Welcome to the Meet-the Author Series, a short series where I will be chatting to authors to talk about their experience writing their bestselling book.
This also marks the 200th episode The Clare Wood Podcast!
For this special occasion, I am joined by one of my earliest money mentors, Denise Duffield-Thomas. In today’s episode, we chat about her experience becoming a book author multiple times, as well as what is happening in her personal life with selling her beach home that she manifested
In this Episode:
04.30: Selling the beach house that Denise manifested for years (and how her manifesting has changed)
21.50: The stories that come up when going through a change to/growth of your ‘online persona’ or goals (in yourself and followers)
27.03: How Denise’s love of books led to writing multiple books and versions, as well as her upcoming memoir!
39.40: How Denise set (and didn’t set) her goals for selling her new book
Links:
Guest Bio
Denise Duffield-Thomas is the money mentor for the new wave of online entrepreneurs who want to make money and change the world.
She helps entrepreneurs like you charge premium prices, release the fear of money and create First Class lives.
Her books Lucky Bitch, Get Rich, Lucky Bitch, and her newest Chill and Prosper give a fresh and funny roadmap to living a life of abundance without burnout.
Her Money Bootcamp has helped over 8,500 students from all around the world.
She’s a lazy introvert, a Hay House author and an unbusy mother of 3. She owns a rose farm and lives by the beach in sunny Australia.
Denise Duffield-Thomas Instagram >
Denise Duffield-Thomas Facebook >
Denise Duffield-Thomas Website >
Transcript
This marks the 200th episode of the Clearwood Podcast. I cannot believe this many episodes of the podcast have been created, and I want to say a massive thank you to you the listeners for tuning in and joining me each week here on the podcast to mark this special occasion. I have an incredible guest who I’ve had on the podcast before, one of my earliest money mentors, and her name is Denise Duffield-Thomas. In today’s episode, we are chatting about her experience becoming a book author multiple times, and she also shares a little bit about what is going on in her personal life with selling her beach home that she manifested. This is a really fantastic episode, so please make sure you stick around and I hope you enjoy.
Hello and welcome to the Clare Wood Podcast. This is your weekly dose of all things money to help you intentionally create a profitable business and a life you love. I have the difficult conversations about money, so you can make more money with ins each week. I share how you can use mindset and the practical foundations of finance to elevate your earnings without sacrificing the things that are important to you, because you can and should be making more money. To celebrate this 200th episode of the podcast, I am having a special competition. To enter the competition please go and leave a review of the Clare Wood Podcast and share to your Instagram stories, making sure you tag me @clare_wood_coach, anything about the podcast, you could share a message about an episode that you’ve enjoyed. You could share your favorite episode to your Instagram stories. The important thing is, is that you are sharing and encourage people to come and have a listen to the podcast. The winner will receive a special gift box from me, which has a beautiful scented candle, one of my special Profit mugs, and a signed copy of my book, Intentional Profit. So to enter, go and leave a review of the Clare Wood Podcast, and make sure you leave your business name in there as well, because sometimes it’s hard to see that and share an episode or some stories about the podcast to your Instagram stories making sure you tag me @clare_wood_coach. Now, we’ll dive into the episode very soon, but just two more things before we do. Don’t forget to go and get your ticket to come along to my book tour. These are interactive profit party events where you’ll get to meet me in person, along with some incredible entrepreneurs, and I’ll be sharing a little bit about the book journey. And you’ll also have the opportunity to win some amazing prizes live on the night. The details for this are in the link in the show notes for today’s episode. And one final thing, if you haven’t already, don’t forget to go and grab your copy of Intentional Profit. It’s available not all your major online retailers such as Booktopia and Amazon, and I really, really appreciate your support in making this book such a success.
With no further ado, let’s dive into the episode with Denise Duffield-Thomas. A big warm welcome back to the podcast, Denise Duffield-Thomas., this is the second time I’ve had you on board, and I had such amazing feedback about our first interview, so I’m really, really excited to have you back on the podcast.
Welcome.
DENISE:
Yay. Thanks for having me back. I love being a return guest.
CLARE:
So Denise was actually the person that got me into the world of money mindset. I’ve obviously got a very sort of different slant and take on it in time, but your Course Money Bootcamp has been one of the most transformational investments I’ve made on my business journey. So I’m really excited to have you here.
DENISE:
Wow. That I, that really means a lot. And I think it’s just so cool that there are so many people now, especially women talking more about money and it has a ripple effect. And I love all the stuff that you’ve been putting out. I’ve been loving your social content lately, by the way. It’s just all part of this conversation of normalizing women and money. It’s okay for us to talk about it,
CLARE:
And the more that we do it, the more that other people do it, and then we start to realize what’s possible. And that’s what’s really, really cool. So I thought that today what we could do, first of all, I want to have a bit of a chat about where you’re at on your journey and things like that, and then we’ll dive a little bit more into specializing in the book space.
DENISE:
Yes.
CLARE:
There’s something I am busting to ask because I followed your journey right back from when you, you know, the, the beach house was the big vision, which funnily enough is my big vision. Different location, different kind of, house. But you are now selling the beach house. Tell me all about that?
DENISE:
It’s, it’s really interesting, right? Because it was such a big manifesting journey for me. You know, when we first moved to Newcastle, we would walk up and down this beach. I’d say one of these houses is my house. I did all of the manifesting tips that I teach in my books. What was really fascinating actually, because we built this house from scratch the whole time we were building it, I was either pregnant or breastfeeding or pregnant or breastfeeding. I had two babies in the space of building this house. And I remember just before we moved in, there was another house that I saw and I was like I don’t want move in. And Mark was like I’ve just spent three years designing and building this house. And I remember just going, yeah, I dunno if I want it anymore.
And I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s been amazing living here. I’m so happy that I’ve you know, created and manifested this dream. But I noticed in the last year, we were kind of sitting around and I’d be like, I’m really annoyed that we put that window there. I’m really annoyed that we did that. But I knew that at the time of us building one, I didn’t know I had undiagnosed ADHD and I just didn’t have the bandwidth to make some of the decisions that I probably would’ve changed now. So I would sit around and go, if we built this house again from scratch, what would we change? What we would we do? And then I’d be like, I’m so annoyed that we put this here. And so we were kind of talking about it. And I always have itchy feet.
I’m always looking at new projects. So we always have real estate, you know, alerts and listings on. We love going to open houses. And just before Christmas, we saw this house that we really loved, and I thought, maybe it’s the time. There’s other factors in there too, where I was really like almost worried about telling people about it because people’s reactions, I was like, oh my God, I’m going to have to manage people’s emotions, around me selling my beach house. And I realized too, I’d never lived by the ocean before. Never. And also, I live in a really public space, like a really public area, right on the main beach. And I live in this type of town where people know everybody and they know who lives in different houses. And I’ve experienced it myself. When I first moved here, people would go, that’s this person’s house, that’s this person’s house that’s this person.
Like, name them. And so I was starting to be like, oh, I feel like I wanted a little bit more privacy. And so we fell in love with this house. We made offers on it. We went down the process. And because we are such action takers, we were like, let’s put our house on the market. So this was just before Christmas, we started decluttering. My Mum was over for Christmas with her best friend, her best friend’s, like, what are they doing? And Mum’s like, once they’ve made a decision, they’re done. So we were like literally decluttering our house between Christmas and New Year to be able to put it on the market. And then the house fell through that we were going to buy. And, but still, I’m like, I have a different dream. And it’s okay. And it doesn’t mean that it wasn’t a good manifestation.
It doesn’t mean that it wasn’t a success. I’m just ready for a new project. And it’s just, it’s been really fascinating. Like, cause I had to, you know, have some sessions with my kinesiologist about it, Mark did as well. And even talking about it with people is like, it’s a really interesting experience. So now we’re in a place of, I have to go back to basics of manifesting again and ask myself, well, what do I want instead? What do I want instead? And I know that the perfect house won’t come until I’ve really thought about that. You know? So I’m starting my dream boards again. I’m thinking about all the things I love about this house and things that I don’t love about this house. And yeah, just being in that space of openness of what’s, what’s next?
CLARE:
Okay. This excites me for so many reasons. Yeah. Tell me firstly, because I think that you are now getting to go through all of those processes. You know, when you sort of hit a big goal and then you’re there and you’re like, oh, now what? And you get to come back and practice all of the things that you teach again. Definitely. That must be fun to actually go and be at that place where you’re like, wow, I get to revisit. Like, where do I, what do I actually really want?
DENISE:
What do I want? And I mean, you’ll understand this from a money perspective too. Like, I’m, I’m someone who’s like, there’s always more money, you know, all of those things. But someone planted a seed in my head last year, one of my mastermind friends, and she’s opposite to me. She’s like, I’ll save, I’ll invest and in 30 years time then I’ll get what I want. And I’ve always been instant gratification, so I always do it the other way. So I’ve always been like, let’s stretch for the big goal and then pay it off. And so being around her was a really interesting experience. And it made me realize one, and this is just practical money stuff. This area that we live in has gone up 30% in the last couple of years, literally the last two years. And so when we built the house, we totally over capitalized.
And I remember we were thinking, we are not going to be able to ever sell this house for years and years and years. And then every year or so our bank would be like, do you want to remortgage? So we would buy investment properties against this house. And so we realized that one, it’s not, it’s not our perfect ideal house. We designed it when we didn’t have, like, when we had a one baby, now we’ve got three kids, two dogs. I’m like, oh, I want more outside space. And I want the layout to be different. And whenever I start to say to myself, oh, well you can’t, you’ve made your bed. Now you lie in it. You know, when you have that feeling when you go, oh, maybe in the future, maybe when the kids are out of high school, I start to go, hang on, why can’t I have what I want?
And it’s really, it starts to plant a seed in me. But then I realize too that, you know, it’s not our ideal anyway. We can be totally mortgage free. Not only like not only with a new house that we can buy, we can pay off our farm. Like if we wanted to, we could pay off pretty much all of our investment properties. Because again, that manifestation is not a waste. That manifestation could create so much abundance. And I don’t mind telling you the numbers on this. So when we bought the land, it was 3.8 million for the land. And it was a massive stretch for us. Didn’t have the money, had to do a big launch for it. Same thing happened when we bought our rose farm. You know, we, we put a couple of million into the build and we’re going to try and sell it for 14 million.
Yeah. I’m like, we have doubled our money. Like what a cool opportunity. But it’s not about that. If it was my dream house and I loved every part of living here, no amount of money would be enough to Yeah. Get you to give it up. Yeah. But even just the fact that I, I knew it wasn’t the dream house, and I was starting to compromises in my head of saying, well just wait, just wait to the future and then you can do it again. And then I’m like, nah. And so we, I mean, I, I doubt we’ll move to a smaller house necessarily, but it might be like definitely not as close to the ocean. And there’s something there too about if you don’t know, if you’ve never manifested that thing before, you don’t really know what it’s gonna be like. And so for us, living by the ocean has absolutely.
And there’s something to, to think about in your, I mean, obviously you’re there now, but we’re at, at a quite a busy beach. And so this salt just comes in, right? And so we have to replace our electronics. Oh, by the way, don’t listen to this. If you want to buy our house, we have to replace our electronics every year. We have to, you know, have professional window cleaners come every week. There’s all of these things that are involved in that. And sometimes that’s just you, you manifest stuff. That’s the next stage, right. Is that you, you pay to maintain the goal. And that’s totally fine. But there was just something there about going, if we wanted to sell this in the future, the salt air is going to destroy a lot of things. So we were kinda like, oh, this is a good window.
And, um, it’s a good window for our kids ages too. Where like, if we do find a house that we love where they have to move, schools, we’re traveling a little bit this year, the ages that they’re at. So it’s one of those things where you go, it’s okay to change your mind. It doesn’t mean that the goal wasn’t amazing and oh my God, the, not only, you know, being able to make a massive profit here, the ideas that have come from living in this house and creating, that’s big stretch. That’s, that’s what it was for. Yeah. It wasn’t to then live here forever and kind of be a bit dissatisfied with it. 100% Yeah. So that’s all the juicy goss around, around. I love it. So at the moment, you don’t really have a game plan of where to go next.
I don’t. And that drives me a little bit crazy sometimes. I found myself the first couple of weeks, like, you know, when you do the tarot cards, you’re like, where’s our next house? And every day there’s, you know, a couple of new houses that come up online. And there’s been a few almost ones. Yeah. And I’m like, no, I, I want to like, get excited about the next one too, and like really feel a really strong yes. But now we are open to building again. Because we learnt so much from building this house, you know, renovating, I love renovating properties. It’s one of my favorite things to do. And yeah, I’m just, we are just kind of open, but knowing that, you know, the profit we can make from this is going to give us so many options. You know, financial freedom is just, it’s really exciting.
So I will be sad a little bit, but I don’t know. There’s something that’s happening for me at the moment, if you don’t mind me talking about this as well. I actually sold my Kombi recently too.
CLARE:
Oh, the blue one?
DENISE:
Yeah. And again, when I first started using the Kombi in my branding, I hired one, and it was like $1000. And at the time, this is 10 years ago, it was like a really big deal, but it really felt like, wow, I have a brand. So about five years ago we saw a Kombi for sale and I was like, oh God, we should buy a Kombi. And it actually sold to someone else, but the guy renovated Kombi. So he said, I’ll restore you one for yourself.
And it took like freaking three years to restore it because these guys are specialists and, you know, and then I never drove it. I never drove it. So it’s, it lived at the farm and every time, every couple of months where we would drive it the battery would be flat. Because you have to use it. And I realized I’m in a space of my life where everything has to be easy Yeah. And useful. And so the Kombi turned from something that was joyful to something that was another job that was causing me stress. And I realized I can just hire a Kombi and it can be someone else’s job to maintain that Kombi. So there’s a few things like that that I’ve let go of recently that I’ve just gone, you’re in the two hard basket. And what was the best thing about that Is we actually put a really big price on it.
Same with the house. Because we’re like, it’s not a fire sale, we don’t need to sell, but you know, we just don’t need the stress. And that’s where I think my currency is now. Yeah. It’s not so much in money, it’s in stress and time and bandwidth. And the couple who bought it, there were a young couple, it was a really big stretch for them. Like it was, you know, for us, for some of those early manifestations, they’re going use it every day. They’re going have so much joy. And I was so excited to meet them. And then I, I just walked back inside I, and then afterwards I realized I didn’t even take a last picture with the Kombi and I thought, I don’t even need to. And I have a feeling I’ll probably do the same with this house. I’ll just be like, okay, thanks house.Bye. That’s my currency is really low stress stuff. Ease. Ease. And that’s, yeah. But that’s what you teach. Like, you can change your mind
CLARE:
And you can get somewhere and realize, I’ve definitely had this where I’ve manifested things and then it happens. And I’m like, whoa. Not in that form. I thought that, I know that that’s what I said, but I didn’t expect it to play out that way. And you get to tweak and come back to it. And sometimes you get to things and you’re like, oh my, like I’m at the stage with this house where I’m like, this is exactly the street. Because we’re not actually on the beach. We are on like a canal. And I love our street. Like every day I’m just like, this is the best. But then, you know, our boat that we bought, I’m like, are you ready for a boat upgrade already? We’ve had it for like less than six months. And I’m like, yes, let’s start working on that. So you are going through the whole process now of trying to uncover like what it is that you want, what the next stage looks like.
DENISE:
Yeah.
CLARE:
Just a side note while we’re chatting about this. Anyway, friends of ours that have teenage kids said, make sure you have a sectioned off area for the, the teenagers, because apparently they get very, very loud. And one of my clients, she had a, they had like a, the two, the kids had their rooms and they had a teen retreat, but she said it wasn’t sealed off. And she told me, if you are looking to build your dream house, make sure there is an area closest, completely preferably soundproofed.
DENISE:
Yes. That is a really good idea. I’m happy to go and just, I love looking at houses, so I find it’s really fun to even go and look and say, let’s steal that little bit and let’s steal that little bit. And I think that is my personality, of newness. Yeah. You know, and I even remember when we first moved in, people are like, oh, this is your forever home. And I was like, oh, whoa, whoa, whoa. Like, I’m not willing to commit to a forever home. Like, who knows? And I think, Mark and I, we’ve had a lot of conversations over the last couple of weeks and work like mindset work around it right. Of going, it’s okay for us to change our mind and it’s okay for us to be those people who do seek newness. Yeah. And that doesn’t mean anything about us.
And I, again, another reason why I was worried about telling my community around it is because I like pride myself on being a consistent presence in people’s lives. And that’s my own stuff. Because I moved around so much as a kid and it was a discombobulating experience for me. And so I know sometimes when people’s mentors shift and change, you know, business directions or things like that, it can feel, it can trigger that feeling in people of being, you know, a bit abandoned or they don’t feel safe in that. And so this is all the stuff I’ve been going through with my kinesiologists of going not only, you know, is it safe for me to change my mind, but it’s safe for me to, like disappoint people. I know that sounds really strange because it’s like I’m a private person, you know, I should yeah, be able to do what I want. But that’s the multiple layers I think that goes through our minds sometimes as creative entrepreneurs. Not only how does this affect me, how does this affect everyone else in my life? And, and from a money mindset point of view too, I had to, to work on, it’s safe for me to be completely financially free. And it’s safe for me to make a huge shit ton of money, not just in my business, but from something else. And that might surprise people to hear. But that’s the work that I’ve had to do at every stage for my business. And now the numbers are different, but the work is still the same of going, you know, well, what, who would I be on the other side of that? And is it okay for me to do it? And all the guilt that comes up around stuff like that too, of going, well, I didn’t do anything for the market to go up. It’s not.
CLARE:
You know? Good point. Yeah.
DENISE:
I don’t deserve that. And like, feeling a bit bad to say, like I’m, you know, cashing out and seeing an amazing opportunity. But again, I wouldn’t just say that there’s
CLARE:
A story
DENISE:
<laugh>. Yeah, well, exactly. And I wouldn’t just do that for no reason. Yeah. You know, I wouldn’t just sell out my kids’ dream house if it was a really my dream house, but
CLARE:
Yeah. Oh, so much stuff’s coming. Do you know what’s interesting? That’s popped up for me. Do you know Celeste? Barbara? Yes. She’s a, she’s an an influencer, but she basically kind of takes the mickey out of, you know, celebrities and models and she does the same photos as them. And recently she’s done a couple of different shoots where she is not like, she’s polished. I don’t know, I think she’s lost quite a bit of weight as well, maybe. It’s been really interesting watching how people have responded to that. It’s like, no, you are meant to look like this and be silly and you can’t be dressed up and you can’t be polished. And I read this really interesting article, which is like, well, she, I presume she’s always had times where she got dressed up nice. And where she felt good
DENISE:
About it. She was a performer, she was a dancer. Very similar background to me, actually.
CLARE:
And everyone wanted to put her in this box. And then they’ve had this massive reaction when, I mean, firstly, if she has changed, who cares? It’s her life. She can, she can become polished and professional, not professional, but, you know, change the way she looks and, and shows up to the media if she wants to. And secondly, maybe that’s always been a part of who she was rediscovering and choosing to share with the world.
DENISE:
I mean, this has happened to me, um, over the last couple of years. Two is I’ve lost weight. And what’s fascinating about this too is I’ve been, my, my youngest is four and a half now, so, you know, I’m four and a half years past my last baby. And every night she wants to go and have a look at baby pictures of herself. It’s like her, her new routine. And I’m looking at myself in that going, oh my God, I looked so tired, exhausted, but yet I was showing up and I was doing webinars and I was doing live streams in my car and all that kind of stuff. And I, I looked like a hot mess, right? But I was, you know, it’s very relatable. And so I realized that some of the people in my audience who are not as happy with me changing, it’s because they came into my world at a time where I was this super tired Mum just trying to just, you know, keep my business going becuase it was the only thing that was keeping my spark alive.
But, you know, they, they think that’s, that’s who I was. And even people who are coming, you know, joining me right now, they might think, well, that’s who they are. And people create a snapshot in their mind of who that person is. And so I’ve had people say, I don’t relate to you anymore. I don’t like you anymore. I don’t like this new version. And I’m like, well, that’s who I was before kids, you know? And I’m only feeling like I’m becoming more of myself. And also this is who I am. So if you don’t like it, that’s totally fine for people not to resonate with anyone anymore. But I think it is a fear for a lot of people as they become more successful or they, you know, sabotage the success in the first place is that people will not like me.
CLARE:
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
DENISE:
If I’m visibly successful, visibly wealthy, if I like myself too much, if I come across too confident, if I shine my light, people won’t like me. And you know what, sometimes that’s true. Some people won’t like it. But that’s no, no reason I hold yourself back.
CLARE:
Oh, 100%. I mean, people like to feel comfortable and when someone is making them feel uncomfortable because they’ve lost weight or they’re making more money than them, or they’re more successful with them, it highlights that gap between where they are. And probably being realistic, you can’t be triggered by something you don’t desire. So if someone’s looking at you thinking, oh, she’s lost weight, or, you know, she’s whatever. If they didn’t, if they didn’t want that, like if someone talks about being front row at the football, I don’t go, oh my gosh, I can’t believe they’re there. I don’t care. I have no desire for that. And I’ve noticed that myself. Like whenever I’m getting triggered by something, I’m like, it’s becuase there’s part of me that wants that I, I, I would like to lose weight or I would like to get the house or be having the launches like that, or whatever it might be. So there’s also something in that as well, I think absolutely. That maybe the people that are getting triggered are actually getting triggered because they’re like, there’s a part of them that really desires what you have in your creating.
DENISE:
And that’s probably another reason why people get upset if people change their mind because they’re like, well that was such a big goal and that’s a big goal and you can just so easily, you’re just so easily throwing it away. And I yeah, I I do see that people are having those reactions to interesting, to me selling the house. I know, it’s so weird. I love it when someone does something new. I’m like, oh, this is so exciting. I wonder what they’re doing next. And I kind of want know. I don’t know. And, and you know, sometimes when someone do goes and does something, I know that one of my other mentors, she’s doing the laptop lifestyle and I, with her key with one of her children, both of her children coming along, sometimes
DENISE:
My worst nightmare by the way. But anyway.
CLARE:
But you know, I watch it and I get to check in. Yeah. And I’m like, do I desire that? And I’m like, no, I actually don’t. And I watch it and I, I I check in all the time and I’m like, is this something I want? Is it not? And then I can go, no, actually, it’s not like I let going on holidays and that’s back to school, back to the routine. But I love that you know, that when you are sharing and changing and evolving, for some people it’s going to like inspire them to bits and Yeah. For other people, they’re not going to be on the journey and that’s okay.
DENISE:
It’s totally okay. It’s totally okay. But I think people listening, you know, you might not relate to going, oh, lucky bitch Denise, you know, you’re worried about selling a multimillion dollar house. But I, I do think I had that same feeling at the very start of my business of going, well, people are going to think I’m up myself if I write a blog, who am I to write a blog post? How self-indulgent? Who am I to self-publish my book? Like what a, you know, what a want to think that I have something to say. So those feelings don’t really go away, to be honest.
CLARE:
Which is a perfect segue, into talking about the book or the books in your case. I’ve only written one so far, I have to admit there’s already this part of me that’s starting to think about writing another one, but it’s like childbirth. I don’t even know why I would be contemplating writing another one, because I’m still in the thick of it right now. But what I wanted to talk to you about was maybe if we can start by sharing a little bit about what each of your books are. I’ve only read Get Rich Lucky Bitch and Chillpreneur, is there another book recently?
DENISE:
Yeah, so Chill and Prosper and is an updated version of Chillpreneur, which I think is a really interesting thing to talk about later. But, let’s go back. Let’s go back to the beginning.
DENISE:
So my, I grew up in a family, single parent, not a lot of money. We moved around a lot, but my family really valued books. So my grandmother really valued reading and books. My Mum was always reading when I was a kid. She left school at 15, you know, she wasn’t able to get an education or even, you know, really have much freedom in her life, but she loved reading. And so there was, no problem about just lying around reading all day when I was growing up. And I often, she’d let me read over her shoulder and that’s how, you know, she wasn’t super cuddly and snugly, but as long as I didn’t move, I could snuggle up to her and read over her shoulder. So I would be reading her like Danielle Steel books or whatever and she’d be like, are you up to this bit yet? Because it’d be like a sex scene. And I’d, I’d, I learnt to read really fast because she wouldn’t always wait. Sometimes she’d be like, you almost finished and then turn the page. But I learned to like speed read and, she’d take me to parties. I’d be the only kid there, but there’d always be a bookshelf. And so books for me were like, just such a live thing. Like we were taught, you never fold down the page. Like we just really respected books in general in my family. And so the idea of writing was something that I really held quite sacred. My Mum gave me a typewriter, like this one actually very similar to this for my ninth birthday, and, little, uh, electric Olivetti typewriter. And I started writing newsletters and not so much stories. I was never like a story kid, but I would be like, you know, little newsletters and updates.
And then I told the kids at school that my cousin was Kylie Minogue and I could get them a fan letter for $5 and because in the eighties if it was typed, I mean, come on, that’s official, right? Yeah, yeah. So I would type out a fan, like a fan letter and then sign Kylie Minogue. And so again, I don’t think my early kind of writing was necessarily like, you know, a literary kind of thing. It was very much just about like sharing information. I’d do newsletters when I moved, when I moved to the UK, I’d send typed newsletters back home to my family, like a newspaper column. So my first ever book that I wrote was when I was 22 and it was called Internet Dating Tips for Men. And it was because I was doing internet dating, I realized that people really sucked at it.
And being a Virgo, I loved to find ways to help and correct people and find better ways of them doing things. And I self-published it, but back then this was 2002, you couldn’t really do PayPal. You couldn’t really PDF things. So I had to go through an e-book broker for them to do the technology for it, you know, and sold the books for like $10. And so that was my first one. And then I wrote a couple, over the next couple of years, a book about losing weight for your wedding. That was one of my first businesses, creating a green and ethical wedding. Just things that I was doing. I was like, yeah, I’m going to learn something, teach something, learn something, teach something. And I’ve always been good at finding and collating hacks. So they were all my kind of early efforts, but when I started my business as a life coach, I knew that, you know, I should probably write a book from a marketing, you know, a marketing point of view.
So I wrote that first book Lucky Bitch in just a couple of weeks because I was procrastinating story of my writing life. And, self-published that in 2012, 2011 maybe. And then the following year, get Rich Lucky Bitch self-published as well. In 2017, I sold them to Hay House, both of those books becuase they were both just still selling. I think I sold like 20,000 copies by myself. And I pitched them a new book, which was, Chillpreneurl. And then last year they contacted me and they said we’d love to do a post covid update, like a post pandemic update. And I was thrilled because I hated the cover that they chose. Hated it. And also sometimes you put a book out in the world and you, when people’s questions come in, you’re like, oh, damn, I wish I’d thought of that to put in the book. So it was this amazing opportunity to add some of those case studies in there and more content and just, you know, just clarify things that, you know, people had questions on. And we renamed it, we renamed it Chill and Prosper and it got a new cover. So thrilled. And yeah, so that’s been my journey and I’m working at the moment on a memoir, so I’m working with a memoir coach and an editor and it’s freaking nightmare.
CLARE:
Why is it a nightmare?
DENISE:
Because I love the idea of writing. I hate actually writing. Yeah. Yeah. And so each of those books, I feel like I’ve been like, it’s super, you know? Right. It’s so painful. You can, you can see it all. And then actually getting it done on paper, I find really, really hard and switching genre now, now I’m like, oh, self-help. And business books are so easy, you just tell people what to do. Mm. But writing memoir, oh, I find it a complete fucking nightmare. So I’m experimenting with different ways. And what I’ve done this week, which was a really interesting experiment. I used a dictation app. So I was driving back from the farm, it’s about a 45 minute journey. And just that day I was just dictating things and I wrote like 10,000 words. Oh wow. But yeah. But, but then trying to, you know, because the dictation app isn’t perfect, you have to go and correct a lot of things. So I’m still trying to figure out, you know, I’ve written all of my books in different, different ways and I, I don’t think I still have a good process. And I, and, and I’ll tell you too, Clare, I don’t consider myself a writer Really. I feel like I’ve got so much to learn around writing and it doesn’t come easily to me.
CLARE:
Why don’t you write with a ghost writer? That’s what I did for my book. So she basically interviewed me, like we spent hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours on Zoom. And she took, the book is totally my words. That is not one thing in there that is in my words. And a few of my friends have said, oh my gosh, it sounds exactly like you. And I’m like, because I wrote the whole, I didn’t physically write it, but I wrote it. And that was all because she was guiding me through the questions and pulling it all together. So like
DENISE:
Ah really, well, I have done similar things. So Lucky Bitch, I just knuckle wrote it and just like did it like a university deadline where I’m like, last minute, get Rich Lucky Bitch is based on transcripts of my course. Oh yeah. So I sent that to an editor. All the transcripts they put it into, you know, coherent flow came back to me. I did that, did the final bits. The next one I did it with a coach / ghost rider. So I’d have to send her a chapter every week. She would add some stuff, I would add some stuff. And we had to do that every week for like nine months. I had hired a ghost rider to, to help me with the memoir. And it didn’t, he just couldn’t capture my voice. And, but what I realized is when I was doing the memoir course last year, I still haven’t figured out my memoir voice. And I can see I’m trying to be too literary. Yeah. And like I know I’m a great storyteller. I just haven’t figured out a way to bring that in. I can see there’s a lot of self-consciousness in my writing round it where I’m trying to be a bit too fancy. Yeah. A bit too clever. And I’m like, I shouldn’t just tell it Hello. Hey you.
CLARE:
Yeah.
DENISE:
Tell a story. But I haven’t nailed it yet, like I have in my business books, if that makes sense.
CLARE:
Well interestingly, me and my ghost writer, and I’ve had her on the podcast, Sarah. We spent months, we were just chatting and I get to the end and I’d be like, we’re going to talk about the book at all and. And we just clicked and we became like, friends we’re just chatting and we’d go and have coffee and things like that. And then when I got the first chapter, I said to her, this sounds exactly like me. And she’s like, well, that’s what I was doing. I was like, learning your voice, your tone of voice, the way that you say things. And there’s even some things that I don’t like that I do that I say, take that for example. I use the word literally a lot and like, we don’t need that. But me
DENISE:
Too mine. So awesome. And like
CLARE:
Awesome I think, I think I got literally from the Kardashians. Sobut yes, it’s, it’s certain interesting process and, I am sure that this memoir is going be amazing however it comes together. Like all your other books are, they’re very, you know, I I’m very surprised that you don’t like writing because they’re very well written.
DENISE:
Yeah. I don’t know why I don’t. And I think that’s maybe it’s a ADHD but also I know this too. I’m probably putting in too many inputs into my life at the moment. And so part of I think clearing things to cluttering things, I need to make some mental space for it. Yeah. Because I know when I go for a walk, go for a float, the words flow. But I feel like at the moment I’m probably a little bit too much like on my phone. I’m too much in creative spaces in other ways that it, there’s just no room for the inspiration to come in. Mm-hmm. So I think that’s part of, you know, that thing of taking away Yeah. Taking away some of those things. The other books that I’m writing, sorry, I should have mentioned these too, is I realized that people would say to me, you know, I love your money mindset work, but it doesn’t work for my industry.
CLARE:
Yeah.
DENISE:
And so I’m starting to write, books, money Mindset for different professions. So I’ve done money mindset for writers, natural health practitioners, body workers and that, that obviously can be a whole series. And I’m working with an editor / ghostwriter on that, Chris Emery. And we still haven’t quite nailed the process on that. Like I’d really love to have like a bit of a, a factory production line for that and I’ve got ideas for it. But to be honest, the last 12 months was probably the busiest of my career in a long, long time. And I just didn’t have the bandwidth to really do it. So I’m, I’m trying to yeah, just make, make some mental space because I know that writing it is my calling in in lots of ways, but I’ve just put so many roadblocks in the way time and energy wise that you know, it’s, it’s time to not do that
CLARE:
<laugh>, it’s time to chill, <laugh> and Prosper. Yes. Yeah. Oh
DENISE:
Seriously, last year in particular, it was such a busy year because I was redoing my courses. Like a lot of things converged. I said yes to too many things and then I was like going like chill and prosper. I was like
CLARE:
Chill and prosper.
DENISE:
You know, promoting, that relaunch where I’d been like, oh my God, I’ve done it myself. I’ve committed to too many things. And so part of that process though for me is, is to set new boundaries to decide what you want to do, and I had someone be like, oh look, you’re doing all this work. And I’m like, sometimes that’s what you do and you get outta balance and then you renegotiate it. And that’s cool. That’s never said I’m perfect at, at doing that. I’m a like a apprentice preneur myself.
CLARE:
Yeah. And that’s why you’re good at teaching it cuz if you’d never been seen the other side as well and how easy it is to get all these bits and pieces, then, you know, maybe you wouldn’t be so good at teaching it.
DENISE:
Hmm.
CLARE:
So let’s go back to the book creation process. So you are, you’re obviously in the throes of writing a couple of different books at the moment with, and let’s maybe go back to some of your earlier books. Did you intend, like when you created them, were you like, this is going to be a bestseller? Were you out there manifesting a number of books that you were selling? Like what was the big thought or thinking behind them?
DENISE:
There actually wasn’t, you know, and I’ll be honest in that because I really saw the books as a practical, marketing tool. Yeah. I really did. One thing that I did have an emotional attachment to, and this is why I did go to the traditional publishing route, is because I wanted to see my books at an airport.
CLARE:
Yeah.
DENISE:
I didn’t care about bookshops necessarily, but like for some reason, becuase I was traveling all the time and I’d see those books there, I’d be like, oh my God, imagine seeing my book at an airport bookstore. So that was a goal. I didn’t really necessarily care about the bestseller lists or anything like that. And also because, um, you know, books still now for me are such a small part of my income compared to my course income. Right. So I was like, it takes just as much work, more work to write a book as it does to create a course. And you can make a hundred times thousand times a million times more out of a course than a book. So I, I really think I came at it from a very pragmatic point of view, but I’m always surprised when people belong by my book, to be honest.
DENISE:
And I’m surprised that it’s done as well as it has because, the thing that annoys me about books is that they’re a static thing. And I like having a podcast. I like having a blog. I like having social media because you can update it with new ideas and new nuances. You can feel what’s happening in the ether and adjust. And so books for me feel quite restricted, in a lot of ways. When I did the big update in 2017 to sell to Hay House. I mean there was a dozen examples in there of men who I’d quoted who were outed in the Me Too movement, you know, and then similarly now I’m looking at doing an, an update of, Lucky Bitch Get Rich, very sprinkle type update. Oh, I’m not going to rewrite it like I did the last one.
DENISE:
But there’s things that get outdated. Mm-hmm. There’s language that changes, there’s things that felt okay or, you know, a bit cheeky and flippant that like are bordering on a bit offensive now. And I’m really glad I got to do a post pandemic update because language does change and I feel like there’s been a massive shift in the last couple of years where just things just don’t, don’t sound right. And that’s why I think, anyone who’s considering self-publishing, it is such a good opportunity because you can move quickly, you can change things, you can have control over it. And I’m really lucky that I’m working with a publisher that is, you know, they’re, they’re open to shifting and changing things because a lot of them aren’t.
CLARE:
Yeah. Yeah. And I think that that’s, you know, symbolic of Hay House really as well, knowing their, their target audience and how times are changing and that they are happy to kind of, to change and to shift. I mean, I think something that’s really cool about having a book is that like, it’s an introduction to someone. And particularly I know for me, at one point in time, the lowest weight ticket way that someone could work with me was about $10,000. I think it was a mastermind or a group program or something. And someone said to me, is there any way I can work with you for less than that? And I was like, no, <laugh>. And it felt really awful, like kind of a bit elitist that, you know, that there was no way. And I said, you know, I’ve got my free, I’ve got heaps of free content that I create.
CLARE:
And I really, really wanted to have something. I had started a membership for that exact reason and I hated it. It was so much time and energy for so little financial return that I got rid of it. And for me, having the book is something that, you know, hopefully it’s not that, you know, once it’s done, it’s not this constant having to create new content or show up live or whatever, to keep it fresh. And I love the idea that you can be helping people who can’t perhaps invest at that price point. I know that you have a payment plan for, for Money Bootcamp, but even for some people that’s still just not an option. And there’s still a way where someone for $29 and sometimes you even have it cheaper than that, they can go pick up a copy and start taking learnings, implementing it and growing to that next level so that they are then ready to come and join another program or work with you in a different way.
DENISE:
That’s why everyone of every industry should have a book because sometimes it’s not even, you know, that you’re too priced out of the price point. I see a lot of people, they’re just booked out because, you know, they undercharge Right. And they feel like they need to work with everybody and they feel guilty and their impact is, you know, truncated as well. And so doing things like having a book, having passive income products that people can access whenever they want, it buys back your bandwidth so then you can help more people. And then you don’t feel guilty if someone says, oh, your prices are too expensive, or I can’t book in with you, because you’re like, well, here is some, here’s something you can do. So anyone in any industry should totally write a book at every stage of business and also every price point of business too.
Yeah. And there’s, I remember, um, a few people were like, oh, when I first wrote my book, they’re like, well, what would you know? You know, like, who, who do you think you are? And I was like, as long as you’re honest about your expertise and you know that you can help someone, you don’t have to know everything in the future. Just share what you know, you know, and it will help someone at that particular stage of their life. And a, a perfect example of this was when I had my second baby and I was really struggling with breastfeeding and it surprised me cause it was so easy the first time. And I remember just feeling absolute despair at like three in the morning, just going, oh my God, why isn’t he sleeping? Why isn’t he eating? Like, it was so stressful. And so I was googling around for a book and instead of like, you know, getting your baby to sleep kind of book, it was, is your baby breastfed or bottle fed?
Are they, and they had different books for zero to three months, three to six, six to 12, you know, whatever. And, and they weren’t hugely long books and I could read them on my phone, but I just thought what a gift to only solve a specific problem. Yeah. Because I felt like it was a solution to where I was at. And that’s really important. You might think, oh, I don’t know the next step. I don’t, I don’t know how to teach people to be multimillionaires, whatever. But it’s like, but what do you know that, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And that could be so valuable for someone. Especially, you know, there’s people especially mums, right? There’s three o’clock in the morning, just give me the solution, don’t make me trawl through a 300 page book.
CLARE (00:47:39):
I mean, on no level would I consider myself a parenting or, you know, child expert. But I’ve got a friend of mine that’s got, um, just had a second baby and she messages me all the time, these questions and I’m like, oh my gosh, you need to do this, this, and this. And I’m like, I actually do know a little bit about this, that for her, she’s like, oh my gosh, thank you. That was a game changer. And I’m like, it’s, it’s funny how we just disregard our own expertise in some ways and you know, exactly. Everyone has something, everyone has a skill. Everyone has a message to teach. And I think to your point, the more that you get clearer about that, um, it’s only kind of been the last 12 months that I really figured out exactly what my, my jam is and my expertise is, and my passion is. And I, I’ve just noticed such a difference in the way that, you know, I’m conveying it and coming across because it’s like, this is, this is the thing.
DENISE:
About you can tell on your social media, you know.
CLARE:
Ok, so you think everyone should write a book. and I love as well that you did it because I did my book in a way where I paid a ghost writer, I paid a publishing house. I’ve spent a lot of money in the process. But you actually don’t need to do that, do you?
DENISE:
There’s no perfect way to do it. You know, self-publishing is valid, traditional publishing’s, valid, e-books, physical books, kinder books, audio, all of that is valid. And also you can change your mind.
CLARE:
A hundred percent.
DENISE:
Like even though I went self-publishing and then traditional, it doesn’t mean that I can’t do both now. Yeah. You know, I’m, I’m still self-publishing books and I’ll probably do another one at some point with Hay House, they asked me recently, what’s your next book do? And I was like, no, just gimme, just gimme a break. I’ll be
CLARE:
Back in five years.
DENISE:
<laugh>. Yeah. Well, I said let’s swap by the end of the year. Maybe I’ll come up with something. But, there really, there are no rules. Yeah. And it doesn’t mean it’s your only shot at it
CLARE:
Yeah, a hundred percent.
DENISE (00:49:40):
Know, so I, I can look back at, you know, my first book, well, my first business book and, and see how I’ve evolved. But it doesn’t mean that, you know, I, that’s my only shot at it. It’s just like, cool. I can write, I can write another one with, with more perspective and different perspectives. So yeah. You, anyone can, well here’s the thing that I’ve realized recently. Nobody can stop you, but nobody can make you either.
CLARE:
So nobody can stop you, but nobody
DENISE:
Can make you either make you
CLARE:
Yeah. What does that explain what that means?
DENISE:
It’s, you have to decide that you are enough and that why not you? Yeah. You know, because no one, literally when I started, you know, saying I’ve got a book, I was shocked that people were like, oh, okay. Because I was thinking why do they believe me? And nobody stopped me from doing it, you know? And so I was, I kept on thinking, surely someone’s going to, I dunno, knock on my door, punch
CLARE:
Me out.
DENISE:
Yes. Yeah. And so no one could stop me doing it. But the flip side is no one’s there going, where’s your book? Where’s your book? Where’s your book? Like you have to, you have to just do it. Yeah. You have to decide just to do it. So that’s the conundrum that we’re always in. Right. No one can stop you, but no one can make you either. Mm-hmm. And it’s just like, why not you?
CLARE:
Something that’s coming through. Having spoken to a couple of authors now is the theme as well around, owning your power and, and you know, you’ve sort of touched on about like being, you’re, you’re an expert in something and also putting it out there. I got such a sense of imposter syndrome. I updated my, you know, I’m Clare Wood slide and I put author on there and I wrote it and I was like, that’s so weird. Like, how can I call myself an author? And, you know, and I didn’t putting the word bestselling author, it just felt so weird. And Tina was talking to me about how she found culturally that in America there’s a very different energy around owning your power and, you know, owning your accomplishments and speaking loud and proud about what it is that you, um, you do. So yeah, it’s been really interesting hearing that common theme.
DENISE:
Well, I had that exact same theme. When I first self-published 10, 10 years ago, I put it in my bio on my emails and it was just terrifying. But the, I climatized to it, you know? Yeah. When I started to, and now, I mean, when I meet people who are not in our industry, it’s so much easier to tell them that I’m a writer than anything else because I can’t be bothered explaining, you know? Because I used to be like, oh, I’m a, you know, money mindset coach cuz people go your book going. And I’d go, well, great. But it’s just, you know, an overall part of my marketing strategy, their eyes over and so I, if I meet new people, it’s so easy just to say you’re a writer. Everyone knows what that is. And even though I still think, oh, I’m not a real writer, it’s just so easy. I just like, yeah. I’m a writer. Oh, it was so funny. Willow was saying something, because we were trying to explain to her, you know, we’re like, we do want to move somewhere else and blah, blah blah. And she was like, be, is that the money? And we’re like, no, but it’s a really cool opportunity. But she goes, Mum, but you’re a writer. Just write another book then.
I was like, I love that she’s growing up in this because we go to a bookstore and I go, oh, can you see my book? And she goes, yeah. And then I’m like, oh. And I know that person and that person. And that’s Mummy’s friend and that’s Mummy’s friend. She’s just in that possibility that writers make money and write as a wealthy and you can just write a book. Yeah. And so she’s always just like, let’s write a book. You know, she writes little stories. She has these little cue cards where she was putting down all her, characteristic of all her characters in her book and stuff. And I’m like, I love that we can just talk to our kids about creativity and creativity being an abundant thing and, and creativity being a valid career choice too, right?
CLARE:
Yeah. I love that it’s the work that you are do, like when the way that you talk about money, well, we know this, it flows down into your children and the, the fact that it’s just so normalized, like, we’ll just write another book. Like if you want something, just go and write another book Mum.
DENISE:
She is so cute.
CLARE:
Doesn’t have to actually do the process behind it though.
DENISE:
Yeah, totally. But I’m like, yeah, OK, Willow. Oh, fine. But, um, yeah, I, I do think I would like to write a kid’s book, money book at some point, but, um, yeah, I’m just
CLARE:
Adding to just add it to the list. Add it to the list <laugh>. Yeah,
DENISE:
Exactly. But I do, I really do feel like I can see some future for me where I’m like a, a hugely prolific author and I just have to be gentle with myself. You know, I’ve got three young kids. Yeah, you know, I’ve got a lot of like business responsibilities and, you know, I’m, I’ve got a farm, I’m renovating a bank with my best friend. I’m so hard on myself that I’m not this like prolific author dashing out a book a month.
CLARE:
Yeah. And
DENISE:
I think that’s the hard thing sometimes with creativity. It’s just, it’s, we feel like it’s never enough and you feel like you’ve always got homework due and so you feel always behind.
CLARE:
Yeah. Yeah. And I, I know, I actually said to my therapist recently, I said, I feel like I’m failing in so many areas. And she’s like, how can you think that? And I’m like, that’s just, you know, like when I think about what ultimate success looks like in certain different areas, I feel like there’s still so far to go. And it’s funny how, yeah. We just can’t recognize, you know, recognizing where we’re at is, is
DENISE:
It’s the ruler personality, right? It’s never enough. You’re never satisfied. Because I know that if I nailed like, you know, writing two books a year, then I’d be like, well I should be able to write four books a year and then I should be able to write a book in a weekend. Um, because I know someone who can write a book in a weekend. So I’m like, there’s always, yeah, there’s always, it could be better, it could be more or that thing. And I just know that that’s my personality, so. Yeah. Sounds like it is yours too. We just have to be gentle with ourselves and that’s why mindset practices are so important. Um, not, and even if you teach mindset practices, that doesn’t count as your own.
Yeah. I, I really realize that holding space for other people’s mindset issues, um, is something I’m really good at. But I need to do it for myself too. Because I’m the same.
CLARE:
Yeah. I often find that I’m like, when I’m coaching, I’m sitting there going, huh, maybe I should do that. I’m like, the goodness sakes, you’re in launch. Why are you not going and getting a massage or doing something? And then I’m like, why am I I not doing that <laugh>? Good reminder,
DENISE:
<laugh>. Yeah. Well, last week I turned up for a massage a week early afloat. Sorry. And I booked a doctor’s appointment in a different state <laugh>. And so I was like, oh, so I had to go get an IV treatment and I was like, oh, you know, it’s been a really busy, this is my recalibration time and, you really need it. And I really, I really do. And I can feel that, this is a real, I can feel this is going be such a game changer year for me in so many ways. Shedding, responsibilities or she shedding things that don’t, that no longer work. Yeah. It’s not like that. They didn’t they did for a while. Yeah. And they don’t, and then doing the big travel at the end of the year, we’re taking term four off, and because my youngest at school, I can’t say it.
CLARE:
Oh, exciting.
DENISE:
No, I, I literally can’t say I’ve got contracts, speaking contracts, I can’t know what. But anyway, um, uh, my youngest at school next year and so we’re like, oh, this is a great window to do some travel. And there’s part of me that’s like, oh God, spending 24/7 with my kids and not being able to do work. It’s like a real, it’ll be a really great learning experience for me.
CLARE:
You’ll have the best time. I actually just did that at Christmas because our little one started school this year and we’re originally going away for a week. And I was like, we have no obligations. And then if you pull them out of childcare as well, I’m like, we’re saving a couple of thousand dollars just in not childcare. Yeah. And I mean we only went for three weeks, but I came back and I cannot remember the last time I’ve been that relaxed. Yeah. I appreciate job, my content. I did no work except the occasional posting on stories if I felt like it. And I am like, we need to make this part of regular life. The other thing that we did, boy went, we made sure that we had kids clubs in certain places and childcare, you know, trusted childcare along the way and really took that time. But, um, I’m,
DENISE:
I’m trying to convince my nanny to come with us.
CLARE:
It wouldn’t take a lot of convincing, surely
DENISE:
<laugh>. No, but yeah, she’s, yeah, I’m trying to convince her at the moment, but
CLARE:
I think you should definitely do it. Oh yeah. And the o the other thing that I noticed too, this trip was that because the kids are that age, you don’t, you don’t need to be in the pool with them anymore. And if you are somewhere with a swimming pool, I was like, I was like, this is what I dreamt about for years. It’s so much easier than it has been the sort of last couple of years of trying to travel with kids. So, oh, I hope you have the best, best time <laugh>. Well,
DENISE:
Yeah, I’m, it just feels like it’s a real, uh, like I feel like on the other side of it, I’ll be in a different phase of life. And so this year is preparing for that because I’ll have all kids at school. Um, I, I can tell from some of my friends who have older kids that I need to be, I need to have a bit more emotional bandwidth mm-hmm. <affirmative> for them Yeah. For the next couple of years. Cause I’ve really been focused on like, let me keep you alive, let me grow my business. Yeah. You know, let’s get all the things that are on the dream board and I, I want some, yeah. I just, I I know it’s a new phase of life and I actually have to hand in the first draft of my manuscript a week before we go mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So it’s like, oh, I have to, you know, like batch my content and I love those little deadlines just to be like, yeah, okay, okay, okay. And then, you know, hopefully the house will be sold by then we’ll know where we’re gonna be and I’ll just feel like, oh, that’s a real, I feel like it really just marks that next phase of life, man. I’m really excited about it.
CLARE:
I’m really excited for you too.
DENISE:
Financially free 23. That’s my, that’s Oh,
CLARE:
That’s my thing. I love it.
DENISE:
And I know we probably have to go, but that’s the thing too that might surprise people is, you know, I’ve made millions of dollars over the last couple of years, but I’ve also bought big things around it. So, I mean, even though I make a ton of profit, I still wasn’t really financially free, you know, and there was a choice in that I’ve paid off my mortgage several times and then I was like, Ooh, a farm. Ooh, I have near the beach <laugh>. And so I really, um, set an intention last year to be like, okay, no, it is time now. Because then I actually started going retired by 45. Mm-hmm. And, um, I’m 44 this year, so I, I can see that the universe, the cogs are turning to make that a reality. And I did the same thing. I wanted to be a millionaire by 35.
DENISE:
And making that declaration, things started to shift and change. And so now that, you know, retired by 45, it’s, it’s in motion and it feels so exciting. And that doesn’t mean I’m not going do my work. I just feel like it will give me freedom to do it in a, an even more creative way. You know, I am a creative person, but I’m like, I’m excited to see what happens when you, you really truly choose it. You know, and I do choose my work and I love my work, but it’s still my business. Yeah. You know, it’s still a thing that supports my dreams and all those kind of things, but I’m like, what’s on the other side of that where you just go, I’m just doing it just for the pure joy of it, and I can’t wait to see what that happens and I want, you know, to inspire other people to, to do the same.
CLARE:
Oh my gosh, that sounds so exciting. One of my friend’s parents retired, both of them retired at 40 and never worked her whole life. And I never really comprehended it until I went to their house and they lived in the English countryside in this massive manner. And I was like, wow, like, your parents just didn’t work from 40 years old onwards. And they just had this most amazing, fantastic life and Yeah, it’s so exciting.
DENISE:
Well, I can, I’m getting glimpses of it. So I took a painting course online painting course recently. So I’ve been painting at the farm, and that’s been really fun. And then I started ballet class again. Oh fun. And just, and I’m going twice a week to ballet, and this time I can afford to buy like all the gear that I couldn’t have as a teenager. So I’ve got like my ballet bag and my ballet wraps and all of I, and we don’t even have to wear our hair in a full-on bun. I’m like bun, the bun, like the bun donut, the net, the black scrunchy, the little skirt I’m all in. And I know that that’s the, that’s the cool thing too, is to be able to get joy not just from work. Cause I, yeah, I’ve put so much of my heart and soul into work over the last couple of years and it’s been amazing.
It’s created a lot of abundance. It’s helped a lot of people, but I know that I can even go to that next level of chill and prosper and it, and it’s okay to do it for me. And I, I can’t stop grinning when it going to ballet class. I’m like, I feel like a little kid again. Mm. You know, and it’s just like the joy that’s that it’s bringing me. So I’m like, oh, I’m, I’m super excited to see what that’s going to birth and not necessarily for work reasons, you know?
CLARE:
Yeah. How exciting. Well, we’ll all be watching your journey and seeing what comes next for you. Um, thank you so, so much for your time. And anyone who’s listening, I’ll put all of Denise’s links to her books, her course, her socials, all of the things in the show notes.
DENISE:
Denisedt, that’s where I am. Denisedt.com. @denisedt on Insta. I love hearing people’s manifesting stories, so tag me, tag us both. Let us know. What came up for you, Miranda. It, I love hearing from people, which is fun.
CLARE:
Fantastic. Thank you so much for your time today and we’ll chat soon. Thank you. Bye.
DENISE:
Thank you. Bye.
CLARE:
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