances is to take the opportunity. Yeah. Like sometimes it kind of was lining itself up to say, this is an opportunity. it's not like I'm happy in my job.

No. You know, like I'm settled and I didn't even think about it. If you had that bug to travel as well, you can't really do much apart from just go for it. No, and I just felt ready for a bit of a change. So, yeah, that was it. Luthea was born in the December. And we, she was born on December the 22nd

and then I flew out there with her on January the 8th or something. Wow. And we found another apartment to rent. and then sorted out my apartment, rented it out, and off we won. That was it. That was it. So, yeah, we were there for six, six years. Yeah. Nice.

Do you think that something in you kind of had to change in order to make that decision? Because obviously, when you're in that kind of grinding phase and you own your own business, a lot of your identity gets tied to, I'm the entrepreneur, I'm the business owner, I'm successful, and, like, decisions are made through me and a lot of kind of power and money and success. So to kind of step away from that, I've spoken to a few entrepreneurs and they really felt a sense of loss and grief when their businesses have either closed

or they've sold them or moved on. How did you navigate that? Or was it lucky that it was postpartum at the same time? No, so I sold my business deal. I think the business deal went through in the November. Oh, wow. And Lucia was born in the December. So it was actually really stressful

because it was going to, to go through, it wasn't going to go through, it was going to go through, it wasn't going to, you know, and it was kind of, you know, there were a few things, somebody left the business, the people were buying it, tried to, you know, almost wanted to perhaps try and get a better price, but I kind of, you know, stuck to my guns thinking I could lose it. It was very, being heavily pregnant and going through, it was very stressful. But no, I kind of felt like, I am all or nothing in everything I do. I am all or nothing. And it was like, I knew it was over. I've moved on, cut my ties and didn't even look back. That was it. The only thing is, I had a lovely tea.

I loved the team that I had. We had a great office, great fun, brilliant times. So they were the only things that I knew I would miss, you know, the people, really. But in terms of the business, no, I, yeah, it was just like, goodbye. Completely switched off from that kind of. Totally, completely switched off. I think I'd be a proper flip-flopper. Like, we're not the best of making decisions.

So I think, but at the same time, I've been in a point where I left a seven, year career at somewhere that I'd built up. I'd, you know, been promoted two, three times there. And I reached a point where I was like, I don't want this anymore. I need to go. Yeah. So I think when you get to that point, it's actually great to be in the decision of like, I'm comfortable. You just know, you know it's the right thing. I knew it was the right thing. I knew that I couldn't, for the life that I'd planned what we were going to do, I couldn't have that business. I knew it just, yeah, it was just look forward only. That was it. So, yeah. And then there was. Never look back since. No, not really, no, no. And of course, a tough thing as well is when you're thinking about, you know, when you have kids, it's not just actually about the hard work that you've done, it's actually about the money.

Yeah. Because of course, when you've got a business and your business is doing well, of course, you're in great money. And you then need to figure out your future life as to how can you, you know, what is important. Actually, better quality of life is perhaps going to come with less money. You know, can you manage, you know, so you have to weigh up all these things because the money is really important, especially when you've got kids, if you want to. to do, you don't just want to survive. You want to go on holiday. You want to have a nice house. You want to do all the things you want to do. You want to say yes, not no. It's thinking about the financial side of it as well. So yeah, when I was kind of turning my whole world upside down, yes, of course I had money because I sold my business, but I'd also invested that in property. It's, I didn't want to blow all that money on day to day living and holidays. So it's then finding a way to sustain your life in your new world of thinking, right, what actually am I going to do? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Again, I have all these hopes and dreams, but also how am I going to get there? Let's be really about this. Exactly. I think that's a good point that you mentioned, because we've had this kind of, probably one of the areas that we lived quite differently, whereas you were like, I can work more hours, but I've told myself for the life that I want, for how old my kids are right now, I've capped it, I'm not doing more,

I'm happy with the money that I'm earning to live the life that I want to live. When the kids are older, they don't want to hang out with me anymore, I can always earn more money. That's always been your, I can always earn it later. Yeah. Whereas I've done it a bit differently, but then, yeah, I think it's obviously we've had kids of different times and things.

It is that, I think. It's just me looking at my eldest now and just seeing how fast that time goes. How old are your oldest? 19. Yeah, okay, yeah. So, not that I didn't have a choice, but at the time I wouldn't have had a choice.

I had to do what I had to do. So now I have a bit more of a choice, then I'm going to make that, that's the decision I've made, you know? and I'm lucky that I can. But that's just from my experience. That's why I've chose to do what I've done. I don't feel like I've got that many years left

where I'm going to get that time with them. But I'm still quite young to carry on that, you know, that physical work that I need to do to earn. So, yeah, that's the same mentality really. Yeah, yeah. It's hard to leave money on the table. Yeah. But like you say, it's the toss up with the life that you

want and I think with the society that we live in especially kind of like our age it was like you can do anything you want you can have it all you know and it's like you try yeah but actually it's like something has to give somewhere otherwise you will go mad yeah um so it's it's actually i think the the biggest difference that i've found in the last few years and going from like that hustle 20s period of my life to like now is what do I want not what success I thought looked like. Like the promotion, the car, the house, the title. I was always really thinking about what title I had at work.

Whereas now it's like, yeah, you get to that point. And I feel like everyone's, or from what I've seen on social, there's a lot of people kind of at our age of realizing, yeah, what do I want out of life? What does success mean to me? What is the lifestyle that I want? Not what people think that can have to start. Success now looks for a lot of people,

like being able to pick the kids up from school. drop them off in the morning, go to events with the kids, do meet your friend for having flexibility. Exactly, having flexibility. That's what success looks like for a lot of people. Yeah, exactly. Asking out of questions and everyone is different and that's fine, but it's just being honest in that.

And where did you come to when trying to, you know, navigate what it is that you want to do? You know, all these things. So I did, because my background's recruitment, so the people who bought my business for some years, I used to just do like three days a week, two, three days a week doing business development remotely from Budapest. So I just worked there, had my little space and just did business development really. So I had a lot of flexibility and it worked well. And I did that for a good few years, to be honest. But in the end, I fell out of love with recruitment, with that whole business development.

I've done it for so long, I just completely fell out of love with it. So then I was just kind of more like, right, what can I do that doesn't involve me having to put loads of money and take loads of risk, lose loads of time, needs to ask for help from other people, what can I do? So I started to look into network marketing, which I didn't really know anything about, surprisingly. I don't know how I didn't know anything about it. And realized actually it was an industry that could utilise quite a lot of the skills I've got. It's about relationship building. It's about consistency. There is no glass ceiling.

There is no boss that you're going to, you know, you haven't got to try and get past anybody. You can do whatever you want as much as you're little. So I started looking to that. Fitness had always been something I'd done. I loved fitness. Always loved fitness. And I had a friend.

I say a friend. It was like an Instagram friend. You know how. Yeah. Yeah. Some of your best friends become, you know, never trust anybody on the internet. But actually, in the end, they become better friends and your friends.

We'll invite you to our house. Yeah, exactly. You're safe here. So somebody I knew on the internet, she was doing fitness for a company called Body, a American company, where you basically sell like a fitness package and an online fitness package

and you bring them into your accountability community. And it's a network marketing type model. You can do as much as you want, blah, blah, blah. Success is up to you. So I started to look into that. And then I joined. I joined initially for my own fitness. But then I was like, actually,

maybe this is my thing. Maybe this could work. So I did it and I actually did the workouts for quite a long time. I really enjoyed the workouts. But then over a period of time I realised there was a bit of a gap in the market. So this kind of leads us into fitness. There was a bit of a gap in the market because, yeah, people were joining, people were paying and joining, but they weren't doing the workouts because people struggle to press play on a workout.

If someone is not physically there waiting for them, they just struggle. Yeah. You know, as we know, exercise is really hard to be consistent with. A lot of people stop, start, stop, start, stop, start. They can't be consistent. And you only see, like, gains if you're consistent. Therefore, when you don't see the gains, you stop because you're not getting the wins. And it's like this whole.

Ficious cycle. Yeah. So I was like, hmm, there's a bit of a gap in the market because people need, I think, live workouts. Yeah, real interaction. Yeah, someone is there waiting for them. holding them accountable. If they don't show up, why didn't you show up? I much prefer a live class then. Yeah. I put in a YouTube video on.

Yeah. People just, and you know, people, you give more energy. If you know someone's watching you and you're working out, you kind of go from this to, you know. And you can't quit, can you? Because they can see you. Exactly. You can't just drop off because you know they're going to come for you. So I then started to kind of, yeah, think about what I could do in the fitness space that was doing live workouts and kind of trying to make that work. So that was when I started my little fitness business. Mama Ezy's Fit Club, because my surname is easy, my maiden name. Don't make any jokes because I've heard them all.

And I still get them. So that was when I, that was born, really. So I started doing live workouts at the beginning to try and find my feet to see what people wanted, didn't want. I was doing like four or five classes a day. I was literally exhausted. Exhausted. But over time, I've kind of dwindled it down to,

really the core thing, which is what people really want and what I find. I do one early workout of a morning. It's 6 a.m. GMT, 7 a.m. Central European time. It's a 30-minute workout. It's really aimed at busy women. Mums, not mums, whoever, but busy women who don't like going to the gym, haven't got time to go to the gym, have not got time in general, can do it in their spare room, in their lounge.

All you need is a few ways. It's a couple of bands. It's a 30-minute strength-based workout. It's low-impact because everyone's got dodgy knees, shoulders, backs. You know, we're all getting older. In the morning, we do a 30-minute workout, two-minute warm-up, two-minute walk, cool down, and we absolutely smash it for 26 minutes of no breaks, just grab a bit of water. And that's what it works well.

So I dropped the evening classes because people were kind of like getting from work, oh, I'm tired, oh, the kids need something. Oh, it's too, oh, I've had a terrible day. the mid-morning ones people are at work so I've just stuck with the morning class and that is my routine Monday to Friday I'm up doing my workout holding everybody accountable

and yeah it's good I love that what I want to start the day and I love that idea because that would be me if I could pick and choose when to press play I ain't going to do it no if I know that I've got to be on that that Zoom call at 6, 7 o'clock

whatever I am because you can access it wherever you are then I would be there because not only would I be letting myself done, I'd feel like I'm letting the class as out. Oh yeah, no, absolutely. So it would really make me be online and do it. And I feel like, like you say, that time is so much more realistic and it's more doable. Yeah.

I just, yeah, I think that's great. And like you say, you've had to do things to find what works best. Yeah. But now you feel like you've got to that point of this is. Absolutely. Yeah. That's a really important part of business, though, is I think a lot of people, and I was listening to a podcast when I went for a nature walk inspired by your walks in the morning. Excellent.

And someone was saying that you need to sell what people want to buy and not just what you want to do. So if you were like actually in the middle of the day is the perfect time for me to do a workout and you try to stick to it and sell it, it's not going to do as good. But actually the trial and error and the change is what works. So yeah, that is a huge part of business is the adapting and the pivoting and the learning. seeing what works for feedback and actually taking on the feedback and growing the business. Yeah. Oh no, definitely.

And, you know, we all need, we all need to work out. Yeah, it's a really unpopular opinion. We can all have excuses. And it's also another really unpopular opinion. People like have unfollowed me because I've said it isn't a excuse. Being real. Yeah, it is an excuse, you know. We do need it.

As we get older, if we want to be fit strong, able to get up, not fall over, you know, we do need workouts. we have to prioritise that time. And if that means getting up half an hour early in the morning and suffering a little bit, just to get up half an hour in the morning, we've got to do it. Yeah. Yeah.

But again, it's one of those things where it's, it's the long-term game, isn't it? 100%. So I think with exercise, that is you're either in it and you felt the goodness that comes from it because you've been consistent. Yeah. You kind of, you do prioritize it.

Yeah. Or your people like Charlotte, who... I knew I was going to go out at that time. who does... But you look like you work out. I do not work out. Really? Well, I could start heaving if I start my heart.

But there's people that like saying, you just don't prioritise it, which, you know, I think you're young enough for it not to be an issue now. But I think it's one of those things that if you want to be in your 50s and your 60s and your 70s, playing with the grandkids,

still going on holiday, long hauled flights, things like that, and feeling confident to do so, A huge part, I think, of your confidence when you are elderly comes from the ability that your body can do. Because if you are a little bit, you know, unsteady on your feet or, you know, you're not fit, then are you going to want to go across the other side of the world

when you've maybe got the money and the time to do so? But if you haven't taken care of yourself, so it is one of those things. You lose your independence. Yeah, but this is the difference. So my husband gets up every morning and he goes to the gym. That's what he does. That is like in my head, my worst nightmare. you send these about these classes, I would do that.

I would feel that I would do that. Because I'm active, but I'm not fit. Yeah. And I feel there's a huge difference with that. And I want to feel fit. Yeah. I actually would feel strong. Even there, what a way, like, even like in your side of it,

what a way to start the day. Yeah, it's a win. You know what I mean? You have won. And also, as busy women. And that's coming from me. Yeah. But as busy women actually in a whole day of what do you actually do for yourself?

Yeah. What do you get for yourselves? Yeah. Because mostly, especially if you've got kids, you don't get anything for yourself because you're probably working all day. When you finish work, you're then cleaning, cooking, sorting the kids. And by the time they've got to bed, you know. Yeah.

Yeah, you're exhausted. And there's no time for you and then you're going to bed. Yeah. So, you know, that 30 minutes in the morning before chaos kicks off, you have had a win. You have won something and you have done something for you for the day. And also, you know, people feel that exercise is only, you know, oh, it's only if you're overweight and if, oh, I'm not overweight, so don't need to do it. It's not about that. It is about strength, muscle, you know,

it's proven that you're so less likely to catch, you know, some of these to catch, to get these awful conditions that are everywhere at the moment if you do exercise. It's proven, you know. So nothing's guaranteed. Yeah, nothing is guaranteed, but anything that we can do, to help is an absolute win. Anything that, you know, if working out adds an extra five or ten years onto your life, it's absolutely worth it. It's worth it, totally.

But psychologically, starting the day on a win, and you do get that endorphin rush. Yeah. It does change your mood. Yeah. So, yeah, I'm all for it. On the topic of fitness is obviously a huge part of your fitness is your nutrition. Oh, yes.

And I, you know, stalk all the food that you make. I know you're trying to perfect your Spanish pailer at the moment. But a lot of the food that you do make, like it looks healthy, but it looks tasty. Yeah. It doesn't look boring. No. I am not the best cook.

My husband's the cook in our house, but he doesn't eat fruit and vegetables. So he'll throw some in there here and there. Token gesture. Yeah. I quite like a lot of different things, but I'm not experienced at making things. So tell me like a couple of,

like the staples of what's good when you're like at that beginning of trying to be a bit more nutritious? So for me, I focus on protein. Like high protein diet is really important because we need that for muscle. You know, people think, oh, you need to get lots of protein if you want to be a bodybuilder. No, you've got to eat a hell of a lot of protein to be like a bodybuilder. Impossible amounts. You know, you'd explode first. But high protein is really, really important. Fiber. fiber. So, you know, like your beans, pulses. So, yeah, those are the things. And also these days, you've got ChachyPT to help you with everything, everything. You know, if you put in there that you want a meal plan for someone who wants to do this or that or whatever you want or just a healthy

balanced diet, you can get a whole meal plan on a shopping list and off you go and there you go, pick it up in the supermarket, and it's done. That is a good point actually, because I have a food album on my Pinterest and I pin a lot of foods and recipes but I should never go back to them. No. The odd one I've made but yeah I'm like a screenshoter saver, not a doer

so you've got lots of ideas just to put them to practice. Exactly especially when it comes to food because not that it's completely ailing to me I can make a good couple of dishes but yeah I think just some of the ingredients like when I'm out of a restaurant I'm definitely more adventurous than

than anything that I eat at home and it's important I think for the kids especially that you, you know, eat a nice variety. 100%. I mean, I focus meat, fish, eggs, pulses and vegetables and fruit. And, you know, I do eat healthy, but I enjoy eating healthy.

Yeah, I do enjoy it. It's not like a struggle. Yes. But I'm not, you know, I follow lots of fitness people who look like they've never eaten a good meal in their life. I'm not that person. I love food. I love food. So my meals, whilst they aren't yet high in protein, high in fibre, healthy, they are tasty, they are good, they do have fat in, they do have, you know, everything in. You don't extract all the, all the good taste. No, no, no, no, no, no, absolutely.

And generally, often, not every day, of course, because you shouldn't drink every day, wash down with a nice glass of wine. Nothing wrong with that. Life's all about balance. No, it's true. I see that, actually. What was it, you posted? It was an Athloolic. Yes. Athly the lice to drink. Yeah. Perfect. No, but I think.

I think that's honest and I think the more you really enjoy the food and the workouts, the longer you can sustain it. When you're like restricting yourself, it's miserable, isn't it? Diet, dieting. Yeah, like you say, eating this food. Yeah, dieting. Miserable. You can't find good.

You can't sustain it and then you carry back on as you were and then everything returns to us it was. Just find something that is sustainable, which is a good. healthy but tasty balanced diet. So in the kind of balance of just life and all the things that you've got going on, what do you prioritise? What's your non-negotiable and what is something that you're trying to get better at?

Ooh, okay. Non-negotiable, of course, is fitness. Non-negotiable. I cannot not work out. I just feel awful. And of course, I take a break. We went on holiday. I had a week off.

But I got back at 9 o'clock on the 2. duty night and the Wednesday morning at 8 o'clock I was straight outside doing a workout because I I was ready to get back to it so you need a break every so often you do so fitness is my non-negotiable what do I need to get better at oh um god this is a good question um whether it's a habit that you want to get better at or something that you just you're into that you're learning oh you just contend and think, oh, I'm perfect. Yeah, definitely not that one. Definitely not that one.

Well, I took it Reforma Pilates recently, which I really enjoy. I think it complements the strength workouts. I wouldn't drop the strength workouts, but I feel as well as it really complements. So that I love, and I'm working hard to get better at. But no, that's not something, what would I say? I probably just need to get a bit better at switching off, because I am really bad at unwinding. switching off. I'm a very busy person

and that's definitely something and therefore I don't sleep that great because I'm always, you know, the mind is always going. So that's one thing I definitely need to work on. So maybe not enjoy some of the things that you should so much because you're not switching off. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that comes from when you're in charge of your own day and your own business. So it's probably the nature of the work that you do now. Yeah. Because, I mean, I used to be exactly the same, but I feel like I've got to a point with work where I'm better at that now.

Yeah. But again, I'm employed. Yeah. So technically, I come five o'clock. Yeah, you don't have to feel bad because I've done my hours in the day. Obviously, like the social business and my coaching and all things on the other side, yeah, that kind of goes 24-7. And so, yeah, it's definitely hard for those that run businesses.

You think, oh, I've got my own business. I pick and choose my hours, but it's actually the opposite. Real entrepreneurs are like, oh, when do I get a break? It's because you care as well. Yeah, yeah. If you didn't, then you wouldn't. You'd be in your mind. But because you're so passionate and caring about these things that are on your mind,

that's why they're there, aren't they? Yeah. You don't, as much as you don't want to care less. No. It's not. But with boundaries, it's like I don't think I don't. generation are good at boundaries. Like I'm definitely getting better like to answer that question for myself is yeah, boundaries and people pleasing like I'm not good. I say yes when I don't want to.

I push myself when I don't like need to. So yeah, I think that is boundaries is that. Yeah. But moving on to something that we have in common or we had in common because I don't have that property now is Airbnb. Yes. So you run an Airbnb rental. So I did that for 10 years. Oh, I've done. Yeah.

So cleaning. I think I'm selling next year. By the night. Well, that is the, I think, the biggest misconception. So it's all cracked up to being. Oh, you too. It really pisses me off when there's all these property like gurus out there saying, it's passive income.

Passive my fucking ass. Excuse my French. It's not. especially when you're running the business yourself. And for a long time, well, for all of it until I think the last six months, we were doing all the clean. And because it's summer rentals, you can have two, three cleans in a week. So we would have to take our son with us.

It's August heat. We're stripping beds, but cleaning the bathroom. It's a lot. So, yeah, tell us a bit more about your property business. Yeah, so I had an apartment in Birmingham. that I had a mortgage on. I'm from Birmingham. Yeah, I am.

So I had a great city. So I had a mortgage on it. So I had people, I had it rented out the whole time. But by the time I'd, it was in the mailbox. So really expensive service charges, really expensive service charges. By the time I'd rented it at, by the time I got the, paid the service charges,

something went a little bit wrong. Basically, I never made any money on it. So, yeah, okay, it was an asset because obviously, you know, you appreciate something. blah, blah, blah, blah. But then when we were starting to be here a lot more, I kind of felt like maybe there was a better option. So there was.

I sold that and with the equity that I got in it was able to buy somewhere here outright, which obviously meant no mortgage. Everything comes into my pocket. So I, yeah, I started to look around for like a property that was going to fit the budget that I had, which was, you know, this house, when I bought it, when I paid the taxes,

there was probably about five euros left. That's it, you know, that's how tight it was. It was meant to be. Yeah. But I felt like it would be a good little business to try. So I had nothing to lose because if I buy it and nothing, it's not costing me, you know, it's not, I haven't going to pay a mortgage or anything on it.

So it's not, I'm not losing anything. So I just thought I'd give it a bit of a go. So, yeah, it's just a two-bed terrace house. It's on the urbanisation in La Marina. And to be honest, I, we lived there for a little bit, like in the first summer in 2024 for a few months and it's a lovely little, it's just really sweet

it's side space and so the two terraces gets sun all year round. It's really, really sweet and it had a really nice vibe to it. That's such a lovely area anyway. Yeah, and it's close to everything. It was great. But the plan wasn't to, you know,

the plan was to buy another house with a pool and to have a bit more of a bigger house for all of us. Yeah. I say all of us, it's not like many of us. So, I would put it out to rent in the October thinking, well, yeah, I probably won't get. And it was like fully booked.

It's been, it was pretty much, it's been fully booked because you don't realize how many people come in the winter. Obviously summer, no brainer, of course. Everybody, you know, the summer here is crazy. But yeah, in the winter, Christmas, everything up, you know, a day or two here or there, it'd be empty. But other than that, it's been a brilliant little business. But yes, absolutely. I know. Oh, probably the worst day was.

I had a bad, bad hangover. It was horrendous. I don't ever get hangovers, but something obviously went horribly wrong. And I'd got same day changeover, and I literally, I'd put on a pillowcase, and then I'd just have to lie down. Then I get up, and then I put on another pillowcase,

and I just, honestly, I was there all day. It was horrendous, it was horrendous. Anyway, yeah, it was horrendous. Not nice choices. Why did I go out? Why am I doing this? Yeah, I had to call for help. It was just horrendous.

But even outside of that, joking aside, yeah, it's, because it's tough. I mean, I have minimum two nights, two nights, two nights, two nights. You know, and it's like, Jesus, well, somebody just book it for a week. Yeah, a week was really like, yeah, a break when we had like a week. Yeah. But again, it was like four, five days, three days. Yeah. It was, yeah.

And it is, you know, when, yeah, Lucia, she's with me, you know, even last week. Yeah. I'd got a change over. I got meetings all day at home. I was doing some stuff. I couldn't do it in the daytime. I picked her up from school. I said, right, let's bring you home work.

Let's bring you snack. You can do your homework. I need to put in an hour tonight. Then went back, did dinner. Got up the next morning before I had to my first meeting, went and did two hours. You know, it's got to be done. It's a big commitment.

And, yeah, me and Liam would kind of try and, well, a lot of the time we would clean it together to be faster or like towards the end. We were doing a one each because obviously we were juggling. Yeah, everything. first son at the towards the end but for the first couple of years

it wasn't as bad and the first few years we lived above yeah so it was easy quite easy but then when we moved here we were renting we actually did

long term rent on the upstairs but only because it was my sister-in-law I was too nervous to have long-term 10 years because you hear like you can't get them out and everything so sister-in-law was great

she was upstairs didn't have to clean that one no so we carried on with downstairs but yeah it was a lot of effort and I used to feel really guilty on the days that I'd have to bring my son. Yeah.

But I had to like change my perspective and be like, he's watching his parents behind and do extra. And he's there and he's playing and he doesn't care. I mean, he was like two, three. He was just dumping downstairs. He was having a great time. Yeah. But yeah, I would feel guilty like on the late evening or whatever.

But then in the end I was like, no, I think it's good for them to see. They see how hard you have to work. When you've got stuff to do, you've got to do it. You know, do they want the things that they've got? Do they want the lifestyle? Well, then this is how we provide. You know, you've got to work. You've just got to roll your sleeves up and get it done.

So like you say, it worked, but it doesn't come without. No, it's, yeah, absolutely. And, you know, as you. Absolutely, literally. You know, something breaks. Someone breaks something, you know. And then I had one family, I went into details, but it was absolutely horrendous how they left it.

You know, and I got guests arriving the next day. I had to buy a new mattress. It was just awful. Awful, awful. There are some really awful people. You don't think there are. No. No, but then you think, what must your house be like?

Because it's not just the case that you've gone to somebody else's house thinking, I don't care, I've paid for this. Because you can't just switch your mindset. So you must live like that at home. The house, horrendous. But on the flip side, I've also met some lovely people and had been blessed with really, really lovely guests. You know, so swings in roundabouts, isn't it?

a lot more good than bad, but yeah, of course, it's hard slog. It's manual labour. And not only that, you spend hours clean and then you go home and look at your house, you're like, oh my God. I'm not clean in my own house. I need to clean this house. It's like, oh, help. Yeah, it's true.

I beg your own place. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I might clean it. Yeah. But no, it's true. Like, we were, we've always been quite lucky with guests, to be fair. We never had any, like, horrors. We've had things that, yeah, were scuffed and broken and stuff that happened.

that happens. Nothing too crazy. Although we did have, what kind of spurred us on to sell it was we were already kind of feeling like it's a long time. We had a mortgage when we really break it down. Is it worth it? And then we had the last set of guests. It was a young couple come over from Ireland, decked out to the nines in designer gear everywhere. They'd obviously been spotted out at dinner and been followed and someone actually broke into the apartment store. all their stuff. They grinded off the grills. Oh my God. It's gone in.

I don't know. How many of the neighbours didn't hear it? I know. But one or two neighbours were like, oh, I did hear something, but I didn't think. Oh my God. And yeah, stole all their stuff, which was, yeah. Then, from then it was like, we were already feeling it.

That was the nail. But again, we were, I think we got off quite scot-free for most of it. Yeah. Although my husband was like, we'd done most of our bookings through Airbnb. be and he was like a super host and to keep his super host he would go above and beyond we'd get the most weirdest stupidest questions from clients but he's like well i've got to answer and i've got to go because like they're going to rape me bad what's been the like craziest like request or question or like story that you've had apart from the bad people trash in the place i just get ridiculous

questions. What was the one the other day? I mean, I kind of feel they're ridiculous. Do we need to bring chairs? Have you ever bought a chair on holiday before? A towel, baby, we're not a chair. Chairs, I was like, no, obviously not because

I mean, there's pictures with chairs. Just weird, random. How do you make a chair on? Is that a phone? Does that go underneath the plane? Is that going in your head luggage? is there. I think we got a message really late in the evening, about half nine, ten o'clock in the evening.

There's no matches. Okay. It's a self-catering apartment. This isn't room service. Do you expect me to go out? I think Louen did actually go out with a tea towel and Mrs. Oh, really? He's good.

He's good. I did have last week's guests, actually. They were lovely. They were really, really nice. But she messed me saying, there's loads of water on the bathroom floor. You know, what do we do? like, why is that, never, there's never been water

before, have you put the curtain inside the shower? And she was like, oh no, no, was that? Okay, that's, probably, well. That might be why. So, yeah. So, yes, you're right. It's fine, no. Problem solver.

Yeah, so, yeah, just. See, post. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So, yeah, just questions that you think. Yeah. Make you question, am I, am I thick? Yeah. Am I? Yeah. I have people not even asking us questions.

about the apartment. So where's the nearest supermarket and do they sell this and where's good to go out for dinner and what events and entertain entertain entertain entertains on? And I'm like, I'm not a fucking travel guy. No. Like there's Google. Google. Yeah. That's got maps and that tells you what's near you. Like I'll tell you the nearest supermarket. That's a valid question. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Where the place is still a supermarket. But everything else, like, do you want me to plan your holiday? Yeah. Yeah. But talking about planning holiday. Ah, yeah. Let's move on. My favourite subject. Yes, let's move on to holidays and your travel business

because this is something that I'm really intrigued about because I really don't know much about it. I know it probably gets quite a bit of stigma and a bit of... Must be a scam. Yeah, exactly. Like, what's going on? But I've seen so many more even celebrities, quite a few people that I follow that are going into it. But even celebrities, like, oh, travel with me and contact me and stuff.

So yeah, I'm intrigued. For those that genuinely don't really understand what the kind of travel platform model is, tell us a little bit more about it. Yeah, so I joined a travel platform. I joined last year because I love holidays. Plain and simply, I love holidays. I was interested in finding a business

that could give me freedom, but when I joined, I knew that there was a business element to it, but I didn't probably realize the full potential that it had. But I was kind of like, well, holidays, great. Well, well, let's see about the other bit. I had a friend, an internet friend, never trust anyone who made on the internet. Who'd been doing it for a couple of years.

And we've fallen, she was always posting, you know, she was always on holiday. Oh, I saved 20% on this. Or I got £500 off this holiday. Or I got a free upgrade. I got this, I got that. And I watched her, to be honest, for far too long. You know, as we do, skeptical.

Yeah. It's too good to be true. Yeah. And then I had a chat with her about it. And then I don't know why I didn't, I don't know why I didn't do it. Now I'm like, why didn't I do it? Because since then I've been on so many holidays before I joined that I could have taken advantage

of it. But, you know, as we do, we overthink things. But I've even done it with you. Yeah, I know. I've followed you for a while. I've asked you a few questions. And then after this, I'm going to get the full lowdown because, like you say, I book so much travel, like work and even just personally, like, family holidays.

Yeah. If there's a way to save. So, yeah, that was your kind of, that is what pulled you in first. Yeah. Your own traveling. Yeah. Just being able to travel a bit more. So I joined on the basis where I'm going to give it a year.

If in a year I haven't used it, I haven't seen any benefit, then I'll, you know, I'll just leave. But I figured kind of for what it cost me to join, which is minimal. I don't know, do I talk numbers or not? Yeah, yeah. So it costs me $156 to join. And then it's a monthly fee of £46 a month, which I was like, that's not going to break the bank.

No. You know, you can spend $156 quid on nothing. Yeah. And £46 a month, yeah, is less than a meal. A coffee. Yeah, it's £1.50 a day. One pound 50 a day. Which is nothing. Yeah, coffee is what, I mean, in England it's what, five, six quidd a day?

Something like that, a coffee. So I thought, I've got nothing to lose, everything to gain. So I joined. First of all, I booked a hotel, I think in Altea actually. It was a really gorgeous five-star hotel. Got a discount on it, also got a free upgrade. And I was like, oh, okay, maybe this does work. This is real. This is real. I've never had a free upgrade. Yeah, I can be a couple. see it on like movies. Oh my God, I've got bumped up to first. I'm like, that never has you.

Yeah, no, no. So, okay, interesting. So it's not just savings. You can upgrades. My motto, don't ask, don't get. If you don't ask, you won't get it. If you do, you might. So then from there, we then booked,

I bought a couple of little weekend breaks away, hotels mostly, and got, so you either earn commission or you save, depending on how you book and who you book through. So if I book with one certain hotel, We are partners with some of the biggest hotel chains in the world. You know, there is nothing you can't book hotel-wise through this platform. So either you earn commission back, which can be anything up to 25%, which can make a big difference.

Or you can just get a better rate at the beginning. You choose which how you book. And I've booked in both ways, to be honest. So I booked a few of the trips, but then probably the biggest one for last year, well, the kind of the most significant one is I really wanted to take my daughter to Lapland. because of course like every emotional yeah like every yeah like engaged though yeah yeah

I'm definitely going to get emotional oh yeah because it is the most magical yeah yeah yeah it is yeah and I really wanted to take my daughter and last year she was sort of like do you think we can go this year mom and I was like look darling we've already been here we've been here we've got skiing book for next year we've got all these

you know we haven't got the budget right now because I've already allocated all our holidays and then this amazing agent only offer came through and I was like oh my god this is like I mean like 60% less oh wow I was like which I'm not gonna say that that's

oh they're all like that they're not all like that like a one off yeah but yeah I think yeah so certain things she manifested it exactly so when it came through and it was like there were four dates for like the following month and it was like so my god this is I almost this is doable

yeah whatever I've got to do like sell an organ whatever I feel like we've got to go So we went to that land and yeah, we had the most magical, you know, it was just to see your child who still believes, you'll know, who still believes in Christmas, just, oh, it was just, it was just magical. Brilliant. So, and the money I saved on that paid for my £46 a month for years. Wow. So, you know, at that point I was like, I'm never leaving this travel platform. So, but it's not just holidays you can book through it.

You can book all sorts of things. So we went to London for a weekend. We booked our theatre tickets through it. We went to Granada. I booked the bats, the, whatever they called the amazing baths. The, I can't remember, Arabic baths through it. I booked a tour guide through it. I booked the Alhambra through it.

So we've got. So experiences. Yeah, so experiences. You can book the Formula One. You can book. Events activities. Yeah, concerts. Yeah.

All sorts. Car hire. Obviously flights. Do you know why? Because, yeah, you travel. So I would do more, I would use it more in, in, in that way what you're saying. Do you know how many events and tickets and all these things?

Yeah. And it all adds up, especially when you've got a family of five. Yeah. Yeah, like I say, I think even just from what you've said, the savings for yourself, for your own, and you probably end up booking more things. Yeah, because like I say, you end up having the budget to do more. Of course.

So, yeah. And that's just for yourself. Yeah. So then you also help others. Yeah, so there's two sides of the business. You've got the travel side. So I can, there's the three ways, basically. in which you can earn from this business, say earn.

One is obviously through your own travel. So that is booking anything for yourself, either earning commission back for it or taking the discount. Either way, it's saving you money. The other way is you can book travel for others. So once I've done a few trips to myself, then I'd said to like family and friends, oh, by the way, just, you know, I've joined this little travel business.

Not really sure, but I've saved some money myself. And then they were like, oh, could you look at this trip for me? And I was like, oh, okay, yeah, yeah, okay, why not? So then I started to book a few trips for friends and family. then someone messaged me on Facebook saying, oh, I heard you doing travel. Can you look at this? I was like, yeah, absolutely.

So you can earn through booking travel for other people. So I don't market myself as some sort of budget holiday finder. If you want to scrimp around to save yourself five pounds here or there, then it's probably better you just go and book whatever you want. I'm a travel concierge. I will do all the research, the planning. I will book everything for you. I'll organise absolutely everything for you to take the time, the hassle,

and I will get your budget and I will get you the best possible deals that I can. and I will plan everything for you. Whether you don't know where you want to go, whether you need inspiration or whether you know exactly what you want to do, I'll take care of all of it. So from that side you also earn commissioned, which is anything from 8 to 22%. And then the third side of the business,

which is the marketing side, is simply by sharing the opportunity. So these days, of course, we all are like free marketeers for companies because if you go to a pub and you have a great meal, you're like, oh, by the way, go to that pub because we had a really good meal. But they're not going to give you a discount and they're not going to give you anything for it, but you've done it.

Or you buy something online and you're like, oh, this was brilliant. You should get that. And then they're like, oh, brilliant and put it, but you don't get them to do it. We do it every day with that really. We do it every single day. The difference with this business is we get recommended for it. We get, you know, we get paid for it. So I recommend this business to everybody because I genuinely believe it can make a huge difference to people's lives.

I've seen it. I've experienced it myself. So I share the opportunity with others. So the people that are in my team. are people who either, A, just want to travel smarter themselves. They're not bothered about the business side. That's absolutely fine. You do not need to do the business side.

Whatever. You can do whatever you want with this business, whatever. You can simply use it for your own travel. So I've got people who have joined for that. I've got people who do just want to be a travel agent. They don't want to do the marketing side. I've got people who do all of it. So you can do one, two, or three.

One and two, one and three, all three. Up to you. Or you can join and do absolutely nothing, but that would be ridiculous. which people do, which people do, but that's a waste. So, yeah, the thing I love about this business is I do it, I can do it from anywhere, I can do it from absolutely anywhere, I can do it from a sunlanger, I can do it from the van while I'm waiting for Luthier.

Last night she was at horse riding, I signed up somebody over the phone, yeah, I'm working this dead time, what am I going to do? I'm just going to sit on TikTok, which is going to make me no money, doom scroll, learn nothing, or actually, I'm going to use that time to work my business and build it because, one day that will lead to. Who knows what? And everyone goes on holiday and if you want, like,

who doesn't want to go on more holidays? Everybody loves a holiday. Yeah. Holidays are about happiness, joy, yeah. Memories. They give you something to look forward to. Whatever that is. Yeah.

Yeah. And whilst we are in a time where people don't have much money, life is really expensive. I firmly believe the things that people prioritize are your bills and a holiday. Yeah.

If you live in the UK, you maybe don't go abroad. One week a year, isn't it? You might not even go abroad. You might go to a cottage in. I just don't... Statations, the new thing. Exactly.

I rented a gorgeous cottage from my mum and my stepdad in Scotland through our platform. Yeah. It was gorgeous, perfect. So you can... It hasn't got to be that you want to go abroad, you know.

You do, you first off think these extravagant holidays. Even that, you could organise activity and events for groups, whether it's... Absolutely. Half-year. Yeah, all that. Work, you know,

Yeah. Whatever it is. Absolutely. The range is massive actually, isn't it? Yeah, no, it's good because I've said that I want to do more things in Spain even. Yeah. We don't travel Spain enough. No.

And now we've got the electric car. Yeah. But even talking about that, like a guy from work has one. And then I, obviously, Liam's always wanted one. So when we decided to get one, he gave us his referral link. And then we both benefited from it. There you go. We got three kilometers or whatever it is.

So, yeah, no, I think recommendations are great. and yeah and you can discover new things that you probably didn't even know sometimes so has ever been a client or something like that has asked for maybe a holiday or an adventure

or even an activity or something that you'd maybe never thought of and actually I happen to do that yeah yeah yeah I'm gonna copy a holiday I'd be broke because I'd be like

I'd be like I don't want to go on that holiday this is also a problem it is a problem because you want to have more holidays but what a problem to have yeah I know exactly first world's struggles There's just so many holidays I want to go on.

Wharming. Yeah. Yeah. What's been one, like, a standout client, like, that did something really amazing. Oh, you? Or you, what's something that you've done? Because you like your travelling. Yeah, no, I do love travel.

I do love travel. There's a trip that I, I did two quotes, actually. I booked one. I didn't book the other one. Tokyo. Yeah. Skiing and the sitting. Oh, yeah.

I didn't even know you could ski. Am I just? I did know you could ski. Yeah, yeah. Really good skiing. Really good skiing. Wow. And I'm a snowboarder, so for me, it's up there.

Amazing. Yeah. So that's been out of the list. But now, yeah, I mean, I've always loved to travel, and I've always had a very long list of places I want to go, but it gets longer and longer. Or like I find a hotel. I'm like, oh, my God, that hotel looks like.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, it's like, my notes page is just like. Yeah, but I like that too because I feel like everyone goes to the same. Yeah. Yeah. And when you see these, I'm like, ooh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

That looks nice. I want to be. That's, that is me. It's like the off the beaten track and the place that you've never heard. It's not the Instagram, the one that everyone's going to. No. All the hidden stuff. Yeah. Well, I've seen it.

I've seen it a million times. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I'm still seeing it. Yeah. Obviously, someone new. I feel like I've been there myself anywhere. Exactly.

Can I mean? I want someone new. Yeah, so that really interests me. So you obviously take your daughter a lot with you. Yes. What is your, like, biggest tips for travelling with kids? Oh. Well, my daughter is like

there is nobody better company to travel with than my daughter and I know that sounds like oh, stop bragging about your child. My oldest son is such an easy traveller as well and she's just easy, brilliant what would be my top tip? Snacks and games.

Yeah. So don't get me wrong. We don't watch much TV which she doesn't have an iPad or anything like that. She gets a little bit of screen time on a weekend of a morning So for her to get, so when we get on a plane, we do either homework, we take a snack, we do homework, we play a game, and then I let her watch something of, like cartoons that I've downloaded. So it's like a real treat. Because she doesn't get much screen time, it's like a real treat. So it's actually quite nice. We do our thing and then she puts on hers. I put our mine. I have a glass of wine. She obviously doesn't. And we just have our, you know, it's like it's our routine. So, but I think definitely snacks and games. is definitely our thing. Yeah. But she is the best travel buddy because she's so used to going on planes.

I keep a travel diary for her and I think she's now been on 130 flights. Wow. That is such a good thing to do. So I've done every one since she was born. Oh, that is incredible. And I think 11 or 12 countries. That's incredible. Which is, she's only 8.

I didn't go on a plane until I was 16. Wow. The difference. Yeah. It's incredible. You know? It is a gift though because like the experience, the culture, the places. It just gives kids such a bigger understanding of the world.

Yeah. Although I have made a bit of a mistake because I did show her the Emirates business class suite. So she's like, right, mommy. When are we up there? I don't know. You tell me because I also want to get back. Like that. You never manifest it.

A manifest. Yeah. Yeah. It's like someone. I was going to do with you. Yeah. Because before she was born, I used to fly business class. But I haven't flown business class.

were born so I think it's you that's costing me in life so yeah you told me what are they doing business class is this class worth it oh god yes 100 million percent I've not done it yet that is on my list when me and my husband go away on like a solo trip I'm not going to pay for the kids to be business class no no yet when when I'm richer yeah yeah but for now yeah I want to upgrade us so oh maybe on the platform yeah so business class is what absolutely if I could fly everywhere business class I would long, short haul, it's not that much of difference, but long haul, just the whole experience, the glass of bubbles you get when you get on, the flat bed, the, you have your own menu, you have proper cutlery, and plates, you have a menu to select from your fillet state,

you can have caveat, you've got, you know, it's, yes, yes, yes, yes, in the world, really? Yes, especially Emirates. Yeah, so I've done Emirates, I've done Iberia and I think I've done Thai Airways, yeah. Or similar experience? Yeah, well, the Thai Airways, Wong's had some air miles was first class, so that was even yeah that was like

I didn't even have to walk to the plane they took me like a golf bugging wow so but anyway that is like pre-child

so that's like 10 years ago when my world looked very different but yeah it's definitely worth it so but yeah

she's desperate to get on her next yeah yeah yeah you think you're desperate I'm desperate I'm desperate

too so could someone actually earn like a full-time salary from this yes

I mean the person The person who is the top of the business that I'm part of, she earns high seven figure earnings from this business. She started it eight years ago. Wow. Yes, you can earn the potential in this business to earn a lot of money is insane. But of course, it's an effort-based business.

It is completely down to you. If you do nothing, you get nothing. Yeah. It takes time. Which is like everything. Yeah, it's like a lot of things as well, you know? Yeah. But people join and they do nothing and then they wonder why nothing's happened. nothing's happened because you've done nothing.

So it's up to you. Exactly. Exactly. Just because you've got a gym membership doesn't mean you're going to get a six-pack. Yeah, that's it. You've got to put effort into anything that's worth out these days. But it is a very lucrative. Yes, 100%.

And it's not an overnight thing. It's not, you know, it's consistency. Get rich. Quick. No, unfortunately. No, no. But I firmly believe, you know, I, there are not many things that you can do these days that you can earn a decent amount of money from.

with no ties where you haven't got to be in a certain place at a certain time. What I love about this business is it is a completely freedom-based business. As I said, you can work it from anywhere. We have got people building this business from all sorts of backgrounds for all sorts of reasons.

We've got people who obviously do it because they need the money. We've got people who do it because they don't want to do what they're doing and they want to root out of it. We've got people who work for themselves, but they work day and night like a maniac. It's not about the money, it's about the time. So there's so many different reasons why people do this business. And we've got every type of person doing this business. But the common goal is that everybody wants freedom.

You know, the ability to be able to work completely to your own schedule, pick it up, put it down. If you don't pick it. And also something I forgot to mention with the marketing side of the business, you get a residual income. So I know not everybody knows what residual income is, but it's when you do a job once and you get paid for it over and over and over again. So as you grow the marketing side of your business, you build a team,

hence why the lady I mentioned to you is earning seven figures a year. She has a business network of 30,000 people. They're not all in her team, but of course they're part of her wider team. And she earns every month an amount from all of those people. It's a business that's based on helping others. The more people you help, the better you do, the better they do. And that's what it is. You know, people bring up, oh, is it a pyramid scheme?

Tell me what a pyramid scheme is, because most people who ask don't know. Pyramid scheme is a business where it's illegal. There's no product. We have a product. Our product is travel. We sell billions and billions of pounds every year worth of travel. That's our product, you know? And it is not a pyramid because actually there is no, there's no pyramid.

The person who brought me into the business, I could earn 10 times what she earns, you know? There is no limit. That's another great thing about it. I think what people have in their mind with pyramid is that the person above me gets a cut up what I do. But then that's the model for most sales businesses. So most companies that do sales. It's the model for every business. You bring on a sales team, you get a percentage of everything that your team does.

Because you run the team, you support the team, you guide the team into performing, and you get a bit of that. So it's not an unheard-of business model. No, absolutely. And like you say, the product is actually worth it. Yeah. So it's probably similar to loads of business models that are out there. Yeah. And for me, actually, you know, also probably unpopular opinion, actually the traditional

Pyramid model is the corporate world. Because that person there, very unlikely you're ever going to get there, because they're there, and they are earning more than everybody. Yeah, everybody. It's actually more fair because there's no cap. No, there's no cap, and it's completely down to you. It's effort-based. The more you do, the more you earn, the better you do from it, the more people you help.

Yeah. Yeah. So, but I love travel and I love, I can't imagine I would ever not be part of this business because I just, you know, whether it takes me. I feel that from you. Yeah. And I love travel, you know, it's a happy. topic, isn't it? Holidays and I just feel, you know, however many years it takes me to get

that complete freedom, just keep chipping away. Yeah. Great. I love that. And you're just saying about switching off, I think, before, I'm no wonder. You literally just thinking, listed up all these not surprised. Yeah. I was like, okay, I'm that, I'm not this, that me. I like to keep busy. Yeah. And then I'm known about it. And then I'm going to find something else today. I'm just so busy. Yeah, I'm just so busy. Yeah, yeah. No, that's really interesting. We'll definitely be talking more about that because I think it's right up high street with the amount of travel that I do, definitely for myself first and then maybe some friends and family too. Yeah, yeah. Is there anything we haven't covered today that you want the listeners to know? No, not really, but I wanted to say thank you very much for inviting me here. I thought it was nervous.

Yeah, absolutely. And I was just thinking, what have I got to talk about that's anybody's going to want to listen to? But anyway, you've made me waffle on for ages. You certainly have a watson. Very, very interesting. But no, thank you very much. It's been really good. I really appreciate it. And what a great brand you have. And I look forward to the next to her.

Yeah. And then it's coming soon. Obviously, it's going to be too late for anyone listening now to join the next one. Probably by the time this goes live, we would have had it. But the next one is going to be an interesting one. I won't say anything yet because we're... Oh, he wasn't. I was going to be nervous.

We've got a few ideas, Boblin. But the next one's going to be... the next one's going to be a good one. But before we finish, we've got a quick rapid fire game to finish with. I'm going to let you hug the game. Oh my gosh, it's giving me the pad. You've got the pad. So it's just this or that.

So very simple. Whatever comes to mind. Okay, rapid fire. Oh, I can answer the first one. I'm joking. Here we go. Morning workout or walk. Oh, morning workout, followed by a walk.

Brilliant. Beach holiday or city break? Ooh. Beach. Long haul or short haul? Long haul. Business class. Absolutely. First if possible.

With our kids. Unless they can manifest. Exactly. Yeah. Let's pay for themselves. Yeah. Luxury hotel or Airbnb? Used to be Airbnb.

Now it's luxury hotel. Less work. No shopping. Yes. True. Cooking at home. or dinner out. Cooking at home.

Any food. Yeah. Any food, but probably cooking at home. Yeah. Well, we enjoy watching it. Yeah. Wine or cocktails?

Wine. That was quick. Yeah. That was the quickest answer. Yeah. I don't need to think about that. Red wine? Yes, that is my number one choice.

When it's hot, obviously I'll go for a white. It's mice or something. Yeah, but my red, no, not without, chilled. Yeah. Chilled, yeah. But red, yeah, red all the way.

Nice. Big social night out or cosy night in? Ooh. I do like a bit. I've got to choose one. That is hot. These are? Cozy night in, cozy night in.

Plan everything or wing it? Wing it. Nice. Love it. I like that little cockiness. And plan. No, I'm like nervous. I'm going to wing it by I'm sorry.

More money or more free time? Ooh. more free time to make more money. Nice. What's one thing you will never compromise on? Can I say my work in this? Yeah. You say whatever you want?

I don't know. Workouts and decent wine. Yeah. That's true. That's true. That's true. Yeah. Yeah.

What's one thing you're still trying to get better at? We kind of ask this. Yeah. Unwinding. Is there something that you've not done? that you want to do? In what capacity? Professional or personal.

I feel I've got one more business venture in me. Oh, I like it. I've got some things in my mind for next year. Oh, so you've already got some bubbling ideas. Yeah, love that, yeah. What's this space? Yeah, I'm just adding to the list. It's not a bad thing, no, is that really not.

Okay. I watched Kim Kardashian say that the other day. She went, yes, I'm addicted to working, but is that a bad thing? No, no. It's not. As long as you don't burn out, like you say. There's worse things to be addicted to. Well, that's what she was saying. She was like, I get my joy from it.

Yeah. Yeah. And like you say, you've built that life anyway of your work in the routine. Yeah. The way your life is in a way. Yeah, absolutely. Just from the minute you wake up and work out. Yeah, exactly.

It really is. It's a travel into everything. So it's fantastic. Okay, finally, what does growing together mean to you? That's our tagline growing together for the podcast. Because we're figuring it out. Okay. growing together mean? I feel it means supporting each other, encouraging each other,

lifting each other up so that then you all grow together. Yeah, love that. Well, I have to say your energy is amazing. You're very, very inspiring in every aspect of everything, you know, you know, from starting from your business that you've sold, that decision making, becoming a mom, going on to just choosing things that you really enjoy in life that are going to make you live your life to the best you know so I think that's amazing um well I suppose this is the opportunity to ask where people can find you yeah well for all your businesses yeah well you can find me um on on Instagram I'm mostly on my page which is called effortless escapes um my Facebook is serena easy or serena Martinez easy should know that um um um

And I'm mostly between those two, but Instagram is my favourite place. Yeah, brilliant stories on there. Thanks. Yeah. That's what you can find me. Yeah. Well, yeah, like say, Charlotte finished it nicely. You feel a bit out of me. So I'll let you up to.

You feel naked without it. It's like a seat in. I don't know what to do in my house. Right, now I've got my head back. Yeah, no, I think Charlotte ended that perfectly. I think, yeah, just leading a very intentional life is, definitely something that I'm on the journey to do in my 30s for sure. Like I want to live life by my own terms for what I enjoy doing and have no excuses. And yeah, I think just

pushing myself to be the best that I can be in all those kind of capacity. And yeah, you're definitely a person that inspires me to do that as well. So thank you for coming. Thank you so much for having me. It's been a great conversation. If you guys enjoyed it, then please don't forget to like and subscribe. Comment on anything that we've said today. We'd love to hear your opinions and yeah follow along and yeah we'll see you next week you will bye bye