Leonie Dawson's Blog, page 2

so many tears, and so much love

Beautiful friends,

I want to be honest with you.

I feel like I’ve forgotten how to write. Forgotten how to tell you things. I’ve been changing and healing and evolving so much, and it feels like the communication lines have been cut somewhere deep in my soil.

But the page and this penpal connection of ours has been one of the most sustaining gifts for two decades now… and I know if I sit long enough at the keyboard, the story will emerge… the tears will fall… and the gems of wisdom will emerge from the mud.

*I’ve returned from a heart-opening adventure. I was asked to speak at the National Ausmumpreneur Conference, and it ended up being so much more than that.

It was soaked with so much joy, connection, insights & miracles.

I wanted to share it with you.

It started with the most miraculous of mundane things. Flung skyborne, hurtling through a portal, I wonder as I always do at the beginning of a journey: What story will unfold in the coming days? How will this change me?

At the airport, I’m met by one of my dearest friends Tam who has decided to join me on my journey. We scuttle our way through eastern Melbourne down to Geelong, marvelling at everything we see: the fields of canola, the vast quantities of electrical wires, a tractor manufacturing hub, unidentifiable fields of vegetables growing (“probably some form of brassica,” remarks Tam which makes me positively chortle).

I’ve never been to Geelong before. Hung with fog and festooned with church steeples, I’m fascinated by the town’s mix of historic homes and modern concrete. We spend some merry hours walking her streets, exploring all she has to offer.

The merriest of hours? The one where we find ourselves in a secondhand bookstore, gasping with delight, sharing with each other our most treasured childhood friends. I find an early edition of Enid Blyton’s “The Enchanted Wood.” There’s a certain kind of rapture being in a beloved place that’s just as beloved by the one you’re sharing it with.

I also got to meet and spend time with two of my beautiful Momentum Mastermind coaching clients – Johanna Badenhorst, a psychologist and founder of ADHD Her Way and Andrea Rae, an intuitive and mental health occupational therapist. We’ve just had two incredible months diving deep in the mastermind, and to come together in person felt even more special.

So much has happened in the gift of that mastermind, and that needs an email all of its own… but it has been one of the most profound things I’ve experienced in my career… so much so, after completing 8 weeks together, I’m starting another round in a week.

It feels like the sacred healer and intuitive parts of me are merging with the business strategist and guide… where women’s circle work and business growth combine.

It’s extra special to be there to celebrate Johanna as she took home Gold in the Online Education award. It felt like a beautiful new era for me as well… I’ve previously won a bunch of awards, including the Online Education award… and now this next evolution is getting to support other beautiful humans to win those awards and have those glorious successes. What joy.

There’s something extra special about getting to visit crystal stores with our own built in crystal intuitive with Andrea. We spend some angelic hours in the company of rock friends and new friends alike. Our Satellite Hearts is a cacophony of pink, bringing hippy goodness to a new generation. Kymba is tended to by some good humans who know and love the stone world, and I leave laden with crystal treasures… and one special gift for someone.

And then the time comes, and the stage calls.

I want to be honest with you… I used to find conference speaking SO EASY. I had it down to a fine art. I could russle up a deliciously creative presentation, ham it up on stage, and count on the laughs. I felt so competent and at ease in it.

And then last year, I felt called to start shifting the body of my work. To take business and weave it more deeply back into the spiritual and intuitive realms. And it’s felt like I’m right on the edge of my competence and confidence… like I’m digging deeper, and expanding my toolkit, and it’s breathtaking work. I’m speaking things which are more vulnerable. I’m channelling messages that take all my courage to say. And so now, when I stand on stage, my back sweats, and I pray: Please let me be a channel for Great Spirit. Please let me say the words that the souls here today need to hear.

Now, when I stand on stage, I can’t rely on knowing I can wow people with some zany repartee, can’t measure my success on how many belly laughs I can make erupt. Instead I have to hold the line, and trust what comes through me.

If you listened to the free recording of my Heart Centred Business Conference talk I gave last year, you’ll know the shift. And this talk continued on that thread of work, and took it to even deeper. It was sweat-inducing, and courage-expanding… but I’m so proud of myself for doing it.

It was a gift too, to connect with the beautiful souls who approached me afterwards to tell me how much it resonated with them.

And… I’ve had it recorded, so I can share it with you. It feels like these talks are becoming signposts in my journey and the way my work is deepening. It should be ready in the next week or so, then I’ll send it to your inbox, with love.

A miracle happened there, too.

On stage, I spoke about my birthplace – Proserpine, a tiny farming town in Northern Queensland.

When I came off the stage, Andrea came sweeping towards me.
“You have to meet these sisters… they are from Proserpine too!”

And I have to be honest with you… I feel worried sometimes, sharing my family name with people from my hometown. I worry (with good reason) that one of my vast extended and often batshi* family have warred with theirs, or news of our own internal family wars have met the outside world.

And I meet these three beautiful sisters, and there is this instant connection and familiarity. And in that small town way, we discover all the threads that link us together… how I shared a homeroom with one of them, one went to school with my husband’s cousin, the other’s husband worked with my brother.

And here we are, meeting on the other side of the country.

They were there supporting their sister Kim’s business. Kim is a family psychologist, and four years ago, she lost her beautiful son Ethan to leukemia. And like the earth angel she is… she channelled her broken heart into healing the world. She has created an app called Kids Connecting Parents to connect grieving parents and carers. When she told me her story, it was at the end of a conference session, and we barely had time to finish speaking before the crowd swept us away. I just held her arm and said: “I want you to know I understand the grieving thing. I lost my brother when I was young. I know how life-altering it is.”

The next night, she spotted me and came running over to hold me by the elbows. “We didn’t get a chance to finish talking last night. I wanted to tell you, I knew of your brother. I knew of your family when it happened. I’m so sorry it happened. You would have been the same age as my other son was when he lost his brother.”

And of course, many more tears fell. Sometimes the grief well just opens up, and all there is is water. And we held each other by the elbows, and I whispered to her through my tears:

“I know it’s impossible to even think it possible, but for me, my brother dying was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“How could that possibly be?”

“I know. And I didn’t think it in the early years of losing him, but I see it so clearly now. Losing my brother was a gift. It made me see life so differently. I could hold it all more now. Love it all more now. It just hurts to be a human who is missing the one who isn’t here anymore.”

I give her a rose quartz orb. I pray that it gives her solace when her grieving mama heart aches.

She, and her sisters, give me a more undefinable gift.

And I can barely tell you what happened, but it felt like some kind of deep ancestral healing took place between us. How I suddenly felt for the first time that maybe there were others like me when I was growing up in my hometown. I’d felt like an alien there, unable to understand the language or the current. It might have taken me 30 odd years to get an Autism diagnosis, but I’m pretty sure all the hundreds of kids in my primary school spotted it in me a while ago. There, that one. That freak. What is wrong with her? I learned to guard myself from the bullies, learned to hide my lack of friends by spending lunch hours in the school library. I don’t know if I was even friendly or open to friends. I was too busy being afraid and utterly alone in a sea of normals. I disappeared into the world of books instead, and made my own world there.

And when I looked in the youngest sister’s eyes, I had moments of remembering her from school. Snatched glances before I studiously looked away. There was no security in connection, didn’t want to open myself up to ridicule. But maybe, just maybe, there were others like me. Tender-hearted, sensitive spirits. Who were just waiting for the tsunami of school and a tumultuous childhood to be over so they could find their own soft place in the world.

And then 30 years later, we meet in a large room across the country, and we can meet each other as we are. Open hearts, oceans of tears, holding each other, and sharing some of our biggest stories with each other. We could meet each other, and see each other, and love each other. It was profound.

When we say goodbye, one of the sisters whispers:

“I’m so glad we met you at last.”

“I feel exactly the same way.”

 

***

 

And so I return the way I came.

Through the fields of (suspected) brassica, the vast links of electrical wires. Onto the plane that flings me over the Australian alps, back into the waiting bosom of Canberra.

The question I flew in with has been answered. The story has happened to me, and transformed me. I am damp with tears. I am braver than I’ve ever been. I am lifted, and I am loved. And I am grateful for it all.

Thank you for sharing it all with me.

 

Big love,

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June 2025 Life & Biz Review (Plus How Much I Earned)

Dearests!

A wee while ago I used to share monthly reviews of my life & business. I took a break from it but thought it would be fun to bring it back and do a review of my June! There’s been so much happening in my world, and I thought it would be a fun way to celebrate it all!

In this post I’ll share with you what I got up to on the life and business front, what I created, lessons learned & revenue created as well.

You can also watch it as a video:

or listen to it as a podcast:

You can also subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, PocketCast.

Prefer to read? Hooray! Let’s dive in!

June ended up being one of the biggest months I’ve experienced in a long time… it was SO full of inner and outer growth. I feel SO blooming grateful for having experienced it.

In late May, I decided to run June as a launch month. Usually when I do a launch, I focus on one program and run a longer month-long launch for it. This time, I decided to do a fun experiment, and do three shorter launches during it. I set the goal to do $250,000 in a month, and made up my usual money thermometer to get rolling.

As I pulled out big sheets of paper to brainstorm what I would do, I also had a wild idea to sell Backstage Passes where people could get behind-the-scenes daily updates of exactly what I was doing each day during the launch, lessons that came up during it, and the emotions I experienced during the launch. Before I could second-guess myself, I jumped into action, created a sales page and launched it to my list within an hour or two of having the idea.

It ended up being the most GENIUS idea, and I am SO SO glad I did it!

How I ran Backstage Pass:I set it up as a Telegram group, where I shared my daily updates. I’ve found using Telegram really effective for sharing daily messages in programs – people get instantly alerted to it and it’s so accessible to watch/read.I also enabled a channel option in Telegram so people could ask me questions, and another channel where they could chat together. That all worked really beautifully.I also ran weekly debrief calls where I did more intensive reviews of that week in the launch, what I learned, what worked, what didn’t work. Then I opened it up for Q&A. I also did a more extensive final debrief call to finish it out.All call recordings live in our Kajabi learning library for clients to easily access.Setting up the energetics of launch month

I set the scene first by doing a vision board of how I wanted to *feel* during launch month… along with painting up an important message.

At the business retreat, I had shared that I had felt frustrated when I pressed a bunch of different levers in my business and not gotten results out of it. Kerry ended up writing in a letter to me: YOU are the lever. And it sounds so simple but it was so potent.

*I* am the lever. *I* am the golden ticket. *I* am the silver bullet. *I* am the one that creates incredible success.

Then I launched a small group mastermind

I’ve been thinking about doing one for a long while, but I’d been second guessing the timing. With all the energy of launch month, I decided now was the perfect time. So I launched Momentum Mastermind. I had 22 beautiful humans join.

And holy WOW… I’m so glad I did.

So quickly, it got so very deep. And my level of coaching deepened to this whole other level. And it wove into the most incredible tapestry where I brought in some deep intuitive healing as we went.

For years I’ve been wondering why when people said they wanted to do something, and I taught them how to do it, not everyone would just go and… do the thing. They’d still be stuck, even when I’d given them all the knowledge. And I’ve been realising more and more that I needed to interweave the *inner work* and the *energy work* with the strategy and knowledge work.

Momentum has been the most incredible experience for that already.

Here’s what I wrote in the first two days of it:

And the feedback?

It has been so potent and wild and powerful. And that experience has continued to deepen.

Initially when I advertised Momentum, it would include one hour of group coaching a week… but as soon as we began circling I felt intuitively it needed more. It’s ended up being 3-4 hours of group coaching calls per week. And I am ASTONISHED that not only am I able to do this, but I’ve enjoyed the absolute bajeezus out of it, and it hasn’t drained me at all. It’s total evidence to me in the ways I’ve grown my energetic capacity hugely this year.

I feel so profoundly honoured that I get to do this work, and experience these moments with these souls. It’s so very obvious that we were contracted to do this work together, and it is an honour to hear their stories, witness their shifts, and see them feel lighter and brighter. From that place… all miracles can be achieved.

Six weeks into running Momentum, and I just feel so blooming LUCKY. This has well and truly changed the trajectory of my work and deepened it. It has already been one of the BIGGEST miracles of the year for me.

Energetic work of launch month

During launch month, I realised that I needed a new money container. I realised I don’t actually have a purse – 99% of the time when I’m out, I’m with my husband and he carries everything in his pockets. The rest of the time, I cart around a big leather satchel so I can put all my creative packrat supplies in there. I realised this when I was on the Gold Coast, looking in the Louis Vuitton store with some of my mates, and I was carrying stuff around in a $5 tote bag I bought at a markets. Ha!

I felt symbolically I needed something that could hold my gold. Louis Vuitton isn’t really my colourful maximalist style, plus I wasn’t at the point of feeling joyful in spending thousands on a purse. I ended up buying a pink heart handbag from Camilla that says “COM AMOR” on it – “With Love.” That felt like a beautiful upgrade.

Last stage of the launch: The Academy

For the last couple of weeks of the month, I also did a promotion for the Brilliant Biz & Life Academy and then closed doors for enrolments. I’m not sure when I’ll open doors again – either later this year, but probably next year.

This month, I’m running a new updated live round of Money, Manifesting & Multiple Streams of Income. It’s been so powerful deepening the experience for it. I also will do another round of Big Money, Big Impact in the next few months – the energy last time was just so delicious and I loved seeing everyone’s results flying in daily.

I’m so proud of everything I’ve already created with the Academy with over 100 courses and templates in there… and I’m excited to continue deepening the journey in there. It really is a revolutionary membership for entrepreneurs.

How did Backstage Pass go?

I enjoyed the absolute bejeeeeezus out of doing Backstage Pass and giving people a full behind the scenes pass into my launch month. It’s kind of a kooky idea that I haven’t seen done before. The humans in there were 10/10 lovely, and I adored getting to share and chat and debrief with them each week.

It also taught me so much about how to lead myself through the emotional ups and downs of launching, and model the highest evolution I could in the moment. It was blooming DELICIOUS to see how helpful it was for them too!

Final results of the launch:

And incase you want to nosey deep dive into where the sales came from… here’s a handy dandy pie chart!

And lastly – what I spent on paid advertising for the launch.

And lastly – the numbers you’ve all been waiting for… I ended up with $135,000 in cash and close to $140,000 in sales for the launch period (the sales are higher due to payment plans being purchased that will be paid off over the next month).

I didn’t reach the $250,000 goal I originally set… *and* I am genuinely so incredibly happy with how the month turned out, how much I learned, how much I earnt, and all the blessings along the way.

A poster I added to over the month of all the things I learned along the way… the most precious and sacred wisdom gems that I treasure…

My business has been doing around 7 figures since 2014, but I still want to keep these big numbers in perspective and not take them for granted. Earning almost $140,000 in a MONTH is *WILD*… when my husband and I worked full time, we used to earn less than that in a YEAR with BOTH our salaries. $140,000 in a month is beyond so many people’s wildest dreams, and I want to celebrate the absolute bananas out of it.

Plus it’s not just $140,000 in money… I genuinely had the most incredible month, and feel like I grew exponentially. My capacity to hold energy, lead, coach and manage myself was astonishing, and SOOOO much bigger than I think I’ve ever experienced.

Such a holy wow. I am so, so, so proud of myself. So grateful. So heart open wide at the miracle of it all.

Life goodness:

And while all this magic is happening in my business… there’s still my big, beautiful life too, filled with so many precious moments.

We ended up dogsitting one of our cousin’s dog for 5 weeks. He is such a goofy Labrador, and it delighted my heart SO much. I’ve *always* felt like I’m a Labrador or Golden Retriever in human form… so to have a real live one in the house felt like a dream come true! We spoiled him wildly with all the comfort and cuddles and massages he could cope with.We went on lots of walks… I really do love walking in Canberra’s winters. The sky is so beautiful, and it’s lovely to stride along in boots and a big puffy jacket.I made a new friend! It was such a joyful night of gigglesnorts and synchronicities. What a joy!I found a wonderful new osteopath Kat. As a hypermobile hottie, osteopaths are heaven sent for keeping my bones in place. I think I was holding out on trying to find one here because I ADORED my Noosa osteopath so much (Dr Sophie Toland). And then I found Kat, and it was total connection and joy all round, and I feel so grateful to have an osteopath support in my corner again.And lastly… two of my biggest life blessings in June:

June was a work of art… rapturous, filled with growth and gladness and evolution.

I am so, so proud of myself, and in awe of the universe.

I’m arms wide open saying: yes, thank you. Yes please to more just like this.

Thank you for sharing the journey with me… I’m excited for what’s more to come!

Big love,

The post June 2025 Life & Biz Review (Plus How Much I Earned) appeared first on Leonie Dawson | Goals, Marketing + Creativity For Glorious Humans.

Magical Canberra

My loves,

Last time I wrote to you long, diary-style… we’d just moved back to Canberra.

Today, I want to share with you all the joys & good things that we’ve been doing since we moved back.

It’s been 8 months since we moved back to Canberra, and I swear we’ve done more than we did in 6 years on the Sunshine Coast.

Living by the beach was so beautiful, and I’ll never regret our time living near Noosa. It’s just a different kind of goodness from what I get living here. Canberra with all its galleries, museums, shows and possibilities feels like it stimulates my brain and spirit. It’s felt like such an expansive and enriching time. I’m so grateful for it all… the leaving and the returning!

First thing I got to do being back in Canberra was probably the most Canberra-ish experience I could have.

I took my eldest daughter to a Chat 10 Looks 3 live show at Australian National University. If you haven’t heard of Chat 10 Looks 3 – it’s a podcast run by two Australian journalists/authors/TV presenters – Annabel Crabb and Leigh Sales. The show is basically them gasbagging about what they’ve read, watched and cooked lately. I’ve listened to them on and off for a decade… plus we as a family loved watching Crabb’s TV shows taking a family back in time: Back In Time For Dinner and Back In Time For The Corner Shop. So getting to see them live was SUCH a treat.

Plus, we had a side quest while we were there… we realised we had just enough time to speed-walk into the heart of the city plaza. It was sticky hot, and a wild wind was blowing, and Canberrans were out in the early evening ready to party. I loved careening around with my girl, both of us feeling like tourists in a busy city. We went on a fruitless mission to try and find the Sonny Angel collectibles she is currently obsessed with. Once we realised we were running late, we grabbed an Uber back to the concert hall. This sounds so mundane when I write it out like this, but after living in a regional area for 6 years, it was a complete novelty. We were like country mice in the big smoke, agape at it all!

As for the show… gosh, it was wonderful. As an extra treat, the show was introduced by Australian National University’s Vice-Chancellor Genevieve Bell, who pulled out ANU’s visitor book to regale us with fascinating tales of who had walked through those halls. And the show itself? Crabb and Sales are SUCH smart, eloquent, funny women who are just so ridiculously talented with enormous brains. It was a delight to inspire my big kid with that calibre of brilliance.

We also went to see Steve Backshall‘s live show on Oceans. If you don’t know who Steve is – he’s like the love child of Steve Irwin and Bear Grylls. He’s a British naturalist, author and TV presenter of shows like “Deadly 60.” My youngest kid is animal obsessed, and Steve has been a hero of hers for years. We managed to get ourselves front row tickets and it was incredibly cool. Steve’s just so gloriously enthusiastic about wildlife, and it was contagious to be around that level of excited.

Plus the man is just so freakishly talented – he’s a real Renaissance kind of dude. Author of over a dozen books. TV presenter. Fluent in 4 languages. Winner of a BAFTA, Emmy nominee. Explorer. Triathlete. Won “Extreme” category for the UK Tough Guy race. Black belt in Judo. Ran across the Sahara Desert. Married to an Olympian. Father of 3 kids, including twins. He & his wife have won charity fundraiser awards for the amount they’ve raised for the World Land Trust. Seriously – what a human.

On another note — I did manage to make Steve giggle. At one point, he said he wanted us to guess what sea animal he was going to talk about next. And with that, he produced a tiny piano. My brain made instant calculations. The only two songs he could play on a piano that would be immediately recognisable for a sea animal was either the JAWS theme song, or “Baby Shark.” Either way, the answer was one and the same. And without even thinking, I yelled out “SHARK!” before he could even lay his fingers on the keys.

Steve burst into giggles, and looked over at me and said “You know, I’ve done this show HUNDREDS of times all over the world now, and nobody has EVER guessed that before I even played anything. Well played!”

So there you go, guys. That dude may be able to scale mountains and get honorary doctorates, but I can still fuck up his jokes.

He really was wonderful though. It’s contagious to be in the same room as accomplished and passionate as him.

It also makes me wonder if I should think about doing live shows around Australia some time. Would that be fun?

What else what else?

We went to the National Museum of Australia’s Pompeii exhibition.

Holy smokes, that was POWERFUL.

I wasn’t expecting it to be as emotional as it was… There’s so many parts of it that I found profoundly touching. I mostly moved around the room, silently weeping.

You walk in, and are presented with a video depicting what life was like in Pompeii. As you walk further into the exhibition, there are walls constructed on both sides made to look like villas. On one side, there are shadows of the people of Pompeii walking through 2000 years ago. On the other side, tourists visiting the ruins in modern day times.

I just felt this deep anxiety and empathy for what the people of Pompeii went through in the eruption. How one ordinary day, their world ended.

And then the artefacts – the incredibly beautiful mosaics and artworks that have been recovered. It was spellbinding artistry. Then the most heart wrenching piece of all… the cast of bodies found. It took my breath away.

For the climax – four times an hour, there is a simulated eruption. The beautiful mountain which is projected on the far wall above the town begins to rumble and shake. The lights flicker, and then the mountain erupts. Suddenly, a cloud of ash barrels towards you, and covers the walls around you in a crush of sound. And then… silence. Only dim darkness, and the soft sound of my own weeping, clutching my children tight.

Such a potent experience. And from those sobering depths… can I also just say something incredibly shallow? The accompanying Pompeii gift store was 10/10. Got some ridiculously good Italian meringues there. It made me laugh, the duality of it all.

On my bucket list for decades, I’ve wanted to see Daryl Braithwaite in concert. If you’re not an Australian, let me explain who Daryl is…

His album The Rise and song The Horses were a massive hit in the early 1990s. I remember my older brother buying the album and being obsessed with it. I’ve stayed a Daryl fan, and was THRILLED when a few years ago, I heard a brand new song on the radio that I was enamoured by:

Imagine my delight to discover it was a brand new Daryl song – his first top-50 single in 27 years. So to see Daryl LIVE? This man who provided the soundtrack of so much of my childhood and beyond? Priceless!

Getting to the concert gave me another delightful side quest. My love and I turned up to the city to discover it was the first day of the National Multicultural Festival, and we had to walk through the festival on the city walks to get to the concert. The streets teamed with food stalls from around the world, belly dancers, buskers, and stages with performers.

We pause enraptured to listen to the most spellbinding singer whose voice and presence pierce straight into me. It is Grammy nominee Tenzin Choegyal. Those moments spent hearing him were like the thrum of a drum, it reverberates in me still. I could have just listened to him and gone home happy.

Side note: for anyone who has ever uttered the words “Canberra is boring,” may I lovingly ask you WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT. This city is the world of delightful surprises at every turn.

By the time we were in the concert hall waiting for Daryl to come out, I was positively vibrating with excitement.

And then we arrived and the music started and it was so very loud and I began to panic and feel like the music was genuinely going to make me shit my pants, I was so overwhelmed.

I lasted five minutes before writing a message in my notes app to show my husband: “I really hate this.” He sympathetically nodded and patted my knee and I thought “Righto, if I really wasn’t ok, he would take me home. I’ll just stay for a bit longer.”

And I did, and all of a sudden after another ten minutes, my body got used to the sound, and I actually started liking it, so I wrote him another note to let him know I was ok. And then eventually I progressed to even loving it! What a blessing!

Afterwards when we were out in the quiet, my love explained to me that it was a common experience in rock concerts – that it first feels like an onslaught until you acclimatise. And I just hadn’t experienced it given my concert taste extends to soft folk like Sarah McLachlan and James Taylor.

Anyways I’m very brave and look at all the progress I made. Also I’m going to see Opeth for my husband’s birthday later this year and I’m going to have to uplevel again to cope with a metal concert. 😆😆😆

Despite the initial moments of having total sensory overwhelm, I really did adore seeing Daryl in concert. It was a joy to see him on stage, 76 years of age, still so obviously loving what he was born to do.

And the best part? When he kept “Horses” to play as the last song of the night, and made it last for 15 minutes by getting the audience to do so many rounds of chorusses with him. He said, mid-song: “James Reyne once told me that playing 42 rounds of this chorus was incorrigible. It probably is.” And we all laughed, and kept singing. It was absolutely joyous and if there is any song that deserves to be relentlessly enjoyed incorrigibly, it’s Horses!

 

We’ve had some glorious walks through the National Gallery to see exhibitions. Just to be in that space fills my heart with joy. It’s been a holy temple of creativity for me and Chris for over 2 decades now.

Some of my favourite memories of my 20s was meandering through the hallways with him, looking at all the beauty. And now we do it with our teen and tween in tow, and that feels astonishing in its own way.

My favourite artwork I’ve seen so far this year came by way of serendipity. Outside the gallery is an enormous new sculpture by Buddhist sculptor and artist Lindy Lee called Ouroboros. And that’s stunning – apparently even more so at night when lights inside make it pierce like starlight. But that wasn’t my favourite piece.

Instead, it was when an enthusiastic gallery guide greeted us, and whispered to us in reverential tones that we simply MUST go see the small gold scale model of Ouroboros that’s housed inside the gallery. I’m so glad they pointed us the way, because we would have missed it. It was a fraction of the size of the statue, but made of solid gold. It glowed in its luminescence, and I was spellbound by it.

I’m excited to return to the National Gallery soon to see their new exhibit Cézanne to Giacometti. Be still my beating creative heart!

One of our daughters is animal-obsessed, and has been asking to go to the zoo as her birthday present every year since she was four years old. We love the National Zoo & Aquarium so much we have annual memberships… that way we can visit more regularly to talk to our otter and penguin and white lion and sun bear friends. It’s so very special.

Another one of our favourite places – the National Library. They have some fascinating exhibitions to marvel at. Mabo v Queensland chronicling the legal fight to recognise Indigenous land rights was so moving. The Treasures Gallery has some stunning pieces of Australian history – including that brilliant bust of poet Henry Lawson. He not only had an extraordinary mustache but his mother is extraordinary too – Louisa Lawson was one of the suffragists which helped Australia become one of the first countries in the world to give women the vote.

The cafe at the National Library is also one of my most beloved. I always feel radiantly blessed to get to sit beneath those stunning mosaics and eat delicious food and people watch all the fascinating humans coming through that hallowed space. Eating breakfast there with Chris is my favourite date. (Also, following it up with a wander through the companion bookstore!)

Questacon – the National Science & Technology Centre – is still a hit with our kids even now they are a teen and tween. Their LEGO exhibition was particularly brilliant.

Imagine this — if you will. You are a dancing in an enormous museum. The vaulted ceiling is illuminated in fluroscent lighting, and the crowd sweat-dances its way through an anthem of 80s music. An enormous dinosaur statue looms over you and your old cubicle boss as you sing loudly along to Cyndi Lauper.

And then you take your headphones off. And the only sound you hear is people mumble-singing badly, and the squeak of their shoes on tiles. And all you can do is laugh laugh laugh laugh laugh, because an 80s Silent Disco at the National Museum is the best and most ridiculous invention that’s ever been created, and you’re ecstatic just to be there and to be alive.

And then the season turns, and the longest Canberra summer you’ve ever known ebbs away. The leaves begin to turn, and it’s such an eagerly anticipated event after 6 years in the tropical evergreens that you take detours just to see them, just to crunch through them underfoot.

I swear the vibrant colours do something nice to my eyeballs, a euphoric kind of dopamine at each splash of red.

And what would Autumn be without a pre-dawn adventure to watch dozens of hot air balloons inflate and take flight together, in great clouds of joy?

Oh, Balloon Spectacular, I missed you so.

And then there’s the spontaneous days where we start off aimless, and find ourselves at the National Portrait Gallery… only to discover I’ve matched my outfit perfectly to the fluro kaleidoscope of a Joan Ross exhibit. This exhibit did something absolutely marvellous to my eyeballs as well. It was a multimedia extravaganza of collage and video and paint and drawing and mixed media… and it made me very happy as a fellow creative who refuses to choose just one medium to express herself in.

Also: there was a moment in this exhibition, where I sat watching this gorgeous visual delight, and my two daughters came up and sat beside me, leaning their heads against me, and my husband stood behind us, and I had this moment of sweet euphoria and contentment all at once. I want to remember that moment.

Another spontaneous adventure on another day, and we end up at Old Parliament House. Except now it’s apparently called the Museum of Australian Democracy, but I refuse to call it that just like I refuse to call Tuggeranong’s shopping centre anything but the Hyperdome. I’ve got a fondness for the name I first fell in love with them by, so I won’t updated my internal branding for them. Ha!

Having said all that… there was a fantastic exhibit about Australian democracy… and it felt deeply important in times like this. I teared up at that quote, I must say.

Two of the biggest reasons I love Canberra is:
1. All the cultural institutions
2. The nature. It’s utterly perfect for hiking in.

And so one gorgeous weekend, I took my 11 year old and her best friend on a 6km hike through the hills. We passed through big mobs of kangaroos, found the most enchanted creek, spotted so many birds, got lost and had to stepping-stone across a river to get back… it was perfect.

My youngest had a school sports carnival on one day which she decided she didn’t want to go to. So instead we wagged school and had the most perfect morning at the National Archives in their gorgeous historic buildings. An exhibit of National Geographic photographic award winners. Another exhibit on how the Australian Constitution was formed, and the process by which it is amended (that sounds incredibly nerdy, but it was surprisingly accessible and interesting!)

A glorious morning spent walking at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve… one of the most magical places I’ve ever known. It feels like pure peace just to be with her. It’s been the sight of so many special moments for me – including the place where I had my inner marriage ceremony and where I had a goddess maternity photoshoot just hours before my waters broke with my first daughter.

I met a new friend who just moved to Canberra a few months ago. She said to me in reverential tones: “The land spirits are just so beautiful here… there’s something really special about it. And then we went to Tidbinbilla. And oh… my… goodness.” And I couldn’t help but smile and nod because I remember exactly that feeling when my love and I first found Tidbinbilla and first fell in love too. And how it still feels the same, over and over, walking beneath the gums, listening to the wind wash over the mountains and through the forests, peace in every breath.

Then this tender miracle. So – as you know, I’ve lived here before. Last time, in fact, we lived only about 100 metres away from our current house. And I’ve walked over and around the nearby hills so many times. But it’s only this time that I discovered her… The Grandmother Tree. Perched high closeby, I found her not long after we’d moved back.

Spotted her at a distance and was inextricably drawn to her. Pulled up the mountain to her. Sat at her feet in wonder, feeling like she was the oldest of friends. Rested my back against her trunk, looking out across the valley and towards my beloved Brindabella mountains. It was there I channelled through Creative Goddess Embodied, and taught some of the classes in it, magpie warbling above me. There that I would go to experience distance healings. There that I grieved the death of an old friend. There that I collected rosehips and resin and made a smudge bundle to smell when I needed to remember the earth. There that my youngest daughter asked me to paint with her, giddy at the magic of it all.

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And and and… I’m back in my original women’s circle run by my dearest heart-friend and mentor Deb Namara. The one I’ve been in since I was 21 years old. I look over sometimes at another circle sister who I first met when we were sweet and wildly energetic 20-something year olds… and now we are both mothers of two in our 40s. And we look onwards and learn from those in the circle who are in their 60s and 70s. All these stages and phases of womanhood and life. It is a remarkable and holy blessing.

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And… more beautiful city culture goodness already booked in the calendar. James May‘s live theatre production on the history of explorers. Trent Dalton’s Love Stories play – based on one of favourite books. And of course, Opeth at the Sydney Opera House for my husband’s birthday. (Pray I do not actively shit my pants for that one.)

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This, and so many more memories. With so many more to come.

Here I am, grateful for it all. Grateful for all the adventures we’ve had across this beautiful country. Grateful for the years we’ve spent away. Grateful for the ways that Canberra continues to expand my brain and ground my spirit and enliven my creativity.

I am so very very lucky.

Canberra is a love story. And I’m lucky to be living it once more.

All my love,

The post Magical Canberra appeared first on Leonie Dawson | Goals, Marketing + Creativity For Glorious Humans.

Why I’ve changed

 

Dearests,

You may have noticed a difference in my energy lately… I think it started becoming noticeable early in the year, and now as the months go by, it keeps compounding.

I’m at once more grounded and alive, more grateful and excited, and my capacity to create and share and connect is getting bigger.

A coaching client just asked me what was causing these changes, and I shared with her the story. I thought you might like to hear it too.

You see, I’ve been on a healing quest for a while now. It started a few years ago when I tried out Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Z, my genius assistant at the time, had a very handy degree in Psychology, and we had this conversation:

💙Z: “I notice you aren’t in a great space right now. Are you still going to therapy?”
🦄Me: “I was… but it was making me spiral even more. I started second guessing all my thoughts and myself. I thought CBT was supposed to be gold standard, I don’t know if I’m doing it wrong.”
💙Z: “Oh… it’s gold standard for NEUROTYPICAL people. For neurodivergent people, it can worsen symptoms.”
🦄Me: “Well. SHITTTT. What is gold standard for a neurodivergent person then?”
💙Z: “Here’s the thing… there’s no gold standard. There’s not enough research on neurodivergent people. It’s more of a pick and mix bag of what is helpful to YOU. Some people find Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helpful. Some people find equine therapy helpful. Some find somatic therapies helpful. It’s really about working out what works for you. What has worked for you previously?”
🦄Me: “I’ve always found intuitive healing and mentoring with people like Kerry Rowett and Hiro Boga to be hugely helpful… but I somehow started thinking I SHOULD be doing CBT instead because that’s more real and scientifically validated somehow?”
💙Z: “If it works for you, that’s completely valid. You can just claim that and do that instead.”
🦄Me: “Wow. I wish every neurodivergent knew this.”

Z is a very very smart human, and I’m SO GRATEFUL we had that conversation, because it was a real turning point for me.

I signed back up with Kerry to do regular sessions with her and started clearing through the energetic dross I’d built up. Nine months ago, I signed up with a new mentor and mastermind, based on this deep intuitive knowing that it was needed. That intensified the healing journey for me even more.

Here’s what I realised: I needed to heal my relationship to fame and success. I had barnacles on my spirit built up from it. You see, I’d experienced a small amount of fame and success, and I’d experienced the duality of it… both the blessings and the challenges of it. I’d experienced the abundance and the fulfilment, and I’d also experienced projections, trolling and conflict. I didn’t know how to hold the duality at the time, and so I see so clearly how I retreated. In 2017, there was a moment when I looked at my young children and dear husband, and I chose them.

I made a decision to put an invisibility cloak of sorts over myself and my business to create an impermeable sanctuary for me and my family. I decided I just wanted to work with clients who knew me and loved me. I knew I could run a small, streamlined business that brought in a million dollars a year and that I could run with a part-time assistant. So that’s what I did, and it was the perfect thing to do. I got to still create and share and do my work in the world, and it was easy and abundant and filled with joy. And I homeschooled my kids for a few years and I watched them bloom and grow, and we made the happiest, sweetest, gentlest family life we could. I will never, ever regret that decision. A 10/10 life choice.

And then, and then… I felt inside me that I wanted to experience expansion again. Experience business growth, share my work with more people. And now I’ve been doing the work of healing my relationship to fame, success and business growth. I’ve written letters and burned them. I’ve worked on deepening my understanding of why people have behaved the way they have, and why I behaved the way I did. I’ve made healing art. I’ve done rituals. I’ve forgiven people. As a Scorpio, learning forgiveness is a revelation – one I didn’t think possible for people of my ilk. And yet, there it is. I can forgive. All of it, all of this, so deeply important and needed.

Next, I realised I needed to shift the way I thought about expansion. When I thought about growing myself and my business, I immediately worried about my nervous system and how it could stay regulated during it. For many years, I have relied on contraction and strong boundaries to keep my nervous system regulated. I said no to most things. I constrained my work hours and my social activities. I thought it was the only option I had.

And then I realised that there was another way to consider nervous system regulation. That I could work on *expanding* my capacity instead. That instead of doing less to cope, I instead worked on my nervous system’s ability to regulate to a new level. Instead of retreating, I could use other tools like breathwork to regulate.

I also discovered serendipitously that I had unresolved primitive reflexes. One of my dear friends is an Occupational Therapist, and one night as we went out for dinner, she told me all about the latest conference she had been on about primitive reflexes. Say, for example, the startle reflex that infants have? That reflex resolves for most people. But for a variety of reasons, it doesn’t resolve for everyone, and they can cause a range of neurological and physical issues. I was fascinated, and she showed me the physical test you can do to see if someone has an unresolved Moro reflex (this is the startle reflex that you see in infants).

And as I did the test, my arms immediately began to flail wildly and uncontrollably. “Don’t be an idiot!” she laughed at me, thinking I was faking it. “I promise you, I’m not doing this on purpose!” I told her, wide eyed. “Damn, Lones… that’s a really significant unresolved reflex you’ve got there. That reflex would be going off for you constantly during the day without you even being aware. You may not have the full physical arm flail happen, but your stress receptors would be going off in your brain. So if you were at the grocery store, any loud noises or beeps or bright lights could be setting off your startle reflex and causing a huge amount of stress for you. But… there are things you can do to resolve this reflex as an adult.”

I stared dumbfounded at her. That’s exactly how I felt in stores. My brain would feel on fire from being in one. I attributed it to being an Autism symptom that I’d never be able to heal. And now I was discovering it was something that could be fixed? Wild.

So at the beginning of this year, I made the decision that 2025 was the year I resolved my primitive reflexes. There’s a range of different ways you can do it, including working with occupational therapists. I ended up doing a bunch of in-person sessions with Dr Sharon Williams who is a chiropractor/kinesiologist/witchy woman with a million healing modalities. And let me tell you… they have made a huge, huge difference in my life. It is absolutely WILD. And I feel like this was a really important part of helping my nervous system to regulate.

So much so that when I was away for our business mastermind retreat, I couldn’t believe that I didn’t experience overstimulation or overwhelm during it. Usually after a full day of socialising or intense activity, I am glazed over and non-verbal by the evening. And at retreat? I was not. Even my friends noticed. “Leonie… you’ve CHANGED. You’re managing this so well! I’m so impressed and happy for you!” I think it’s testament to all the healing work I’ve done on this.

And then bringing all of this healing and expansion into my business and work. The level of my work has deepened and become so much more powerful because of it. And I’m able to create and launch and hold space at a level I’ve never been able to do before. Just this year I’ve birthed 2025 Dream Quest and then led the most amazing circle of women through some deep soul work in Creative Goddess Embodied.

Last month I ran Big Money, Big Impact – a 21 day coaching container with hundreds of students and incredible results… and after such an intensely wonderful experience, I would ordinarily need 1-2 months of quiet time to recover. This time? None. I was chomping at the bit to create the next thing. And I did! I created Backstage Pass, and am enjoying the absolute bejeezus out of that. And I’ve got Momentum Mastermind starting soon, and I’m astonished at how much my capacity has widened.

I feel so incredibly grateful for the healing and miracles I’ve experienced during this journey… and so very excited for what’s next. What an absolute blessing!

I offer this story up to you in the hope that it reminds you that growth, healing and expansion are always possible.

 

Big love,

 

Time left to join:

The post Why I’ve changed appeared first on Leonie Dawson | Goals, Marketing + Creativity For Glorious Humans.

How To Run A Business Mastermind Retreat

My loves,

I’m just back from one of the BEST weeks of my life. I spent 5 days on the Gold Coast with 11 of my most inspiring business friends. I feel changed on a cellular level. So much laughter, love and wisdom shared. I feel so pumped up, motivated, inspired. It was pure magic, a 10/10 experience.

As I was sharing behind the scenes over on my Instagram, I got so many questions:

how the retreat was runhow our mastermind worksif retreat tickets could be bought.

I thought I’d do a comprehensive step-by-step for you giving you all the details!

Who was at the retreat?Kerry Rowett – my kinesiologist/intuitive business mentor. We’ve been learning from and coaching each other since 2008 (!!!) and are each other’s biggest hype girl.Tash Corbin – founder of the Heart Centred Business Conference which I’ve spoken at for the last two years. When I was living on the Sunshine Coast near her, we formed a local business women’s group and had the most incredible times together! She’s just so solid and good and as pretty as a Disney princess!Jana Kingsford – back in the olden days of 2011/2012, I met a bunch of rad humans in a Facebook group set up by Australians going through Marie Forleo’s B-School course, and Jana was one of them! I got to know her more deeply in the last 6 months in another paid mastermind we are both in. We have a crazy amount of synchronicities – we’re both Scorpios who’ve travelled and lived all over Australia as digital nomads. We’re 7 figure entrepreneurs who don’t brush their hair and build our businesses around our families. She is so fucking rad!Denise Duffield-Thomas – DDT is an icon and a legend in our industry. I’ve been lucky to be mates with her since 2012 when she came to stay in my rainforest home in FNQ for a retreat I ran. Her books and courses are phenomenal. But most of all, SHE as a human is phenomenal. DDT always impresses me with how much she walks her talk, and how committed she is to finding her blocks, healing them, and sharing what she learns with the world.Victoria Gibson – I met Victoria back in the olden days of the Aussie B-School forum, and she did my Facebook ad campaigns for the goals workbooks for years.  Let me tell you though… nothing compares to Vic in person. She’s the juiciest revelation in person!Michelle Swan – I met Mich back in 2019 after she was recommended as a photographer by a website designer I was working with. It’s been mad love ever since, and we’ve done more photoshoots since then. Mich is not just an incredible photographer, but the sweetest human that’s ever existed. Plus I adore her husband too – Jacko is a legend!Rebecca Saunders – I met Bec at Tash’s Heart Centred Business Conference a couple of years ago. She’s one of those geniuses who is good at everything who will say things like “Oh that feature film I produced ended up being nominated for an award” and “I decided to take over publishing a magazine as a hobby.”Katie Chappell – I met Katie after she did one of my courses 5 years ago, and she was so delicious I promptly adopted her as a niece. She’s a ridiculously talented illustrator from England… she was our only international participant at our retreat this year.Clare Wood – I was introduced to Clare through other business friends, read her book (and took lots of notes) before meeting her in person at Tash’s conference last year. Clare’s an ex-accountant who is a profit coach for businesses. She’s also hilarious and brilliant and says incredibly extroverted things like “Oh! I packed a cocktail dress just incase!” In a bizarre twist of faith, we discovered she was born in the same small town hospital I was born in, just a couple of months later. As I like to remind her regularly: her ancestors have definitely dry humped my ancestors behind the Proserpine pub at some point.Tina Tower – I met Tina after she interviewed me on her podcast a few years ago, and we loved how equally enthusiastic we were about business AND how wildly we differ in our approaches. Tina’s mega structured and planned with everything which amazes me. I… am not. I am a loosey-goosey go with the winds of inspiration. And yet! Both our approaches work! It’s just delightful!Amanda Jane Daley – I met Amanda via Denise and Vic, plus she’s another alumni from the ye olden day Aussie B-School Facebook group!How were participants selected?

We are all part of a group chat that I’ve been running for about 12 years. It started because I wrote in my goal workbook that I wanted to connect with other business owners more. And I’ve never waited for anyone to pick me… I always pick myself and start a team! So I invited any business owners I did know into it. Then some of them invited friends. And over the years, as I’ve met more people who I felt like would be a good fit, I’d add them. Because our group is getting larger, I’m pretty reticent to add more people to it as it would probably become too unwieldy.

It’s had so many iterations and evolutions over the years. I used to have super strict participation rules where people had to post an intensive check-in at least once a month (including questions they had to answer). We’ve also had periods where we had regular phone calls and accountability.

There’s been some times I’ve had to remove people from the group for different reasons, usually if they don’t participate and are just lurking and watching instead of sharing and connecting. I laugh about the fact that years ago, a now very-famous American entrepreneur with a 10 figure business was invited in, and I ended up removing because they didn’t follow participation rules. People have also elected to leave when their business and life priorities changed. There’s been lots of ebbs and flows, and I’m grateful for all of them.

Currently, there’s about 17 of us in the group, with the majority being Australians. At the moment, we’re pretty flexible without much structure, but we do remove anyone who hasn’t interacted in the last 12 months or so.

Sometimes we ask each other for recommendations on books, mentors and VAs. Sometimes we say “oh shit this part is hard”. Sometimes we send each other memes. Sometimes we talk about how to collaborate. I remember when one of us had a family crisis, everyone else stepped up with all the ways they could offer support for them personally and professionally.

This group chat has honestly been one of the biggest blessings in my business over the last decade. So much love, support, long-term friendships, advice and celebrations!

How was the business retreat organised?

Two members in our group (Kerry and Clare) had an idea together to get all the group members to an in-person retreat so we could spend actual IRL time together. The first one happened last year which I didn’t go to as I was in the midst of moving. Then they set the dates in the calendar for this year, and I got to go to it! Hooray!

The retreat is run as a peer mastermind retreat.

Logistics:

Dates are set (usually 6 months in advance)Location was chosen as Gold Coast as four of our members live there, and it’s a good holiday destination for everyone else.This time we stayed at The Star Gold Coast in their apartment building. That way everyone could get their own apartment (or share one). We also hired a board room that we could use for masterminding during the day. If we had less people, we would have been able to just use an apartment space for that.Everyone who attends organises and pays for their own flights, accommodation and food.There’s no fees for attendees outside of that as it’s not “run” by anyone. It’s peer-led. Think gal pal weekend away but with a lot of talk about business and strategy and mindset.We had about 5 group members who couldn’t come to the retreat this year for various reasons which was totally groovy – it’s optional. I’m pretty sure they all had FOMO though and desperately want to be at the next one!Attendees could choose how long they were at the retreat. Most did Monday-Friday, but some had to arrive later or leave earliler due to other commitments.Our schedule for the week

At the previous retreat that I wasn’t at, it was run pretty much without an agenda, and that worked really well. There was also much less people at the retreat than this time – with less people you can definitely be a lot more free flowing.

This time around, we tried running it with a more clearly defined time structure since we had 12 people attending.

Our basic agenda going in looked like this:

In reality, we didn’t stick to those times perfectly, but it gave us a good structure to base ourselves around.

Day 1: Travel Day

We all flew/drove into the Gold Coast and arrived at the hotel. We met up for dinner at one of the restaurants at The Star. I think that was one of the bonuses of being at The Star – it has a lot of restaurants onsite. After dinner, a few of us walked a couple of blocks to a supermarket to stock up on supplies.

Day 2: Photoshoot

8 of us took the opportunity to do a group photoshoot with Michelle and Dan from Head North filming B-roll video. All of us use Mich as a photographer, so it made sense for us to get photos taken by her while we were in the same area. Mich and Dan took it in turns shooting us individually, and while we were waiting for our next turn, we would get changed into next outfits and shoot stupid reels with each other. It worked brilliantly.

I used MJ Vegan Makeup Artist for my hair & makeup. She was an absolute darling, loved her! I also had Leah Selfe as my personal assistant for the shoot. Not everyone had their own assistant for the shoot and I did wonder momentarily if I really needed one… but I am SO GLAD I DID. I find it hugely helpful for me to have a personal assistant at shoots, it helps me manage my energy so much better. Plus photoshoots can get HECTIC, and my aim is always to be able to do the best job I can in front of the camera by turning up my STAR ENERGY instead of managing logistics.

Leah arrived at 6:30am to my hotel room with my favourite kind of smoothie in hand, ushered me up to the hair and makeup artists, and started loading all my props and clothes into her car.  Once hair and makeup was done, she chaffeured me and Kerry over to the shoot location and handed me my favourite kombucha to drink on the way there, as well as some chocolates. I tell you what, sitting in the back seat of that car being so taken care of in that way – I felt like the richest person on earth! What magic! What a blessing!

Then once we were there, Leah unpacked the car again with our vast quantities of suitcases, and got busy steaming the creases out of all my outfits. Then throughout the shoot, she would help me style outfits, remind me to drink and eat (I can forget when I’m busy), filmed ridiculous video content of us, and threw props at me during our helter skelter shoot times. I should note here: everyone else didn’t require prop-throwing during their shoot sessions. I, however, had spent the evening before flying out coming up with a FUN IDEA of hand painting a bunch of signs to use in shoots. I didn’t want graceful photos, I wanted chaotic ridiculous ones with a lot of handmade props. It was A LOT OF FUN! Also, sweaty!

Once our shoot was done, Leah ferried us back to the hotel. I immediately showered because I can’t cope with makeup being on my face for very long, then ordered a shit tonne of Cantonese room service and called my husband and daughter to talk while I ate.

Had a wee lay down to recalibrate my nervous system, then later in the afternoon went for a stroll with Kerry through the enormous maze of shops near our apartments. I introduced Kerry to her first bubble tea, and we went into some of the luxury stores for a gander. Let me tell you, it was pretty hilarious trying on $6,000 handbags at Louis Vuitton… while carrying my current handbag (a $5 handmade unicorn tote bag from Eumundi Markets!) I didn’t buy anything, but I loved experiencing the duality of it all!

Then we popped into Zimmerman and played dress ups. Loved how bohemian and artsy their designs were, didn’t love that they don’t cater for plus size mermaids like me. Still, it was much fun and frivolity, and I loved making Kerry do fashion parades for me. At one point she walked out of the dressing room in a gloriously frilly dress and I AUDIBLY GASPED and said “YES! THAT IS THE ONE!” It was like an episode of “Say Yes To The Dress!”

As we wandered back to the apartments, we got a text message in the group: “Anyone up for trivia night in the sports bar?” I nearly came to completion right there. OF COURSE I WANTED TO GO TO TRIVIA NIGHT. That night was hilarious mayhem with our group splitting into two teams (Lay Beer and Lucky Bitches) so we could compete against each other and spend the whole night sledging each other and egging each other on. Raucous and ridiculous and EXACTLY my jam. Even more hilariously – we tied with each other!

Day 3 & 4: Hot Seats & Masterminding

We hired a board room at the apartments for us to use for two days. It was crazy cheap, and we had the most gorgeous space with views for us to meet.

I volunteered to facilitate.

This is roughly how they went:

I started off with a 20 minute intention setting and guided visualisation which set the energy beautifully for our time together.Everyone had a 30 minute hot seat scheduled over the next day and a half. We tried to keep pretty firmly to those times, otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to get through everyone.We did a 2 hour block in the morning with 4 hot seats, before taking a 2 hour break to go out to lunch and stretch legs, then another 2 hours in the afternoon. This doesn’t seem like a lot on paper, but it definitely felt like we wouldn’t have been able to sustain concentration for longer than that.I gave everyone options of how they would like their hot seat to run. Everyone chose the same structure: 5 mins of them sharing where their business was at and what problems they were facing. 20 minutes of all of us asking more questions and sharing feedback and advice. For the final 5 minutes, we played that person’s favourite song or victory song while we either wrote them letters to take home with them or danced with them while envisioning their success. Most people chose to have letters written. I think that all worked super beautifully. Plus, I saved everyone’s victory songs into a Spotify playlist that we can all listen to when we want to top up on energy. Hooray!We finished the last block of hot seats with another visualisation to ground into everyone’s vision.For the final afternoon session, everyone submitted two questions they wanted the whole group to answer. We timed these conversations as well so we made sure all could be answered. This was delicious, and I got so much insight out of this time as well.Lastly, we asked everyone what they needed from the group over the next year to help them reach their goals. Some of them were so simple “I need friends to text me silly memes so I feel connected” to more complex “I thrive on competition so I need you all to neg me by saying you could do better than me” (that’s me, and I’m not even kidding. Turn anything into a race, and my motivation will be THROUGH THE ROOF! Ha!!!!)

At night time, we had optional fancy dinners we could go to. Not everyone went to them, it was totally fine for people to opt-out and rest or catch up on any work they needed to. I went to dinner one night. On the last night, Katie and I opted not to go out and instead hung out drawing, eating Door Dash food, singing to Alanis Morisette and having a screamingly funny time together. Once everyone arrived back from dinner, we all crowded into an apartment to stay up laughing and talking until 2am. It was the perfect way to end the retreat.

Day 5: Travel Day

We all met up at the breakfast buffet for last minute giggles and talks before everyone started travelling.

What we’ll do differently next time:We’re still deciding on location for next year. If we do go back to the Gold Coast, we probably won’t stay at The Star. A lot of us found it energetically ungrounding sleeping in skyscraper buildings (I was on floor 44!)We’ll likely have more people at the next retreat again, so we’ll need to think about how we run hot seats.Otherwise… no notes! It was perfection on a stick!!!!!Can I buy tickets to come to this retreat?

Sorry, no. It’s a private peer mastermind. You *can* however create your own peer mastermind and retreat!

I hope this inspires you to do just that… I am SO SO SO grateful that all of those years ago I decided to choose myself and create what I wanted to experience!!!

All in all…

It was genuinely one of the best weeks I’ve EVER experienced. Incredibly meaningful, powerful and FUN. It’s incredibly soul healing to be around other highly motivated women who have the same kind of kooky online job as you do. Not many people can effortlessly flow in conversation from creativity to productivity to marketing strategies to investments to working with your husband to dealing with trolls to big philanthropic dreams to legacy work… and it’s euphoric when you’re around the people who can.

I feel beyond blessed to have been there, and SO FIRED UP with joy, excitement and enthusiasm.

Hope this gives you the encouragement to create your own… I would love to hear all about it when you do!

Big love,

The post How To Run A Business Mastermind Retreat appeared first on Leonie Dawson | Goals, Marketing + Creativity For Glorious Humans.

38 Delicious Things I Found On The Internet Lately…

My loves,

It’s important for me as a creative to make sure I’m consuming good quality creations… not just a mindless scroll of blabbering. Here’s my scrapbook of all the things that have fed my eyes, heart, brain & soul lately. I usually collect all the things that inspire me in my art journal… consider this my digital version!

Filled with things I’ve read, things I’ve beauty, things I’ve watched…

Get yourself a big ole cup of tea… this is a long one!

You can find all the other posts where I’ve shared my digital scrapbook here.

This comic by Sarah Mirk on the grief of losing her dog hit me right in the heart.

There’s something so compelling about Jane Davies’ collages.

This one by Grant Snider made me take a deep breath.

Woodblock scenic wallpapers! Fascinating!

Rebecca Green’s posts and illustrations are ultimate coziness.

via

This comic on travelling without babies (and then subjecting everyone in sight to photos of your babies) is very me-coded. My babies are now 15 and 11, and I feel that way even if I’m just up the street without them. I HAVE BABIES! THEY ARE VERY CUTE! NO YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND HOW CUTE THEY ARE! I MUST SHOW YOU!

This whole post of words, photos and art from My Giant Strawberry was lovely.Mary Ann Moss‘ missives are always delightful.I remember telling a friend this twenty years ago. AM I UNKNOWN??????It makes my heart flutter to see inside other people’s notebooks.I don’t know if you saw that whole celebrity gossip debacle of Ariana Grande hooking up with her married co-star. The now ex-wife (and clinical psychologist) Lily Jay wrote a gripping piece on what it’s like to suddenly become famous for a devastating reason.If you find reading/watching the news daily is crushing your spirit (especially right now), you can use News Not Noise to stay informed without having a panic attack.The comments on this post are the warmest ray of hope.Shannon Watts had helpful advice on dealing with the American election (I think much of the advice is still useful now too)This list of diverse romance novels is wonderful – got some great recommendations from them!Why blogging isn’t dead.This one had me taking deep breaths.An Amazon influencer sued another influencer for stealing her vibes, basically. Weirdly intriguing.The many lives of my Zillow alter ego. I’m the same but with roadtrips… I’m constantly looking at other people’s houses and imagining myself living there.This feels important: Your knowledge gap about Autism is about genius.This feels important too: prioritising powerful over perfection in activism.This quote probably sums up why I’m not really interested in AI.The tao of Cal. I find this dude’s brain fascinating!A beautiful moment captured in words.Talking while walking the Camino.Words from Karen Maezen Miller always exude a certain kind of peace onto my soul. All her books are wonderful, Momma Zen was especially a balm when I was a new mama. And more goodness from some of her latest posts:
From “Not A Place For Staying Long“:

My mother died many years ago. She was sick with a disease that had mutilated her body. Her death was not a shock or surprise. It was a clear and merciful blessing. What shocked me was not the finality of her death on that day, it was the presence of my life. Life flowing, life ongoing. It seems like a sacrilege to go to the supermarket on the day your mother dies, but there was no other alternative. There was nothing other than that for me to do.

From Karen’s Goodness & Mercy:

I learned the Lutheran liturgy by rote: the confession, the absolution, the creeds. But not a bit of it penetrated my heart until I heard the parting words from the pastor at the end of the service. He would stand on the altar, facing us, and raise his arms wide enough to include all of us, everyone, everywhere, saying the most comforting words I had ever heard in my life then or now—the truth that we are never apart, that we are loved beyond measure, and that we are held safe and blessed by grace.

May the Lord bless you and keep you,
May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you,
May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

I’ve never forgotten these words and why would I want to? When my hope dims, the benediction resounds. And now, illuminated by my Buddhist practice, I see it not as the invocation of a distant god, but as an expression of a mysterious and universal truth—that your miraculous life is a blessing and a haven, an ever-bright jewel…

 

This gave me the most beautiful chills… I don’t know if John Batiste identifies as Neurodivergent, but he definitely sets off my ND joy!

You probably already saw this one… but golly this music video with Dick Van Dyke is so so heartwarming.

My husband found this video for me and I was fascinated by it… studio tours of some gloriously kooky creative spaces!

I loved looking in Jane Davies‘ wild sketchbook. So loose and wonderful!

My current favourite internet creator is Jack Henry Robbins – the son of Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon. His videos are a delightful kind of unhinged.

I’m a long term fan of Gavin and Stacey. I still think the pilot episode is the greatest single TV episode I’ve ever seen. It’s just perfection on a stick – both sweet and confoundingly ridiculous. And as a mark of an excellent TV show, I still quote from it on the regular.

“Sepia, see-pia. I don’t know how you say it. Got a feeling it’s faulty. Just makes everything go brown.”

Anyways, I could go on for decades about my Gavin and Stacey love.

So of COURSE I’m going to say I adored the Christmas special finally finishing the series after 17 years. Thank you James Corden & Ruth Jones for one of the most delicious TV creations I ever did see.

A Man On The Inside with Ted Danson was the most hilarious, heartfelt watch. I think I cried in every single episode. Completely wonderful in the best of ways.

Obviously, Season 3 of Ted Lasso was wonderful once I finally got around to watching it. I feel like the whole show taught me so much about empathy and friendship. A truly kind watch. I wish more TV like this was made.

I thought Last One Laughing Australia that came out a few years ago was some of the most bonkers, hilarious TV I’ve ever seen. So I was THRILLED to see a UK edition came out this year with some of my favourite comedians. Freaklishly funny!

This one is a real left field choice for me. I usually dislike all crime shows, but my husband and I tried out Ludwig just because we are David Mitchell fans. And then we got deeeeeep kind of obsessed. It’s a wonderful kind of puzzle, it reminds me of the last crime show I liked – Monk. Maybe I just like murder mysteries when the main character is neurodivergent? Anyways, I had a MOST enjoyable little rabbit hole of watching Ludwig while completing Murdle puzzles. 10/10 a lovely lil Autistic activity.

Go forth and make!

We need your art, your voice, your offerings in the world!

Big love,

P.S. Quick reminder my brand new program is starting in just a few days. I know it’s going to be incredibly powerful, and I don’t want you to miss out!

Time left to enrol in Big Money, Big Impact:

ENROL NOW!

The post 38 Delicious Things I Found On The Internet Lately… appeared first on Leonie Dawson | Goals, Marketing + Creativity For Glorious Humans.

A present for you

My loves!

At the start of this week, I turned up to my office ready to get stuck into my to do list… only to find myself feeling stuck, overwhelm, confused, unable to get out of my own rut. After an hour of scrolling, hoping for inspiration to strike to no avail, I looked around my room and realised:

Oh. This is why I feel stuck.

My workspace was a total reflection of how I felt. There was piles of projects everywhere, empty boxes on the ground, the bin needed taking out, and my usual office decor was sitting in boxes after an epic 9 hour photo & video shoot I’d done last week.

I knew the only way I could get out of the mire was to (gasp!) tidy my office. And I thought you know what? Maybe I’ll record it all for you. And you can play the video whenever you need to clean up your workspace (or any place, really!)

There’s a whole bunch of evidence that shows body doubling, even virtually, by having someone do something at the same time as you, can be a really helpful way to increase your productivity and get tasks done. Especially if you’re a neurodivergent unicorn like me!

So enjoy this 30 minute tidy-with-me video…

 

Includes free bonus of my gorgeous youngest kid coming in to slow dance with me for a while in the midst of the mess. Exactly how life is!

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I just want to say… I look at this picture, and I am SO SO proud of what I’ve created. I’m the kind of mama I always hoped I would be. I’ve made a gentle, creative, loving life. I’ve birthed miracles into the world. And the adventure continues, with so much more goodness to come.

More to come…

But most of all, I want you to know:

You are safe.
You are loved.

You are whole.
You are exactly the person this world needs.

I’m cheering you on.

🦄 FREE GOODIES 🦄

Weekly love lettersPodcast: Leonie Dawson Refuses To Be CategorisedA library of free treasuresCash Crunch – FREE workshop on how to make more & save more when times are tough! 

📚 BOOKS 📚

My Brilliant Year workbooks for 2024 & beyond!Calm Christmas PlannerSalt: a hottttt romance novella (published under my pen name Lola Leigh)

🌟 COURSES 🌟

Brilliant Biz & Life Academy  (get everything I offer at a wildly generous price!)Midas TouchGet Organised!Work Less, Earn MoreBehind The Scenes of a Multi-Millionaire’s Finances (only $7!)Sales StarMarketing Without Social MediaMoney, Manifesting & Multiple Streams of Income40 Days To A Finished Book40 Days To Create & Sell Your E-CourseCreative MagicCreative Goddess Embodied

 

 

 

The post A present for you appeared first on Leonie Dawson | Goals, Marketing + Creativity For Glorious Humans.

Isaya’s Inspiring Evenings Podcast: Unfiltered and Unapologetic – A Deep Dive with Leonie Dawson

 

Beautiful blossoms,

When Isaya invited me to her podcast Isaya’s Inspiring Evenings, I said yes with a full-body YES! And I’m so bloody glad.
Because this conversation? It was the kind of soul-sparking, truth-telling, giggle-snorting magic I live for.

The theme:

Things Women Don’t Talk About

You know the ones. The sacred, silly, shadowy, awkward, taboo, joyful, inconvenient truths we tend to keep zipped up behind polite smiles and never-ending to-do lists.

We went there. All the way there.

 

Here’s a taste of what we covered:

💥 The myth of “doing it all” and why burnout isn’t a badge of honour 💸 Making millions while working part-time (and why more women should know this is possible) 🎨 The sacred (and messy) truth of running a business as a neurodivergent, creative human 🌀 Why “too sensitive,” “too weird,” and “too much” are actually your superpowers 😶 The shit women carry in silence: grief, guilt, motherhood, ambition, aging, and joy 🧘‍♀️ Ditching toxic productivity culture and embracing gentle biz 📣 The radical power of being your full, unfiltered self online 🛑 Giving yourself permission to change your mind, pivot, rest, and dream again

If you’re craving a permission slip to be more YOU—louder, softer, weirder, wiser—THIS episode is it!

👉 [Click here to listen to the episode]

 

Grab a cuppa first. Or, don’t. I’m not the boss of you. Choose your own adventure….but DO listen!
If you want more Goddessy goodness, subscribe to Isaya’s podcast. You’ll be thrilled you did it!

Big love,

 

🦄 FREE GOODIES 🦄

Weekly love lettersPodcast: Leonie Dawson Refuses To Be CategorisedA library of free treasuresCash Crunch – FREE workshop on how to make more & save more when times are tough! 

📚 BOOKS 📚

My Brilliant Year workbooks for 2025!Calm Christmas PlannerSalt: a hottttt romance novella (published under my pen name Lola Leigh)

🌟 COURSES 🌟

Brilliant Biz & Life Academy  (get everything I offer at a wildly generous price!)Midas TouchGet Organised!Work Less, Earn MoreBehind The Scenes of a Multi-Millionaire’s Finances (only $7!)Sales StarMarketing Without Social MediaMoney, Manifesting & Multiple Streams of Income40 Days To A Finished Book40 Days To Create & Sell Your E-CourseADHD & Autism Biz and Productivity Success2025 Dream QuestCreative Goddess Embodied

The post Isaya’s Inspiring Evenings Podcast: Unfiltered and Unapologetic – A Deep Dive with Leonie Dawson appeared first on Leonie Dawson | Goals, Marketing + Creativity For Glorious Humans.

The Boss in Heels Podcast: Leonie Dawson: Author Of The My Brilliant Year Workbooks On The 10 Hour Workweek & Building A Multi-Million Dollar Brand

Brilliant babes,

I had a chat with a boss lady in heels!!!!!!!!!!!!

None other than the fabulous Lara Nercessian on The Boss in Heels Podcast! I am frothing with delight over here!

Lara is an absolute powerhouse of a woman, and we had a glorious deep dive into alllll the juicy bits of my biz + life journey.

We talked about:✨ How I went from a government desk job (bleh) to building a multi-million dollar creative empire✨ How I work just 10 hours a week (yes, really) and still bring in the big bucks✨ The wild, wonderful juggle of mamahood + biz✨ Mindset shifts, staying true to my weird + magical self, and making it all work without burning out

It was SUCH a fun convo – real, honest, and full of the behind-the-scenes stuff I don’t always share. If you’ve ever wanted the no-fluff version of how I do what I do (and still have naps + garden time), this is for you.

Have a listen below, or CLICK HERE to get your poddy fix!

Big love + bright ideas,

 

🦄 FREE GOODIES 🦄

Weekly love lettersPodcast: Leonie Dawson Refuses To Be CategorisedA library of free treasuresCash Crunch – FREE workshop on how to make more & save more when times are tough! 

📚 BOOKS 📚

My Brilliant Year workbooks for 2025!Calm Christmas PlannerSalt: a hottttt romance novella (published under my pen name Lola Leigh)

🌟 COURSES 🌟

Brilliant Biz & Life Academy  (get everything I offer at a wildly generous price!)Midas TouchGet Organised!Work Less, Earn MoreBehind The Scenes of a Multi-Millionaire’s Finances (only $7!)Sales StarMarketing Without Social MediaMoney, Manifesting & Multiple Streams of Income40 Days To A Finished Book40 Days To Create & Sell Your E-CourseADHD & Autism Biz and Productivity Success2025 Dream QuestCreative Goddess Embodied

The post The Boss in Heels Podcast: Leonie Dawson: Author Of The My Brilliant Year Workbooks On The 10 Hour Workweek & Building A Multi-Million Dollar Brand appeared first on Leonie Dawson | Goals, Marketing + Creativity For Glorious Humans.

I married myself

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All my love,

🦄 FREE GOODIES 🦄

Weekly love lettersPodcast: Leonie Dawson Refuses To Be CategorisedA library of free treasuresCash Crunch – FREE workshop on how to make more & save more when times are tough! 

📚 BOOKS 📚

My Brilliant Year workbooks for 2024 & beyond!Calm Christmas PlannerSalt: a hottttt romance novella (published under my pen name Lola Leigh)

🌟 COURSES 🌟

Brilliant Biz & Life Academy  (get everything I offer at a wildly generous price!)Midas TouchGet Organised!Work Less, Earn MoreBehind The Scenes of a Multi-Millionaire’s Finances (only $7!)Sales StarMarketing Without Social MediaMoney, Manifesting & Multiple Streams of Income40 Days To A Finished Book40 Days To Create & Sell Your E-CourseCreative MagicCreative Goddess Embodied

 

 

 

The post I married myself appeared first on Leonie Dawson | Goals, Marketing + Creativity For Glorious Humans.