Doing more of what makes you happy with Amy McLaren

Today’s episode of the podcast is an interview with the lovely Amy McLaren who is the CEO of three passion-led businesses - Lady Strength where she takes women on trips that get them to leave their comfort zone, a charity called Village Impact where they help build schools in Kenya and a luxury Airbnb!  KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST Take one step at a time and just put one step in front of the other.You can learn so much about yourself when you are put in an uncomfortable situation.It took 3 years for Amy to write and publish her new book.Your legacy and the impact you have on the world starts from the little things we do every day.We can all do more good in the world.Giving back doesn’t have to be a huge gesture – you can start small.Just be kind - in life and business.You may never know how much of an impact a simple act of kindness can have one someone.Living with passion doesn’t have to be expensive and you don’t have to change your whole life.Do more of what makes you happy and brings you joy to fulfil your passion. This could just be small moments of your day, not your whole life.There is no point doing something that makes you unhappy or feel unfilled.We are all here for a purpose and to do something.People never forget how you make them feel.It is important to encourage our children that they can have what they desire, but they have to work for it!Take a moment to check in with your life and ask yourself if you being intentional with your time and what you are doing.If this was it – would you be happy? THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO REMEMBER ABOVE ALL ELSE… Do more of what makes you happy and brings you joy! HIGHLIGHTS YOU SIMPLY CAN’T MISS An introduction to Amy – 05:00Women in business – 18:45Turning passion into purpose – 21:46The myths about living passionately – 29:48Leaving a legacy – 35:04True happiness in your life – 45:05 CHECK AMY OUT: Book – Passion to PurposeWebsite Transcript Below Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of the podcast. How are you doing? So if you are new around here, welcome, it's lovely to have you here. If you've been listening for a while then welcome. You're still very, very welcome to be here. Also, if you've been listening for a while and you feel like sharing this podcast, I would be so very grateful. It's like with everything you have to just keep working at it and working at it and working at it. And even though we are over 200 episodes, we still keep, to keep having to work at followers and get the podcast in front of people. So I would really, really appreciate it. And by all means, tag me in, and then I will share your post to my audience. I would really appreciate that. So anyway, thank you for that. Um, okay. This week we have an interview. And it's a really, really good interview. It's with a lovely lady called Amy McLaren. And you know, when you meet someone or you talk to someone and you think, "Oh my God, you are like so genuine and nice, such a lovely person." Well, that's exactly what I felt when talking to Amy. She was just so nice. We had such a nice chat. It was really, really good. Amy is a mum of two. She's a CEO, adventurer, a tea lover. When I say I love tea for those of you know, I mean, gin. So I don't think she means that, but I think she does like gin as well. A ceiling pusher, first-time author and a people connector, experienced maker ride-or-die friend, Peleton crusher, wife, Airbnb entrepreneur, and Founder of Village Impact and Lady Strength. That's an amazing bio. So basically Amy came on to talk about the fact that she has a new book coming out. The premise around the whole book. So the book's called Passion to Purpose and she's put together this book to talk about how you can take yourself from living with passion and having a life full of passion. And we talked about that a lot. We talked about kind of the the journey she's gone through with the various different businesses that she's got her charity, which, oh my goodness. Like when you hear what she's done with this charity and, and the lives that should have impacted is huge. Her business Lady Strength when she does masterminds and adventure travels and that sort of thing. And then, as I said, this brand new book that's come out, which I've already gotten order and I will link to it in the show notes. Amy has had a really interesting and busy life like this lady has got plenty to do, and yet somehow still manages to achieve amazing things and live a life that she absolutely loves with passion. And I just think it's such an amazing message. I'm really excited to hear for you to hear this episode this week. Because I think we need to remind ourselves that we're not just doing this for, you know, we're not just in this business thing and we're not just like running these homes and families or whatever we're doing for the sake of it. You know, we get one life. We need to enjoy every flippin at moments of it. We need to embrace it and, and do things that lights us up and we enjoy. And I just think it's really interesting to hear. The kind of take that she's come from and some of the stuff she's done, it's been really, really amazing. So I am going to let you just get on and listen to this episode, here is the lovely Amy McLaren. So I am super excited today to welcome to the podcast the very lovely Amy McLaren. Amy, thank you so much for joining me. Amy: Oh, thank you. It's um, it's so fun. Cause you're, you're being British. It's like, I am British myself, so I like, I love chatting with people from the UK. It's my day. Teresa: Got me. Cause to listen to you, Amy you certainly don't sound British. Like this. Amy: No. I know, but I still say a few words. Um, but you know, I was born in Oxford, England in a little village, uh, born in the Marlcliff but grew up in a little village called Tackley um, near Banbury, Kidlington area. Um, yeah, so I am UK. I still call myself British. Um, but I do sound very Canadian as well. Teresa: I love it. I love it. I love it. So Amy I'm really excited for this conversation. Say you've got some great stuff to share with us, but let's just by the start by introducing you to my audience, tell them who you are and how you get to do what you do today. Amy: Sure. So my name is Amy McLaren. I am a mom. I have two young kids. I have a ten-year-old daughter who I think sometimes is 16. I don't know how that goes. Um, and I have a little, um, we adopted a little boy from South Africa and his name is Sam and he's seven. And I also have, I guess I'm a fur baby mom. We have a golden labradoodle. That's like my home life. And then I'm an entrepreneur at heart and I have, um, a few passion-led businesses. So I have my charity that I started called Village Impact with my husband, where we help build schools in Kenya. And then I also have a brand called Lady Strength where I love getting out there and traveling around the world and taking women on really trips that are pushing them out of their comfort zone in a lot of different ways through Lady Strength. And then my most recent passion-led business is I'm a luxury Airbnb that I just started. So I'm definitely a passion-led entrepreneur. Teresa: And you are busy. Like that is a lot of stuff. I mean, I have an 11-year-old girl. I totally get the going on 16, like. Amy: Scary. Right. It's scary. Teresa: You try and think back in there. I'm sure. I wasn't like that. I'm sure I wasn't that confident and that kind of like. So aware of the world and stuff, but they're hilarious. They have grown up so, so fast. And now I don't know about your daughter, but mine won't let me choose her clothes. Amy: No, I know I've I haven't had that for a while and my daughter is really into. Which I guess is a good thing. She loves comfy baggy big clothes because she just likes to be comfortable. So I'm kind of like, whoa, that's good. At least I'm not fighting like. Short crop tops and all that other stuff. Maybe, maybe it'll come. I'm not there yet. Teresa: We have the crop top thing and we are real time. Luckily now it's like, it's not crop, but it stops at her waist. So I can just about manage that. But yeah. Children aside life is crazy busy. So tell me about, did they come in the order in which you said, so was it the charity first, then your business and obviously the, the Airbnb. So tell me about the charity and what made you even start down that route? Why you wants to do it? Amy: Yeah. So, absolutely. So first of all, like you said, these three businesses did not happen overnight, and nor did they happen in the last, like they happened, like you said, in a sequence. So the first one for me was my desire to give back and creating Village Impact. And