Leonie Dawson's Blog, page 76

February 14, 2017

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner: Here’s the winners of my latest comp!

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Lovehearts,

If you’re a Insta-friend, you’ll know about my latest comp to win an Academy membership!


I challenged all of you to share your 2017 workbooks or diary with #shiningplanners for your chance to WIN an Academy membership!


With over 1400 images tagged #shiningplanners, I had some splendiforous scrolling hours!


Drumroll please…..

Introducing our lucky winners!


@traceydev


How amazing is this?

@traceydev has some serious photoshop skills…. or maybe she’s a quintuplet????


 


Screen Shot 2017-02-08 at 2.29.42 pm


OMG!!!! Amazing!!! A Shining Life baby!

You’re never too young to workbook.


And finally… from sheer amount of volume + creativity…

@zenwomangifts // @zenwomancoach set the goal in her heart and made it happen… with a panoply of adorable images!


Here’s just a few:


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LIZARD! HA! All 3 goddesses have won a year’s membership to my Shining Biz + Life Academy. Enjoy all the goodness awaiting for you in there!

FYI: We will be opening enrolments to the Academy in March for a month before prices DOUBLE on March 31. Pop it in your calendar so you can jump in!


Love, love, love,


Love Leonie With Workbooks

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Published on February 14, 2017 17:30

January 19, 2017

The Great Big 2017 Workbook Giveaway To Non-Profit Organisations!

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Hey loves,

Are you a social worker or a part of a non profit organisation?


Does your organisation work with underprivileged or disadvantaged women?


Or do you know someone who is?


We’d love to donate the 2017 Create Your Shining Year workbooks and planners to you for using with your clients – as many as you’d like!


We can supply both Life and Business editions and the companion 2017 goals diary-planner – whatever you feel would work for your clients!


Every single year since the beginning of the workbooks, we have been donating them to non profit organisations. I’ve also run a meditation + goal setting retreat at a local safe house which was such a beautiful experience. Sharing the workbooks is my way of being able to visit even more places, helping raise spirits and creating change in the world.


To Apply:

To apply for free workbooks for your clients, just fill out the form here + my lovely support fairies will be in contact in the next few days.


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Those donated workbooks ended up being used by over 165,500 (!!!!) souls around the planet who needed them, from organisations that included:

schools using them for teenage girls
women’s shelters in the United States
Indigenous Australian women’s services in Sydney, Australia
disadvantaged women advocacy services in Cambodia
animal sanctuary in the United Kingdom (used by their board to business plan their charity! Hooray!)
aged and elderly services in New York
cancer survivors in England
women’s charities in Zimbabwe.

The feedback from the organisations has been really, really wonderful.


Organisations got a lot out of it, their clients got a lot out of it. Clients felt much more inspired, motivated and empowered after using them, and often requested more workshops to have accountability about following through on their goals over the year.


I got this heart-warming email from one of the case workers who used it:

“A few months ago I applied to use the Create Your Shining Year workbook in a community agency. I would like to share with you how the non profit organisation has used the workbook to support women clients.


As you might know already Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia had its biggest flood in history. There is a whole suburb that went under here and many other places were badly affected. Homes and business were so badly flooded that they won’t be rebuilt again. Many people have struggled after this natural disaster. After reading the offer for the use of the workbook I had a great idea to support women who had been affected by the floods by using this workbook. I went and developed a full day workshop based around the workbook.


As we are non profit organisation and are always needing funding to continue our work I put a proposal together and put it forward to 2 community groups that I thought might help. Zonta and Rotary inner wheel very generously donated money so we could print the book out for participants and funded lunch for the workshop. The workshop was free for all women who attended.


We set out to run 2 workshops, which ended up filling very quickly so we had to put on another one. 40 women in total have attended over 3 workshops and have worked through the workbooks. These workshops provided a space where these women could come together to share of their experiences of the floods and begin to imagine a brighter future for themselves and their families.


The women were all deeply grateful for the workbook and for your generosity to allow us to use them. The workbook was the perfect platform to help these women move from feeling helpless and overwhelmed to feeling empowered.


The feedback from the workshops has been very positive and we would like to continue our work throughout the year to support women who have been affected by the floods.”


This year we want to help even MORE.

That kind of feedback is exactly why we offer this program – to make the workbooks available to ANY woman to help them create goals for their families, lives and businesses, and inspire them to reach them.


I’m aiming to get these in the hands of AT LEAST 100 000 women who need them this year.


Some essential admin notes:

You can choose to receive the workbooks as PRINTED BOOKS (if you can cover shipping costs) or DIGITAL E-BOOKS (zero cost to you).

We do need non-profits to pay for the shipping of the printed books. We have distribution houses in Australia, USA and UK and will get you the cheapest quote possible. We’ll let you know the pricing, and you can choose to decide from there. Unfortunately we’re not able to offer shipping costs as part of this donation.

There is no cost at all for digital e-books. We’ll provide you with PDFs and a licence to print as many as you need. PDFs can be printed out or filled out electronically. You’ll also receive a short guide with instructions/suggestions on how to use the workbooks with clients.
You can order them for as many clients as you like – the more the merrier!
I specify this is for women because the workbook’s content is aimed at women. They can (and have) been used for men, but the language and imagery is definitely orientated towards women.
YES – if you’ve received them in past years, we’d be delighted to continue donating to you!
This offer is ONLY for registered non profit organisations. This is not a workbook giveaway free for all. This is not for individuals. This is not for practitioners to giveaway to paying clients. This is only for registered non profit organisations. Please don’t apply unless you are one. Please do not waste my team’s time who could be helping real non profits. If you aren’t sure if you are one or not… you aren’t, so please don’t apply. (I’m sorry if this sounds snarky, but holy dooley we’ve seen some doozy requests over the years!)

To apply for free workbooks for your clients, complete the application here + we will be in contact with you shortly!


I’m SO delighted to work with even more organisations this year to help even more women grow, evolve, dream, hope, transform + make their own miracles happen.


Together, we’ll change the world. I totally believe and know that with my whole heart.


Thank you so much for all the work you do.


big ole love,



P.S. If you know of anyone (social workers or organisations) this could help, I would SO SO SO appreciate it if you could share it along!!!! Thank you so much for helping the world!
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Published on January 19, 2017 21:45

January 17, 2017

3 Reasons Why Your Dreams Aren’t Coming True


Not sure what happened here, really.


It was hot, and there was a fire burning in me.


I told my husband I was headed to the studio for some kid-free creation time.


Locked the door, turned the live stream on, pulled the whiteboard round.


And out came this… all of this…


my unfiltered thoughts on success, failure, what works + what doesn’t.


The most important practices I’ve learned in building a multi-million dollar business.


This video?


It’s lo-fi and bra-free and curse-aplenty.


After years of feeling a bit creatively blocked about making videos… I just did it my way.


And it felt GOOD.


Hope you find it useful.


Big love,


P.S. As I share in the video – if you haven’t ordered your 2017 workbooks yet, I honestly don’t get it.


They are wildly affordable… AND I just slashed prices to half-off to clear our extra stock.


They are a proven force for good – they’ve now been used by over 300,000 (!!!!) people worldwide who’ve gotten HUGE results from using them. They make a massive, beautiful, sacred, abundant difference to people’s lives and businesses.


Why on earth would you say no to that for yourself?


Click here to order yours now!


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Published on January 17, 2017 04:15

FREE EBOOK: How To Start + Run A Workbook Group!

workbook group guide free guide


Hola gorgeous ones,

Goal setting + accomplishing your biggest hopes and dreams isn’t always an easy feat. Life gets in the way. You get sick, work gets hectic, unexpected expenses come up.


It’s just SO easy to put those goals on the back burner and well, give up. Been there, done that.


We all need + deserve support.

Sometimes we don’t get that support from the places we expect it the most and some of the most common + active posts in the 2017 Create Your Shining Year Workbookers group are those looking for meet-ups, masterminds and other like minded peeps in their area (or online!) for accountability + other support.


group of girls SML


So I decided to create a fabulous, free guide to help you create your own workbook group!

It’s a free guide for all our Academy members + workbook users!


CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD YOURS NOW!


whycreateaworkbookguideSML


Why Create A Workbook Group?

I look back at my own career + journey and know that it is only through being a part of dedicated groups like these are how I have achieved the amount of joy, abundance + success that I have.


Masterminds using principles like those found in the workbooks have been used for centuries by some of the world’s leading minds and entrepreneurs (including Albert Einstein, Richard Branson + Andrew Carnegie) to supercharge goals.


famous masterminders


Creating a face-to-face workbook group means you :

manifest your dreams faster
get accountability, accountability, accountability!
brainstorming + masterminding
stay on track
it’s totes FUN!

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There are many blessings and lessons that come with leading a group.

It will supercharge your growth + really help you learn how to be sovereign, maintain boundaries + guide energy in the right direction and I honour you for the brilliant, brave leap are looking to undertake. I love a woman who takes the reins + does what it takes!


workbook group guide free guide2


In this Guide to Starting + Running A Workbook Group you’ll learn:

why it’s incredibly useful to have a local workbook group 
where you should run them
how to find people for your workbook group
if you can charge for workbook groups
how to run them so they are effective + powerful for everyone.
and more!

Download the guide now!



These workbooks are magical.

They bring people together and bring a massive amount of joy, abundance + success.  Many miracles have been made from using them.


Download your How To Start & Run A Workbook Group Guide now!


How excitlement!


Lots of love,

Leonie



 


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Published on January 17, 2017 03:48

January 12, 2017

Leonie’s Favourite Things From 2016!

AILeonieFavThings


Hi lovelies,


I wanted to share with you the things I’m really, really, reallllllly glad I invested in last year.


I’m not someone who is particularly motivated by STUFF… I don’t want to buy useless shit that doesn’t add to my life, ya know? I’m not by any means a minimalist or perfect though… I can defo get caught up in consumerist shit if I’m not tending to my soul needs… try to fill that empty hole where Great Spirit belongs with STUFF.


I share this post not to encourage you to buy MORE STUFF… but just to share what I’m really glad I invested in this year. I might be a self-made millionaire, but I’m still pretty stingy when it comes to what I buy. And I love sharing about what actually works.


So yeah! Stuff! That was useful and good and a beautiful buying decision for me:


essentialoils


Being introduced to therapeutic essential oils was honestly one of the best parts of 2016 for me. I’ve always bought cheapo smelly oils wherever I’ve gone… but didn’t know how to use them beyond just chucking them in an oil burner and then turning it off because they gave me a headache.


I was sick a LOT in 2016 with recurrent throat infections + illnesses, and a mate finally pulled me up and said:


Mate, I used to have shit immunity, I now use essential oils therapeutically and it’s changed my life. Let me teach you how pleaaaaase!


And she did and I was TOTALLY SURE it wouldn’t work for me… I thought it was yet another fucking hippy healing placebo. I mean – I’m a hippy and I LOVE hippy stuff… but the efficacy of so much stuff can leave a lotttt to be desired.


Anyways, I ordered a couple… and instantly fell in love… went back and bought a whole kit… and now have a walking essential oil apothecary in my purse at all times, and in my bedroom, and in the kitchen.


This.shit.works.big.time. For EVERYTHING! ERMAGERD!


I use them every single day now on me, our girls + my hunky love… for immunity, mood management, tantrums, insect bites, sore backs, infections, colds, stubbed toes… anything that happens you’ll see me running towards it shrieking “LET MAMA HELP! I HAVE AN OIL FOR THAT!” Bahahahahaha!


I’m also THAT person who is oiling up her friends and extended family every chance I get…


I can’t even talk about how much it’s changed me + my family’s lives without sounding like I’ve joined a fucking cult.


I really have. I’m a card carrying member of the essential oil cult.


oil_for_that_tshirt


I could wax on about my new obsession for dayyyyzzzzzzzzzzz…


if you’re interested in learning more… I started a Facebook Essential Oils group with friends just so we could talk oily shit with each other… which then rapidly exploded to 600 people… SO MUCH FUN!


You’re most welcome to join us if you want! #oilcult #sooooooointoit #totallyindoctrinated #fingersniffer


blankets


I heard a little about weighted blankets earlier this year and how useful they were for people with high sensitivies, sensory processing disorder, autism, Asperger’s, restless legs (and a whole bunch more as well!)


I tend to fall in a couple of those categories I reckon! I’ve shared more about identifying with a lot of Aspie symptoms here. When I’ve been through a particularly stimulating experience (i.e. have been to a really busy place, or ran a live workshop, or done something social), my body feels like it is thrumming and ungrounded. I can feel the adrenaline running through me. When I lay down in bed, I often feel like I’m almost levitating, that I need something more to hold me to the ground. When I’m particularly anxious, I’ll even ask Chris to lay down on top of me for some comforting pressure. (HA! THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID!)


Intuitively I felt like a weighted blanket would be the right fit for me.


A weighted blanket, by the way, is exactly what it sounds like:


A specially made blanket that has extra weight in the filling, making it much, much heavier than traditional blankets.


I ordered mine from Calming Moments in Australia – a small family company that handmakes them.


I ordered a single bed-sized blanket in blue cotton material that had 9kg of weight in it (it’s a heavy bugger to lug around!)


As soon as it arrived, I lay down on the floor of my office with it on, and my body instantly R E L A X E D. It’s a reallllllly soothing feeling for me. All the tension runs out of my body, I start breathing deeper. It’s the most comforting cocoon EVER.


It lives on our couch now, and I make all my friends who come over try it out. Their instant reaction is “Oh holy SHIT! This is AMAZING!” and then they melt into a relaxed puddle and lay there in a blissed out state of comatose. I’ve even had the same reaction from burly men!


I lay under it every single night on the couch while we watch TV (or more accurately: Chris watches TV, and I draw, collage, felt, or text with friends). If I’m feeling antsy during the day, I’ll get it out for soothing. Any anxiety I’m feeling is quickly soothed away.


I’m sure my anxiety levels are down this year since I started using it daily.


Now – here’s the thing – I did however find that the 9kg is too heavy for me to sleep under. It’s really relaxing… but I felt a bit claustrophobic and pinned down. I did check, and I had measured the right weight for me – I’m not sure if it is because of my hypermobility or whatever. The 9kg is brilliant for the ultimate in chillaxing, and after a few months, I decided I really wanted to get another less-heavy blanket that I could comfortably sleep under.


I ordered another single bed-sized cotton blanket – this time with 6kg of weight in it. I’m so glad I did – it feels like a good weight for me for sleeping under, and Chris mentions he notices I sleep deeper and am a lot less restless at night when I sleep under it. I feel like I get to sleep faster and sleep more soundly under it.


Still, my 9kg is the ultimate for me in chillaxing… if I had to choose between them and only have one, I would probably just have the 9kg and just use it on the couch. It’s such a sedative for the times when my body gets overstimulated.


I did also order a 2kg lap blanket – for me, I don’t notice much of that noticeable sedative effect with that one, and now my kids use it instead. They love the weighted blankets as well!


For me, the weighted blankets are such an important part of my self-care tools these days… I actually feel a bit of anxiety at the thought of being without them – like if I’m travelling.


I’ve got a trip for a conference happening in a few months, and I know it’s going to be a stimulating time, so I’ve already allocated half my suitcase to be filled with the 6kg weighted blanket, my own pillow, my essential oil diffuser + a big array of essential oils. MWAHAHAHA! I HAVE PRIORITIES PEOPLE!!!!


healthretreat


After spending so much of my year being sick, by August, I knew I needed to make a change. My dear mentor Hiro Boga was encouraging me to up my self care and tend to my crappy health. She invited me to go to Germany with her to spend time at an amazing health retreat there. I didn’t feel up to being away from my family for so long or travelling internationally… but the idea struck a seed inside my spirit that quickly took root. What if… instead of going across the world… I just go to a retreat just down the road?


I googled away, and found a great place just a couple of hours drive from here, and in October, I spend a deliriously happy 5 days there.


I wrote about my experience of that here.


It was an investment – it cost me over $2000 to do it – I’m pretty stingy and that felt like a LOT to spend on myself. But I knew I had to put myself first, and put my health first. And I am so glad it did.


It really infused my year with that much more support, and soul cushioning. It was that week of the year where I left it all behind, and just took care of me. Big insights and revelations followed.


It’s something I want to do every single year now. Take one week out of the year to disconnect and take complete care of me. We as women and as mothers forget that that’s important. We forget what that looks like and feels like. I saw it, and I felt it, and holy SHIT does it feel GOOOOOOOOOD.


fender


Lastly, this one isn’t for me. But it still brings me so much joy, and I’m so glad I bought it for my darling husband.


I get so much joy of buying gifts for other people. I can’t stop grinning when other people receive something I’ve given them. Especially my husband – that gentle river stone soul who brings so much goodness into my life. Also: have I mentioned he’s hot?


It was our 15 year anniversary this year, which I felt was pretty momentous. I feel so proud of us for being such determined motherfuckers to grow old together, come hell or high water. I feel so proud of us for doing the big work – inner and outer – for us to grow a life of love, peace, gentleness, communication and understanding together. It was definitely not something either of us were taught in our childhoods, and we really had to work out how the fuck to make that happen for ourselves.


So I really wanted to celebrate the shit out of love, and of him, and of us this year. So I told him I would give him $100 for every year he’s loved me, and he could spend it all at the music store. That made his eyes light up of course. He’s a musician, and a guitarist. We ended up spending a bit more than his $100 yearly allowance for our 15 years together (at my enthusiastic encouragement), but it is SO WORTH IT for my husband to have his dream guitar.


(I had no idea what I wanted for our anniversary that was in May – so I just said I’d park his gift to me until I knew. Neither of us like buying shit just because of an anniversary… we always rather wait until there’s something we actually we want. Once the health retreat came up, I knew I’d found it… so our anniversary presents this year were bloody bonza!)


All up…

2016 might have been a hard, challenging year in many ways… but I feel SO grateful for the investments which made such a difference for me to get me through… nourishing my body, mind and soul… and celebrating love and creativity!


Big love,



clearance sale


 


Don’t miss out!

Our first massive clearance sale is on NOW!


Save 50% on our popular, proven and powerful planners + goals workbooks to make your life + biz SHINE in 2017!


 

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Published on January 12, 2017 19:38

January 8, 2017

50% OFF CLEARANCE SALE ON ALL WORKBOOKS!

clearance sale


Hola gorgeous heart!


My mistake is your gain!

So – I made a fairly large ordering mistake this year… and ordered WAY too much printed stock! We’ve still sold more than we did last year… we’ve continued growing which is SUCH a beautiful thing… but I have so much stock leftover… and I don’t want it sitting around in warehouses when it could be out there helping people now!


So for the first time in history… I am having a HUGE STOCK CLEARANCE SALE!

CLICK HERE TO NAB YOURS!


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ORDERYOURSNOWSQUARE


You’ll score a WHOPPING 50% off EVERYTHING – printed workbooks + planners, bundles and digital products.

I figured we might as well just go bonkers and share, share, share!


Get them for you, your kids, your family, your mama, your sisters, your soul sisters, your women’s circle, your clients, your downline… anyone you want to see SHINE in 2017!!!!


GRAB YOUR HUGE DISCOUNTS NOW!

lifebundle_2017 sale copy2


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ORDERYOURSNOWSQUARE


Boundaries Time (aka conditions of sale or how not to be a tooly-toolbag):

This does NOT apply to Academy memberships – only workbook sales for a limited time
If you’ve bought the workbooks before the sale began, do not email asking to get a refund for the full priced products. Well, you can, but the answer will always be no. That’s not how sales work hon.
Don’t send cranky emails complaining about having bought at full price. You still got them at an incredibly affordable and generous price, and they are a brilliant return on investment if you use them!
No refunds or returns on products bought during the clearance sale.
When you’ll receive your books: Your products will ship within 2-3 days and be received within 7-10 days if you are in UK, US or Australia. If outside of these countries, add an extra 10 days to be delivered. If you don’t receive them after that, email us – support@leoniedawson.com. Otherwise please wait patiently… we can do many things, but we cannot change geography or postal systems!
How to get support with your order: always always always email support@leoniedawson.com. Social media comments/messages easily get lost. My staff answer all emails within 3 days.
Don’t expect the same sale next year – this is the first time in 8 years I’m offering it, and I don’t plan on offering it again!

ORDERYOURSNOWSQUARE


If you’ve been waiting for the right time to buy… that time is NOW HONEY!!!!!

Don’t forget: BUY SOME FOR ALL YOUR FRIENDS, CLIENTS + FAMILY WHILE YOU ARE AT IT… such a great gift to begin the year off right! (Plus you’ll get extra support + accountability with your own goals!)


ORDER YOURS TODAY AT A MASSIVE HALF PRICE DISCOUNT!


Big love,


Love Leonie With Workbooks


50PERCENTOFFEVERYTHING


LIMITED TIME ONLY


CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOURS!

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Published on January 08, 2017 20:36

January 2, 2017

Important Changes To My Company In 2017

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Loves,


Happy New Year. Happy Completion of 2016. Happy New Beginning. Happy New Dawn.


It’s time for me to make some shifts to how I run my business.


Boundaries time:

I will share exactly what those changes are in this post in great detail.
I will share deeply about the reasons behind those changes.
I will try to answer as many questions as I think you might have.
Please take the time to read this post carefully and thoroughly.
If you email us asking about how you will be affected instead of reading this post, we will just send you the link to read this.
If you are angry or have complaints or believe I’m a greedy or selfish person for making these changes, you are most welcome to think that. You don’t need to email me to tell me that – I don’t need to know, and I’m frankly not interested. If you aren’t interested in continuing working with me, my Academy or my workbooks because of these new changes, that’s absolutely fine. All you need to do is unsubscribe, not purchase, or not renew your membership. I understand that I am changing the boundaries and ecology of my business environment. It’s up to you to decide if it still resonates and is helpful to you.

So, take some deep, calming breaths. Have a cup of tea. And have a read.


The important changes are this:

In 2017, I will be increasing Academy price to $997.
I will no longer be offering part payment options.
I will no longer be offering “Life Only” access to the Academy.
I will no longer be providing printed books to Academy members.
I am no longer working towards offering Academy in currencies outside of US dollars.
I will be closing Academy Plus option.
You can expect to see changes to the workbooks for the 2018 collection.
I will closing my Affiliate program.
I am opening a third leg of my business. Which seems bonkers, but is actually a wonderful fit for me.

More details:
Price Increase To $997

I will be giving people a month to sign up for the Academy at the current rate of $497 before I double the price. I’ll open up for enrolments at the current price ($497) in Feb or March, and double the rates after that. So you’ll have plenty of time to enrol if you’re called.


If you’ve signed up to the Academy at an early bird price ($99, $197 or $497) you will be able to keep that price for the life of your membership. If you don’t renew and wish to enrol again in the future, you will have to sign up at the new price of $997 a year.


No Payment Plans

I will not be offering payment plans when I do open enrolments. People who want to join will need to be able to invest the full amount of the membership price they signed up at.


For members currently on payment plans (whether that’s 4 months or 12 months), you will need to renew your membership at full price.


To make it easy for you:


Part Paymenters Who Need To Renew At $99 A Year



$13.95 a month over 12 months
$39.50 a month over 3 months

Part Paymenters Who Need To Renew At $197 A Year








$55 a month over 4 months








Part Paymenters Who Need To Renew At $497 A Year



$140 a month over 4 months
$49.95 a month over 12 months.

If you don’t renew and wish to enrol again in the future, you will have to sign up at the new price of $997 a year.


Books no longer part of Academy membership

I offered the full 2017 printed package of books delivered around the world as a new bonus for Academy members last year.


It was an experiment, and though I loved being able to do that, it is not something I’m able to do continuing forward because of the upcoming changes to how I publish these.


The core focus of the Academy has always been about the value of the courses – I think we are over 117 courses now, plus more added monthly. Those Academy courses are my life’s work, and I’ve always overdelivered with how much content I give to my members. If you don’t believe in the value of that, the Academy is not the right place for you.


I am no longer working towards offering Academy memberships in currencies outside of US dollars.

I have spent over a year and tens of thousands of dollars trying to make this a reality. It’s currently a technical impossibility with different payment processors. I’m sorry – I would have liked to make it happen, but I can’t. Nobody can.


The main currency will continue being US dollars as that is where the majority of our sales are, and it’s more internationally recognised as a currency for other countries than anything else. Less than 25% of our sales are Australian and New Zealand.


I am closing my affiliate program

I will be closing it end of January after the current workbook promotion. I am so grateful for my affiliates, and I’ve loved sharing the abundance and journey with them for so many years.


I sincerely apologise if this isn’t a decision that delights you. I dearly love to delight people.


It’s just time for a shift, and I can’t really explain why… it’s more of a feeling, a gut instinct, an inner knowing.


I need to make shifts so my company feels wonderful and spacious and easy to me again.


I will no longer be offering “Life Only” access to the Academy.

This was an experiment. It doesn’t have enough memberships for me to continue offering it in terms of the additional infrastructure and administration it requires. Current members will continue receiving their resources + new classes for the rest of the membership, but will not be able to renew. You’ll be able to either end your membership, or upgrade to full Life + Biz membership in order to continue. You will be able to get the upgrade at the current price of $497.


You will only have to enrol at the $997 amount if you let your membership lapse.


I will be closing Academy Plus option.

Again, another experiment which adds too much administrative issues and complexity.


I am opening a third leg of my business. Which seems bonkers, but is actually a wonderful fit for me.

I will share more about this soon.


You can expect to see changes to the workbooks for the 2018 collection.

I’ll let you know what they are when I know. I’m exploring all options to see if I will be working with a publishing house, pursuing a different model of distribution, or changing up how many products I offer. I am still very committed to sharing the workbooks with the world.


(You can still buy the 2017 collection in full here.)


My Reasons Why:
The short answer:

I have made huge mistakes when I deviated from my own intention and vision and listened to OPO (Other People’s Opinions). I am bringing everything back in alignment and simplifying it back to its original power and vision.


The much longer answer:

As many of you know, I’ve been suffering from burnout for quite some time. My business has been on a very fast growth trajectory, and it’s been wonderful, stressful, overwhelming and a huge amount of work.


I’m no longer willing to continue sacrificing my physical, emotional or spiritual health, my creativity and my family to continue on down this route.


I’m at a crossroads, and needed to decide to either close down all my existing business structures and do something else, or significantly change and update my business model so it once more fits with me, my spirit and my body, my family and my desire for a life well lived.


I have decided to go this second route – I have adored so deeply this journey, and want to see what can be shaped and created within new boundaries for both the Academy and workbooks.


Academy changes

The Academy started in 2010… I’ve been doing this for over six years now!


Over the past six years, it’s grown increasingly more complicated and hugely more expensive to administer. I am simplifying it back down to its purest form and intention.


I was in a place where I wanted to help as many people as possible, and making it as cheap as possible for it to be as accessible as possible. I’ve fulfilled that particular soul contract to do that until it no longer felt good to my body or spirit. Now I am only willing to help people who are really ready to help themselves.


I’m streamlining the membership levels/options back to being simple so that it both resonates energetically, is less confusing, and cuts down on administrative costs.


Please note: Apart from this, there will be no change to Academy delivery:



Courses (both life and business) will stay available to Academy members
Courses (both life and business) will continue being created
Monthly coaching calls will continue happening.

Workbook changes

I created the workbooks in the space of 3 days over Christmas 2009 after I wanted to give myself the gift of a goals planner/workbook that was colourful and more feminine, creative & spiritual than anything else out there. It was a way for me to send a love letter to myself in the future – I was pregnant with my first child and knew deep inside that a train was coming for me and there was no way to prevent the collision. I was right – my initiation into motherhood and the two years that followed were some of the most excruciating of my life with post-natal depression, the separation of my parents, the subsequent implosion of my family of origin, and a marriage that survived it all by the skin of its teeth.


My workbooks were my own life raft for me when I was lost as sea, clinging to the vision of what I knew my life was meant to be.


Sharing them with the world in December 2009 was an afterthought. I figured if I was desiring something like that, that maybe other women did too. I thought if maybe 10 other women bought it that would be fun. 100 seemed far stretched but a fun goal to aim for. I launched, and the Twittersphere lit up. There was nothing else like it on the market at the time – there’s about a billion copycat products now – but then it was revolutionary and people were clamouring. Within a month, I’d sold a thousand. Back then, I just sold it as a downloadable PDF – it was easy and relatively simple to pull off. I did everything myself.


I continued sharing them each year, and the sales kept growing. In 2014, I made a Print on Demand version on Amazon through Createspace. It was so awesome to see it “in print” and people loved the physical copy. I did run into some issues with that platform though – most of all, the level of print customisations was very limited. Totally fine for a standard novel or paperback style book, but I wanted to offer spiral bound which made way more sense for the workbooks.


So in 2015 we began to self-publishing by printing books in China using Imago printing and partnering with 3 distribution houses in the UK, US and Aus. The vast majority of self-publishers will only use one, but I wanted to make shipping as fast and cheap as I could for our customers spread out across the globe. Doing this greatly increased our shipping costs, distribution costs and the complexity of the set up. Then I needed to find tech contractors who could build the shopping cart for the products and have it integrate with all 3 distribution houses, our CRM software (Infusionsoft) and our payment software. Then I needed to hire a stack of customer service staff to keep up with the tsunami of emails for customers each day.


For the 2016 collection I made it even more complex by adding three more products to the range. It seems like such a small number, but it added hugely to my workload, as well as design and printing costs, the complexity of our shopping carts and infrastructure.


By the time we reached the 2017 collection, I’d sold nearly 120,000 with another 160,000 being used by charities with their clients. In 2017, I’ve printed 80,000 products, financed it all myself at a cost of $250,000 plus $250,000 in production and staffing costs.


What took me three days in 2009 now takes me more than a year to do the same. While it was still 2016, I’m selling 2017 collection and I’m working on 2018 collection all at once. Organising and managing all the design, printing and distribution myself feels relentless.


Add to that a quickly growing team and a disastrous run of staffing, it’s meant I have spent the vast, vast majority of my time managing logistics and a team. My conversations with my husband (and co-director) of the company stopped being about our dreams and became all about trouble-shooting the latest headache/heartache. I’ve spent all my time putting out fire after fire, managing staffing dramas and being the CEO of a multi-million dollar company with two 7 figure brands.


So much so that I’ve had remarkably little time to do what I actually love – which is to create.

I was not born to be a manager or a CEO. I was born to create, share and live a good life.


I’ve had so many years in this business when I’ve woken up barely being able to believe my luck that I got to do this as a job and earn a shit tonne of money as I did it. Increasingly over the last couple of years, I’ve stopped feeling that way. I can’t tell you how many times I wrote in my journal “I am so DONE! I don’t want to do this anymore! I can’t keep doing this… it is hurting my heart and my spirit and my body and my family.”


I couldn’t take time off anymore. I felt constantly on edge. My health has suffered – badly. My immune system is broken from hyperemesis gravidarum nearly three years ago and still doesn’t seem to be recovering. I feel in an endless cycle of burnout. I started working more time to try and fix everything. I stopped feeling like I loved the shit out of my life. My kids noticed. Starry has heard our conversations and tells me she will come to work with me because she knows I need help and that I’ve had staffing problems (she’s heard me talk to her daddy bear about them) and that I’m so busy I can’t play anymore.


Meanwhile my children’s legs lengthen and they graduate from kindergarten and their faces change and I’m not being the mama I want to be, the mama I have been, the mama I want to be again.


It’s just not fun anymore.


And that may seem contrite – that sometimes things AREN’T fun… but for me, fun is my guiding light. It’s my natural state of being. I know I’m in the right place, at home in my soul, doing the right thing when I’m having FUN.


I’ve never been money orientated. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t have a shit attitude towards money. I love its guts! I think it can be a source for doing wonderful things in the world!


It’s just not my guiding light above all others. I started out with building a business because I loved my art and writing and womens circles so much I wanted to share them with the world. I began growing it to make it my sole income when pregnant with my first child so that me and my husband could quit our jobs, live anywhere we wanted to and spend our time as a family.


Those two things – my creativity and my family – they are my North Star. They are my Big Why.

So I’m in this place now where I need to make changes, in order to put things right in my world. In order for it all to be in right alignment again.


I keep thinking about this quote:


“Growth for the sake of growth is cancer.”


I’m not interested in more business growth. I’m not interested in doubling my business again and hitting the next income goal. Frankly, I’ve got more than enough of it. What I need now is my life and my health and my art.


I’m not making this decision driven by dollars. I tried that mode of being the last few years, and as I knew it wouldn’t all along, it didn’t bring me joy. It was just more running on the hamster wheel, more hustling for worthiness through an abstract goal. I tried out being a CEO and a people-manager. My ambitious achiever self wanted to experience what it was all like to get bigger and bigger and bigger. It felt hollow. It felt not enough. It felt like I was barking up the wrong tree.


So I’m here.

My business has grown by leaps and bounds in all directions.


It’s time to realign it all back for it to serve its greatest goals… to be a vehicle to share my gifts with the world, and to support me and my family.


I talk to the angel of my business.


She tells me:


Leonie, you were never meant to suffer for your business.


And I sob.


I know she is right.


I tried to be all things to everyone. I tried out being that big flash CEO with a big team. I tried being a superhero and doing everything. I tried being as ultra-generous as I could. I tried.


And I’m all beat up and burnt out and bruised.


And I’m not doing that anymore.


It’s time.


I’m simplifying everything back down. Outsourcing. Clarifying. Aligning everything back to my intention.


Making it what it needs to be to support me, my family and my health.


Dreaming it into a new dream.


I understand…

I understand this may not resonate with you.


I understand you may not understand my decisions.


It’s okay, dearest, you don’t have to.


I understand if you don’t feel you fit in the new ecology in my business anymore.


It’s okay, dearest, you don’t have to. Do what is right and good for you.


I’m like the Madonna of Business Reinvention…

This isn’t the first change I’ve made in my business.


As I’ve grown as a soul, a woman, a mother and a business owner, so too do I need to update my business and offerings to fit me again. I’ve written about it before here. And here. And here. And here.


I’ve reinvented again and again and again.


And yet… so many things are constants. I’ve been blogging continuously since 2004. I’ve been producing and sharing the workbooks since 2009. I’ve been running the Academy since 2010. These are lifetimes in online business years!


I’m a writer, artist, teacher, helper, lover of people.


And that’s what I will always be, and always do.


Some things change, but most things stay the same.


Again, boundaries:

I’ve shared exactly what these changes are in this post in great detail.
I’ve shared deeply about the reasons behind those changes.
I’ve answered as many questions as I can.
Please take the time to re-read this post carefully and thoroughly if you need further clarity.
If you email us asking about how you will be affected instead of reading this post, we will send you the link to read this.
If you are angry or have complaints or believe I’m a greedy or selfish person for making these changes, you are most welcome to think that. You don’t need to email me to tell me that – I don’t need to know, and I’m frankly not interested. If you aren’t interested in continuing working with me, my Academy or my books because of these new changes, that’s absolutely fine. All you need to do is unsubscribe, not purchase, or not renew your membership.

There’s only one person in the world I’ve ever needed to please, ever needed to understand.

She’s standing right before me in the mirror.


She says:


This is what I need. This is what I can do. This is what I can’t do anymore.


And I nod and I say:


Yes.


Big love,


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Published on January 02, 2017 18:05

6 Fun Ways To Pimp Your Shining Year Workbooks + Planners!

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Hola gorgeous ones!


One thing that’s been super fun to see pop up this year is people getting creative + innovative with how they customise their 2017 goals workbooks, to do list pads + weekly diary-planner to be perfect for their life!


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The 2017 workbookers Facebook group is busy + thriving with brilliant ideas + shining souls… so inspiring to see and be a part of! Make sure you join it… it really is incredibly motivating!



LAMINATE YOUR TO DO LIST TO MAKE IT REUSABLE!

LAMINATED TO DO LIST PAD


Laminate pages of your to do list pad/printable to do list PDF to make them endlessly reusable!


Peeps have been using whiteboard markers on them which then wipe off at the end of the day – or if you use a permanent marker you can easily get off with eucalyptus oil.


ADD WASHI TAPE TO CORNERS!

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One clever goddess mentioned she likes to washi-tape the workbook corners to make it even more colourful AND durable if you keep it in your bag constantly as many goal-getting goddesses do!


FRAME A TO DO LIST

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“There are some habits I want to do everyday from now on so I wrote them down on the To do list and framed it. I am putting it in the kitchen so its always in my sight throughout each day.”


– Nikki Fisher Holmes


The workbooks will help you design your own habits like these that will help you thrive… giving you lots of ideas and tips of how to craft your own that work! And you can order the to do list pads still as part of our bundles!


ON A FIXED INCOME? CUSTOMISE YOUR MONEY GOAL SPOT!

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Each week in the 2017 weekly diary-planner, there’s a space for you to map out your financial goals.


Even if you’re not an entrepreneur with a changeable income, there’s different ways you could use it.


How much do you want to save this week?


How much do you want to manifest this week?


And this cracker of an idea as well:


I thought I’d share a little idea for anyone who has purchased the diary who doesn’t generate an income. As a stay-at-home Mum, the little purple ‘cloud’ in the diary that says ‘I want to receive ($)’ is not applicable to me, so I decided to modify this section. I covered all of these ‘clouds’ with patterned paper and wrote ‘I can do this by…’. This question follows on from ‘I want to feel…’ by asking myself what can I DO to feel this way this week. I hope this helps anyone else who is a stay-at-home Mum, retired etc. to get the most from their diary


– Lesa Savins


ADDING YOUR TO DO LIST PAD INTO YOUR 2017 WEEKLY DIARY-PLANNER

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One of my Tasmanian goddesses Sarah Jane took one of the pages out of our to do list pad + turned it into a reusable dashboard that integrates into the 2017 weekly diary-planner.


Here’s her step-by-step picture tutorial of how to do the same!


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ADDICTED TO FILOFAXES?
YOU CAN ADD YOUR 2017 WEEKLY DIARY-PLANNER TO IT!

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If you’re addicted to your Filofax, you can join the bevy of goddesses who customise their 2017 weekly diary-planner by removing its coil-binding, adding additional holes + popping it into their favourite Filofax folder.


Most of all… I love seeing how people take our goodies + make them their own… fitting into their lives just how they need them to… to make the planning process that much more profound, powerful + personal.


Hope you enjoy these awesome customisations… and make sure you jump in our glorious FB group of goal getting goddesses (+ gods!)


Big love,



P.S. Now is the time for dreaming an incredible 2017 for you… order your own powerful, proven + popular goals workbooks today!


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Published on January 02, 2017 00:57

December 28, 2016

Leonie’s 200 Life + Biz Goals In 2016: How Did I Go?

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Hi dearests, 


Earlier this year, I shared my 2016 goals publicly. I wanted to roll back around and see how I went with those goals.


I wanted to share as well – I’m not particularly having a Big Goal year. I’ve done a lot over the past eight years… and had some years where I’ve gone ballz-to-the-wall with goals. After so much moving and growing, this year, I’m much more about sweet domesticity and settling. So my goals reflect that. There ain’t no wrong way to do goals! They are really just the structure to help build a life and business you adore… however that looks for you and your family!


Overall, I’m really happy with where I ended up. There’s much more that I would have liked to have done… but when I take into account how life and health and business/staffing challenges happened in 2016… I feel pretty fucking rad at what I did do and where I’ve ended up!


It’s been a huge spiritual lesson for me over the years to be motivated by my goals, but NOT have my ego and worth tied up in them. I talked more about this with Kerry Rowett in this interview if you want to hear more!


And, as always, I’m so super grateful for my own goals workbooks… even though they’ve been used by over a quarter of a million people worldwide, I wrote them for myself first and foremost… and they’ve been one of the biggest blessings and guiding forces of my life and business over the last eight years.


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Life

Go on a health retreat
Increase my immunity
Tint van windows
Go horse-riding
Celebrate solstice
Do a large painting
Get fans installed
Do a picnic by myself
Do art date/workshop with Starry @ NGA
Get family photographs taken
Have BBQ with old work mates
Set up Wii and play games
Get painting for above bed
Have creative side projects (decide on some!!!)
Have a solo mama retreat
Do a digital illustration course
Do a daily creative challenge for 20 days
Experiment with Jade Egg
Get Lile to teach me knitting
Try tie-dying
Do some woodwork
Take Starry to something sacred (it’s in the works!)
Try Tigress Yoga or Yin Yoga
Read 52 books
Re-read “What We Say Matters”
Go to Cockington Green (planning to do it these school holidays)
Go on a road trip with Deb (we didn’t…. but we did spend so much time together! It was lovely!)
Go to Kingston Foreshore or get a Freakshake with family
Fix bicycle + go for ride (planning to do it these school holidays)
Replace curtains and blinds
Get shelves installed in wardrobes
Go to a concert or show
Read a good money book
Pay off mortgage on Property #1 (really close to that… feeling good about where we are financially)
Update wills
Make our house feel like a home
Plant tomatos and beans
Create poster for Golden Rules of Success + hang in studio
Stop sleeping with iPhone in bedroom
Declutter and get boxes to op shop
Get phone fixed/get new phone
Prune roses before Spring
Rearrange house and put bookcase in lounge
Order electric blanket
Order non-slip rug for long hallway rug
Finish Brené Brown e-course
Put up Zen Habits poster in my office
Have weekly solo mama retreats in bed
Get coat racks
Watch the seasons change
Max out super contributions
Quarterly financial planning meetings
Work out watering system
Fix foot
Make a creative nook for myself
Discover a new creative passion (planners!)
Go to Questacon
Go to Balloon Festival
Go to NLA exhibition
Finish “I’m Off Then”
Finish “Something New”
Read “Zim Zum of Love”
Keep regularly art journalling
Go on regular girl dates with Lil
Try San Churro
Get new king size bed
Get new headboard
Find a pilates instructor + do pilates weekly
Weekly food delivery
Beach holiday
Get wedding ring re-sized
Go to women’s circle
Get rugs + carpets professionally cleaned

Christmas Bucket List:



Order 2016 Instagram album (I usually order through Blurb, but its software is currently shitting its pants for the Instagram integration… waiting for it to de-bugify!)
Come up with advent calendar
Get family Christmas cards done
Write Christmas letter and send cards

Goals I Canned:

See the Christmas lights (didn’t. Daylight savings means we would have had to keep the kids up 3 hours past their bedtime to see them. #nope)
Read “5 Love Languages For Kids”(nope, wasn’t called to it)
Finish “The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving A Fuck”(nope, wasn’t called to it)
Finish “Quiet Power”(nope, wasn’t called to it)
Finish Bill Bryson’s “Home” (nope, wasn’t called to it)
Do quarterly personal plans (nope… decided it wasn’t the right thing for me)

Business

Run 12 webinars (Didn’t… recurrent throat infections have annihilated this year…)

Top 10 Goal Setting Mistakes
Marketing Do’s and Don’ts for Wellpreneurs
From Broke Creative To Millionaire Maven
5 Proven Tips To Finish 2016 With Your Goals Completed


Release adorable goodies

Internet Addiction illustrated zine
10 Lessons From Building A Million Dollar Company (video recorded live at a conference)
How To Run A Workbook Group
8 Paths To Instant Happy wallpaper
My Top Books For 2016: An Illustrated Reading Log
Leonie’s Beach Holiday Illustrated Zine


Stop working nights
Professional video & photoshoot for 2017 workbooks
Grow mailing list to 100,000 (75,000… ain’t so bad!)
Grow FB page to 150,000 (137,000… ain’t so bad!)
Finish all courses I’m partway through!
Income goal of $X (waiting for final numbers… won’t hit goal I don’t think but still grew significantly still! Hooray! Very proud!)
Do some interviews I am proud of – (HOORAY! Eventual Millionaire and Wellpreneur podcasts!)
Release Shining Discount Centre into Academy
New design for ShiningAcademy.com
Professional video for Academy
Train staff in copywriting
Strengthen LDI Standard Operating Procedures
Organise insurances
Get 2017 workbooks off to print
Find permanent bookkeeper
Find permanent tech support
Sell 5,000 workbook packages in our 7 day pre-order sale
Run a Canberra conference
Stop working weekends
12 coaching calls for the Academy  (Done monthly, rest of year already scheduled in)
Do some live speaking gigs (did 3 – Canberra Business In Heels, Canberra Wise Women and Wellness Hub in addition to my annual Academy conference)
Release 12 new courses into the Academy

Sales 101 (with guest expert Fran Pratt)
Business Goddess 2.0 e-course
Boundaries Bootcamp
Discover Your Life’s Wisdom
Publishing Sensation Case Study
6i Success System
7 Chakra Business Model Masterclass
2 day Shining Academy conference video recordings
How To Align To Your Goals (with guest expert Kerry Rowett)
7 Life Changing Habits For An Abundant Year (with guest expert Denise Duffield-Thomas)
Smart Time Management (with guest expert Kate Christie)
Leonie Speaks: A Live Interview on Creativity + Death (video recorded live at a conference)
Everyday Sex Goddess
The Anxiety Workshop
Body Love Workshop



Biz Goals I Decided To Can

Batch-record video content in advance (it’s not my style)
New website design (yeah… NOT the right time for that this year!)
Finish reading “Managing For Dummies” (decided to stop focus on being a manager… I wasn’t born to be a manager… I was born to be a fucking ARTIST, man!)
Read great business biographies (canned that idea because burnout… I needed to read soul-nourishing creative and spiritual books instead. And trashy romance. Ohhhhhh how I love trashy romance!)

Philanthropy & Community – Completed

Build library through Room To Read (can read about it here!)
Sponsor more children (now sponsoring 8!)
Sponsor animals (sponsored an elephant, turtle and orangutan)
Donate to more land and animal conservations (donated $5000)
Make more loans through Kiva (have now made over 400 Kiva loans! Woot! So close to 400!)
Cook for someone who needs it (gave food delivery vouchers to a grieving family and bought a trolley filled with groceries for a refugee family)
Donate workbooks and diaries to charities (yay! 70,000 donated!)
Donated $1,000 to buying a Safe Bus for women in PNG
Donated $3,500 to supporting a Kenyan orphanage

I’m also cogitating over some of the big spiritual lessons I’ve learned over the last year. I hope to write more about them once they settle in, deep into my bones.


Thank you as always for sharing this ridiculously wild, amazing journey with me. I’m one lucky bugger.


Big love,


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Published on December 28, 2016 21:45

We Did It! We bought a well!

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My loves,

I sent out this email less than 24 hours ago:


Dearests,


I need your help.


Earlier this year I met an incredible earth angel… a woman who had visited Kenya 12 years ago as a young woman… and who, like so many, was deeply affected by the poverty, AIDS epidemic and tragic circumstances she found there.


Unlike so many however… she did something huge. She started an orphanage and school, and has supporting it ever since. Jacinta is one very special soul… I love her heart, her guts and her big laugh.


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Jacinta, on the right, at this year’s Shining Academy conference


I was just talking to her a couple of days ago. And her stories had me crying. There is an ever growing need for this service as parents die from the AIDS epidemic and leave behind so many helpless orphans. Her orphanage and school will continue helping as many as they can.


When I asked her what we could do to help, she said:


“We need water. The drought has worsened and we need to make 12 trips a day to a place several kilometres away just to get enough water for the children. If we could drill our own bore, we’d be able to have our own safe water supply.”

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“There’s no such thing as other people’s children”



So I thought:


This is what we need to do. We need to get the children water before 2017 begins. These children have already been through so much. Jacinta has already pushed so hard to make them a safe, supportive home and school so they can rise out of poverty. The least we can do is get them some water!!!


Jacinta has gotten quotes… it will cost them $5,000 free for safe, clean water.


I’ve just donated half of that. I need your help to fund the rest.


Will you join me and help us get this incredible orphanage and school clean water for Christmas?


Let’s make miracles happen together.


I love you,

Leonie


P.S. Honestly… reading about this is such a huge wake up call. There’s so much to complain about in our developed world (Christmas dramas, Trump, NBN, traffic, the line at the shops)… I know I do it…


And then to remember that so many of our sisters and brothers don’t even have access to drinkable water, the nectar of life.


Read this:


“Water pathogens are a huge health problem in Kenya, as the people have been left unprotected against regular epidemics such as cholera, typhoid and parasitic worms. The rate of exposure is extremely high because the water is not only contaminated where water is collected but the containers are almost always second-hand, often previously used for oil, fertiliser or house hold waste.”


Click here to help build this well. We’re so close!”


My team…

My team are so beautiful… they were the ones answering all the emails…


they got so behind it… and before we even hit our goal, one of them said:


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I laughed it off… I loved how big she was dreaming… but didn’t believe it could happen…


I asked… you made miracles happen…

Within just a few hours… I shared this update…


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I called her this afternoon. She was sitting in the cool dark of her house, breastfeeding her tiny baby. “We did it”, I say. “We bought a well!” Jacinta is crying and laughing and so am I. The orphans at Suluhisho Children’s Village in Kenya will at last have clean water. Life changing. World changing. It only took us a couple of hours… but we have changed the lives of so many forever.


I asked Jacinta how we could keep in helping. She shared she had another weight on her shoulders – over $4,000 in school fees for the year due in a week for all the children in the orphanage.


This mama may have given birth to just two children, but she is a mama who takes care of so many more. Even with a wee baby on her lap, she is taking care of motherless children a world away.



We’ve already nearly halfway to paying all their school fees. Can you help take care of them all?


https://www.gofundme.com/yq-water-for-suluhisho


Thank you for your big, wide, generous, loving hearts. It feels so good to give. It feels so good to be a mama to them all.


I love you all.



We stayed up that night… me and Jacinta…

I told her I wouldn’t go to sleep until we’d paid for half the school fees for the coming year.


It’s the least we could do.


And so, in a tired fit of delirium, I started live streaming song requests.


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People could donate and either:



Get me to stop singing for a few minutes
Request me to sing a special song dedicated to them
Have their website and business spruiked online for a few minutes live by me
Have short raunchy stories written about them and Colin Firth.

I obviously am not kidding about any of this.


It was the fucking weirdest charity telethon EVER.


By the time I went to bed at 1am, we had paid for half the school fees.


I know both me and Jacinta were both in a delirious, weepy, delighted state.


I woke up this morning.


The first message I see is from my team:


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I cry. I text Jacinta. We both cry.


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Soon, she sends me photos.


The children at the orphanage have been told the good news.


There is celebration there today, a whole world away.


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The children are dancing and smiling.


Fresh, clean water is coming. A whole new school year is paid for, stretching forward before them, filled with hope and possibility and education.


The staff are beside themselves:


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Jacinta said her heart can rest now. The children can go to school. The children will have fresh, clean, safe water. The staff won’t need to do 12 trips a day to get water. They can concentrate on the important things: taking care of these beautiful kids and giving them the very best start in life possible.


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Please know: Suluhisho is still gratefully and delightfully receiving further donations.


Every cent goes to funding the orphanage and school. Suluhisho is a tax deductible charity organisation registered in Australia.


It feels SO damn good to finish 2016 on a high note like this…

For so many of us, 2016 has been such a grab to the pussy. For me, it feels like saying:


I will not let 2016 define me. I will keep on making miracles anyhow. I will rise, I will rise, I will rise.


Thank you for making this miracle with me.


You are such an incredible tribe of soul sisters.


Big love + overflowing heart,


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Published on December 28, 2016 20:24