Lindy Alexander: The writer with the dream job

#CS - Lindy Alexander (EDITED)

Tue, Aug 20, 2024 1:09PM • 40:01

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

travel, lindy, love, writing, freelance writer, people, trip, dream, photos, staying, pitching, live, raffles, talking, emma, story, work, life, writer, articles

00:00

Emma, do you want to live a life of freedom and adventure? Are you wanting more than the daily grind? Me too. Welcome to the Emma Lovell, show a place where we talk about living a life you love. Now I'm your host, Emma Lovell, and my number one value is freedom. I've spent the last 14 years running a business and traveling the world, and now I take my husband and toddler along for the adventure too. It's possible, and I know you can create a life doing what you truly love as well. This podcast will inspire, motivate and encourage you to go after your dreams, to create a life you love and to live it now, not wait for a time and or someday in the future, I'll be sharing episodes weekly about how I harmonize business travel and self care. I'll also bring on incredible guests to share their journeys, the wins, the challenges, and how they're creating a life they love. Let's jump in and get dreaming. This is a space for you to manifest a life you love.

01:03

I would like to acknowledge and recognize Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first peoples of this place, now known as Australia. I am grateful for the continuing care of the land, waterways and skies where I work, live, listen, learn and play from here on Yugambeh country and from wherever you are listening, I pay my respects to the elders past and present.

01:26

Welcome to today's very special episode, a case study from my book The Art of pleasure, introducing you again to the fabulous Lindy Alexander, who is a friend of the podcast and has been on an episode way, way long ago, but Lindy was one of the first people that I thought of when I wanted to include case studies in the book. She is someone I followed online for years, and I've been marveling at not only her dream job, but the wisdom she shared when we finally met. She's every bit as generous and knowledgeable in person as she was online, and she's also incredibly humble and down to earth. And for someone who has one of the coolest jobs in the world, Lindy keeps it very real and authentic.

02:10

The case studies that I included throughout the book are there to show you that there is more than one way to live the pleasure life and to make it work for you, and it's not just the way that I do it. So there's eight fabulous case studies that I'm going to introduce you to over the next eight weeks. You can read their story in the book, but here's a bit more of behind the scenes with them, and let me tell you a little bit more about Lindy, though she's an award winning freelance travel writer who regularly contributes to some of Australia's best loved publications, such as the age and Sydney Morning Herald, the Herald Sun, the Australian and delicious magazine. There's almost nothing she wouldn't do for a story, and During her travels, Lindy has written articles about meditating with monks in Chiang Mai, sleeping in a castle in Jaipur, exploring the flirting villages of Bangkok on bike and going Helly hiking in the Canadian Rockies. She's also the founder of the Freelancers year, a popular blog, an online writing course hub for aspiring and established freelance writers. Lindy is living the dream. She has the dream job, and she's going to share though all of the behind the scenes as well in this episode. So please welcome the fabulous Lindy Alexander, and of course, if you want to read more about her story, please head to Emma lovell.au forward slash book, and get yourself a copy of The Art of pleasure. Let's go.

03:33

Welcome to the podcast slash the book. Lindy, thank you. I'm very excited to be here and talking with you. So when I came up with this book topic and the I have had you on the podcast before, I was like, if I have any case study, if I don't have any, if it's no one else's fiction's book but me, the only other person would be Lindy Alexander, because I feel like you have the dream job. But tell us you might not feel the same, because you know the background to it, but what is your job or business? Yes, I do. I do have the dream job. So I am, I'm a slashy, which means that I have multiple jobs. So first and foremost, I am a freelance writer, and I specialize in food and travel, so the nice things in life. And then I also run an online business where I have courses, resources, programs, specifically at supporting aspiring freelance writers or established freelance writers. And before we came on, I was just talking about the fact that I had said, very keen on your last offer, which was like a coaching sort of container, but realized that although I feel like I'm the ideal client, it wasn't the ideal time because I'm writing a book, and probably not the time to be focusing on trying to write articles as well. Yeah, absolutely. And you've gotta find the right time, because often those sorts of programs are big.

05:00

Investments in terms of money and time, and so you want to do it at a time that is going to maximize your chance of success? Yeah, absolutely. And I know that there will be, I hope I knew, well, I knew it'd be successful. I hope that you'll do it again and then it will be the right time and I can get that support. But how long have you been working this way?

05:20

Yeah, so I wasn't always a freelance writer. I in my past life, I was a social worker for 10 years, and then in 2012 I became a freelance writer, very much as a side hustle.

05:35

And as the years went on, it became less and less of a side hustle and more of a full time thing. And so I dropped being a social worker and went full time into freelance writing in 2017 with the dream of breaking into travel writing, but with no idea really how to do it, and with voices in my head and around me saying, that's the hardest part. You know, if you wanted to pick the most sought after, competitive, challenging part of being a freelance writer, it would be to break into travel writing. And so I was like, You know what? I don't mind the challenge, so I'm going to see if I can break into travel writing. And I did. And so now that is the bulk of my freelance writing work. I love that. Well, it's that whole thing, and I've talked, I've talked I've talked about it on the podcast before, and I'm talking about the book is that you can't travel and make money. Lindy, I don't know if you know, but you can't travel and make money. That's what, that's what we've been told. So How dare you pursue the dream like you know it's I got the same the travel writing was the hardest one to get into. I did a travel writing course with Australian writers center, and I think it's good to set people up for with expectations, but like not being funny, but it hasn't been that hard. I'm not doing it full time. It's not the bulk of my income, but I have done travel writing over the years, so

06:58

yeah, there are so many opportunities, and I think it's really easy for people to cut you down, or just cut the idea down,

07:09

but actually, if you know where to start, and if you know how to pitch and find an angle and a hook in a story, then those skills translate from General feature writing. So if you're writing about business or interiors or gardening, if you know how to tell a story in those contexts, then you're also going to be able to translate that into travel writing as well. But it's also like what I see with you, and not to take away your amazing skill, because you write beautifully, but it's also a process, like it's a methodical process, and it's somewhat a numbers game. And I know that, although I said it's easy, I know that I simply haven't given it enough time at times to do, to do more of it, because when I do, I've had success, but I haven't. Have not sent enough pictures. I have not spent time looking at the publications that I want to work right for. I haven't made those connections in the right spaces, like I feel like, you know, there is a time element, and you know amount of time element you can put into it, but there's also, like you said, there's certain skills and habits and processes that are involved, not simply being a lovely writer, yeah. I mean, there's a real strategy element to it, and I've got a lot to see. I've got a lot to say about all that. But yeah, I think from understanding a publication, thinking about the readers, just doing the very basics of seeing whether the publication has recently run a story on what you're pitching about. And look, I, the other week, pitched one of my editors, one of my regular editors, a story, and she was like, we've just run a piece on that, and I subscribe to that section of the newspaper. I get it delivered on the weekend. I read it and I checked but their online search function is terrible. And she was very gracious because I wrote back and said, I'm so embarrassed. I can't believe that I've just pitched you something that you've just run. And she was like, Oh, our search function and our side is not great. And I thought that's a very gracious reply. But you know, sometimes best laid plans, they don't always work, but I see writers who are pitching ideas for a publication that are generic, ideas that don't have a strong hook, that they've just run a whole feature on. Those sort of things can get you out of the gate very quickly if you just do the fundamentals. Well, yeah, and so does it use just a poor timing like I think I pitched the Tigers in India. And unfortunately, they, I didn't, it hadn't been released yet, but it was already, you know, it was in print, because if it's a print thing or or they also work a few months out. So it was, they're like, sorry, it's coming out the next issue. Oh, it's Mongolia as well. So it's Mongolia, which I was like, come on. Yes, Mongolia. It's so unique. Come.

10:00

One, somebody had just done it the month the issue, and it hadn't come out. So it wasn't being late, but I was it was about to come out, and just like, I'm so sorry. Yeah, timing matters, and, like, only two years,

10:14

and sometimes you don't know the processes of a publication, like you can't we. I think sometimes it's easy to feel like it's all our fault if we don't get commissions, and that our ideas are rubbish. But actually there's so much happening in terms of budget and the commercial arm of it, like who is advertising and is the story that you're pitching? Does that fit in with their advertisers, or does that go against their advertisers? So there's all these other components that we as freelance writers are not privy to you and that we don't see behind the scenes, but there are definitely things that we can do to make our pictures stronger. Yeah, absolutely. And so why did you start, like, say, social work, yeah. Why did you start this? You know, writing. And then was, it was travel writing the initial desire, or just writing? Think so I don't think travel writing was the initial design. I mean, I've always been a writer, always felt like writer. I've always written, but never thought about monetizing it, because I could only ever see two pathways, which was journalism and novel writing, and neither of those appealed to me. And then when I was in when I was in my mid 20s, I spent eight months in Uganda, and I was volunteering, living, working in rural, super rural Uganda. And maybe once a month, I would go into the main town, and I would send an email to family and friends to let them know that I was alive and what was happening. And people would write back and say to me, you should write a book. These emails are so beautiful. And I think that was the very start of me thinking, this is I love doing this. I love having these unique experiences and then telling stories about them and for people to read them and to give me feedback. And I think that planted the seed for me. So then when I in 2012 when I started pursuing freelance writing, and I was writing about health and social work, stuff and parenting, because that was the space I was in, travel writing was a bit of a dream, but I didn't know how I could pull it off, or how I could make it happen. And it seemed like something other people could do. I would see photos from writers of them being on these incredible trips. And I was thinking, I don't even know how that would happen for me, you know, like, how would I do that? How would that happen? They seem like they had something special about them that I was a bit closed off. I feel it was a bit of a, you know, yeah, how do you even step in it? I think there was a bit of that at some point. Yeah. And I think it can be a competitive space, and people can guard their contacts and their information really closely, whereas I don't know, I don't feel like that. I just feel like there's enough. Like, as one of my friends says, there's enough pizza for everyone. Oh, pie, if you're a very good baker, so not a pie. Make your own pie. Um, so did you always, I've written I wrote down you love travel, which I think you do. But did you always love travel? And, like, how did you do it? You said you lived in Uganda for eight months. Did you do a lot of it before it became part of work? Think I've always been attracted to travel. I mean, I didn't really grow up in a family that did a lot of travel, like we couldn't afford a lot of travel. I went overseas with my parents in my mid teens. But I don't know if that really instilled the travel bug, but I have always been interested in reading non fiction travel accounts. And when I was 21 I went and lived in Canada for a year. And I think that, for me, really ignited that travel bug. And so then after that, I've always been interested in travel and exploring. But, you know, I feel like that desire coincided with the time when I was studying and living out of home and so didn't have a lot of money to travel, yeah, which is funny, though, because I found university I wasn't well, wasn't living I was living at home. Ish, yeah, going in. I feel like studying, for me, was a time where, because you had so much time at university that I would work, work, work, and then use the holidays to do a bunch of travel, and then come back and study work, study work, and then travel. But I wasn't paying rent, so

14:33

yeah, just kind of feast or famine, as I love to do in all of my life. But how before the writing, did you manage to include any travel in your work?

14:44

Not really. I mean, I think I would always look at jobs in the newspaper, you know, in those days where you would get, like, the career section of the newspaper on a Saturday, and I would always be attracted not to the job, but to the travel, like, if, if jobs involve.

15:00

Interstate travel, even domestic travel within the state, or international travel. I was like, Oh, I'd like that job. And then I'd be like, Lindy, the job has to come first. So we're in my role as a social worker. I did a lot of travel just within Victoria, and I loved it. I loved going to all these different little towns and villages and pockets of Victoria, but no, it didn't really occur to me that I could have a job that included travel and writing like, What a dream. It never occurred to me. And that's such a good point you make about travel. I think a lot of people, when they say travel, they do think of by the intrepid travel or adventurous travel, or holidays, or, you know, extended travel or international travel, quite simply, be like, Oh, I don't travel because I don't go on planes like you do. And it's like, the Traveling can be going 30 minutes down the road. You know, traveling can be going to, there are so many places in Victoria, even though I lived there, I've not seen I haven't been to Dallas, but I know you went recently, and I was like, I've never been. I've never been to Phillip Island to see the penguins. You know, I lived there for three years, and I didn't do the thing that everybody who comes to Victoria does. Yeah, I think that we often, especially as Australians, think we have this myopic view where we're like, the rest of the world is out there, and we need to go and travel out there. And then I think post covid people are recognizing what we have. Like, I was just in Gary Fraser Island last weekend, and the Ranger was saying to me there, she just said, the number of Australians who now, even people who live in Harvey Bay, who have never been to the island, even though it's so close. She was like, It's astounding. Because people like, Wow. I never really, I thought it was something I would do later in my life, explore this part of my doorstep. But now I realize, like, the bounty that Australia has. So you're right. I do think we have this view of travel as out there, but actually so close to us we can travel, and that, for me at the moment, is the real pleasure in traveling.

17:09

Emma's innate ability to lift others, her unwavering authenticity, her dedication to following her passions, are only qualities that radiate from every single part of all her endeavors.

17:26

Whatever she touches and creates is just magical in a world where everything is trying to mold us, Emma really stands strong, showing us that staying true to ourselves is the ultimate path to success. She is just this amazing Trailblazer. She's become a dear friend and an amazing mentor.

17:53

Well, and I remember one of your articles recently because it's put on my vision board, but it was like you went to a beautiful place in Mornington. It's quite a Bougie spa. It's like, that's travel writing. Like, I'm sure you could drive there,

18:07

few hours away, or whatever, but that's a travel experience, because a very it's like, if you don't go to plane, it's not traveling, or it's not like a big train journey. It's like, travel literally means, like, moving. I should look up the I love a lot of word definition, like travel means moving, yeah, yeah, A to B, yeah, that's it. And that is so appealing. So last weekend, I was in Noosa, and it was actually, I think it was one of the best trips I've taken, because my partner and our kids could come with us. And so I was working for one of the days where I did a helicopter tour of Gary, but the rest of the time we're in this incredible beachfront apartment. And I was like, this really seems to blend business, work, travel, everything. And it felt so balanced. The pleasure was the ultimate pleasure trip you had the business and the leisure and the family included. I love having like some people don't, but I think live part of my leisure and part of, you know, a big part of my life is our family. So yeah, how beautiful you get. The thrill of the travel. I love how Lindy just casually drops in that it was a helicopter flight to this stunning island at the tip of the Great Barrier Reef, just casual day. And then, you know, getting that you are working, and then getting to share the perks of your work with your Yeah, because we were staying in this beautiful three bedroom apartment right on the beach in Noosa, and by myself, I would have been rattling around that thing. Instead, I was woken at 20 past six every morning by my daughter saying, Mum, is the pool open yet? Can we go in the pool yet? I was like, No way

19:51

waiting. But that's such a joy for me, and also, as a writer, my children don't often get to see what I do like I can.

20:00

Point to articles that are published, but for them to come on a trip, I mean, they have a very skewed understanding of my work. When they see me literally flying in a helicopter past our apartment, they do have a skewed vision of my work, but it's so joyful for me to be able to include them in that. Well, I also, yes, obviously fan girls slash friends stalker. But of Lindy and you recently did a trip where you were staying, like, basically, next to Buckingham Palace and this suite, and what they did for the kids like you tell us like that, to share that with the fam, I mean, and we talked about it before you're like, I don't really have a London accommodation. Can you scout out a few? I sent a few tips to Lindy. I think she won.

20:45

Yeah,

20:47

we were, we were put up in the new raffles London, which is in the old war office, and so it's almost across the road from Downing Street. It's down the road from Buckingham Palace, and we walked into this corner suite, which is one of four

21:06

on the second floor of the hotel, which is, which is really reserved for all the high level suites. And the what the staff had done, our kids just had, like, bouquets of flowers. They had a huge healing balloon. They both had a little raffles lion. There were bespoke chocolates for them. There was a jigsaw puzzle, like they had just gone all out. And one of the nights, we returned to our room, and they'd set up a movie for us in our lounge room, and they've got popcorn for the kids and a little chiller, chiller of juice, of fresh juices for them. And do you know what? Though, I think my kids don't, I don't think it's going to be for a few years until they realize, like, actually what that was, because we were staying in a hotel the night before, and my daughter said to me, I like raffles. And we were literally staying in like a basement of one of those London hotels where you open the curtains, and there's a there's a window, and then a brick wall there. And I was like, Oh, sweetie, this is not raffle. This is not raffles. Wait, wait till we get to raffles. You gonna know? So I don't know. I mean, it's lovely to have those experiences, but for me, the joy is in sharing it absolutely, yeah, that is so unprecious. And my heart, when I saw you doing it, I was like, This is so lovely, but I'm sure you still get and maybe they don't say it to you, but there's still that thing. And I think something that I have have tried to answer throughout the book is that, oh, it's all well and good for Emma. Oh, it's all well and good for Lindy. Like, Oh, Lindy can do the helicopter and Lindy can write the travel story, but I can't

22:44

do that.

22:47

Can you say more? I'm interested in hearing. What do you think that people see or think, I think, I think they were wondering, how you get to that point, which I think we've established, it took time and relationship building and skills and blah, blah, blah, but I think that they don't think that it's possible like to go from where, you know, they're in a job, or they're working in a certain way, to being able to include travel in their work, but certainly having the dream job that it's like, oh, that's just for other people. It's not for me. So,

23:21

yeah, whether it's an envy or whether it's in a just a I can't like, which I would say is a mindset issue, I think it's the other one. I think people look at me and think, if Lindy can do it, then I definitely can do it. Oh, well, I love that. I know I think I see you as aspirational and inspirational. I feel happy for you like when I saw those experiences. I don't think, Oh, look at her in the helicopter. Look at it. I don't think that. And I hope that the majority is like that, and you get a lot of lovely emails back. So that would be great if it's the majority, and hopefully we're not hearing this, but I guess that's what I'm trying to I'm trying to answer the objections and the critics, because I have actually had people say things like that, like, oh, well, yeah, you can do it. Like, right? Okay, yeah, I don't think I've heard that really, but I do think that

24:14

I feel like I show that anyone really like, if you can write for me, but if you're a photographer, or if you have ideas, like when we went to Gary on the last week, actually sharing the helicopter with me was this young guy, and I found this so inspiring that was brought out by the resort to take photos for the day. And so I was saying to him, are you professional photographer? And he said, No. What happened was, five years ago, he was staying at the resort, and he was taking photos, and he tagged the resort in them, and their marketing manager happened to be on the island and messaged him and said, Do you want to meet just for a drink? And he was like, Sure. And so she.

25:00

Him, and she said, we are loving all your photos, your videos, like you have got such a great eye. Would you be interested in staying on the island for a couple more nights and taking assets? We're taking photos for us. We have, we don't have a photographer, and we would love to employ you. And so now, each and every year he goes to the island, and he's creating these assets and resources for them. And I think if you just have a passion and you follow it, and you put yourself out there, amazing things can happen. So you did the right, yeah. I think that's the thing. Sometimes people think I I think people think things just happen. And you can totally get that story and go, it just happened. It's like, no, he was there. He took the photos, he posted the photos, he tagged them in the photos. Timing wise, yeah, awesome. The manager was there. But maybe even if the manager wasn't there, they might have still gone and private messaged and arranged a phone call and done the thing. Then he had to say yes to staying for two nights, and then he's had to say yes and continue to show her and deliver those. You know, they might have gone. Your photos were great, but the rest of the photos were not so great. So thanks, but we're done. But he obviously did demonstrate and do the work. Then doing the work is the people that to me, I think the bit that people miss is the they see the article, they see the photo, they see the helicopter, they don't see the work, yes, yeah, I think you're right. And he's invested. I mean, we were taking, well, he was taking pictures of the dingoes, and he put out this massive camera lens. And I was like, my goodness. And he was like, Yeah, I just felt like, last year, when I was here, we were close to the dingoes, but not close enough to really get their expression. And the photos that he took were amazing of the dingoes. And so I think he is also financially invested in his craft as well, and and he is easy to work with,

26:51

punctual, all the all the things that you need as a human as well as doing all the work that you were talking about. Yeah, yeah. And that's something like, it's saying yes to opportunities. And I'm sometimes I think you do do a wonderful job. It like, I highly recommend signing up to lindy's emails. Like, I've been listening reading your emails for a long time, where you do really showcase and demonstrate the work. And literally say, I sent this many pictures this month. This is how many got accepted. This is, you know, this is the breakdown of my business. Some of it is travel writing. Some of it is, like, client copy. Some of it is

27:29

courses. Now I teach people. It's coaching, like you literally showed the pie of how your income is broken up. So it's not just, oh yeah, she's getting paid 100k

27:39

going on a helicopter every day. It's like, yeah, there's other pieces to it. And like, Yeah, it's awesome. The travel writing bit is a big piece of the pie. But, you know, there's also work that goes into it. I think you demon. You do

27:53

role model that and and let us in on that very much. It was another point I was going to make that was, yeah, you said. But I just, I love the diversify. I want to come back to that you said something early on, and it's the diversifying of income. And one of the things that I love, that I know we talked about before we came on, that I will do your freelance writing or feature writing or whatever it is, or get your support in getting more articles, because I love that. No matter what happens if all my other business elements falls pieces, I can always go back to writing. Yes, yes. Once you've got those skills of pitching and writing stories, it's not just applicable to writing for magazines and newspapers and online outlets, but for companies and businesses and organizations and universities and nonprofits, and so you can get yourself up on your feet very quickly, I think, if you have that skill of writing, but also if you are able to see what you offer, either from an editor's perspective, how are you serving their readers, or from a company's perspective, how can you deliver content that is going to be useful for them? But you also said, I love that. You said the slash year as well, because it's such a and your email in this past week, yes, I read lots of things. Is was about niching, and I think that's sort of such a block as well. It's like, well, I either have to be a travel writer or an intrepid adventurer or I have to work in a corporate job. It's like you were working in a job, and on the side, you were starting to make money from writing, you know, and maybe it could be left at that if you're quite satisfied. I was like, I have to leave my job in order to do these other things, like, no, maybe just on your annual holiday. Oh, that was the point it's going to make. I have told people before about how I make my money, or how I've done multiple things, or how I have traveled for free to places like Everest base camp, but in exchange, I had to take care of a group of 20 people. I was the tour manager my flights. I've got a $10,000 trip for free, but I had a responsibility. And people are like, I don't want to do that. It's like, okay, well,

29:58

then really, I mean none of that.

30:00

None of that is free. It is. It's a transaction in in which you gain something, but you also have to give, give something. Yeah, and with the the travel writing, it's like, oh, it's all could be sort of like, oh, this person goes, and sometimes there are for meals which don't turn into something, but you go on that trip, and I remember hearing you talk about how tight your timeline was on, you know, you're in this beautiful place, and you have got to have this moment of looking out the door. But like,

30:27

and caught the rainbow photo, which is like, woo the dream Instagram, but like, the rest of it was really hectic, yeah, yeah. And absolutely, like, what we get presented with on social media or even in travel stories is not always what happens behind the scenes. And so I've got people in my programs who say I want to earn as much money as I can from doing using my writing skills content writing, but then I want to take that money and I want to travel, and I want to travel and not feel beholden to

30:59

public relations company or a destination like a tourism board or a restaurant that's hosting me, I just want to have those experiences, and then later, if I find something I want to write about, then I'll write about it, but I don't want to feel that pressure, and I and I get that and that's one way of doing travel writing as well, is self funding and then seeing what stories you kind of shake out of the pockets of that and I tend to go that way. My friend Danielle intends to, I said, I admire it. Like doing all the pitching before and contacting the venues. I tend to like to do my trip the way I want to do it. And then take the angles once I've been there and go, How can I, you know, it's just a different way of doing it. But you and I were actually talking about, and I don't think it's, it's put a put a pin in it for now, but, you know, I would love to take Lindy to India, to the tiger Safari. And I said, what would that look like? Because I have my travel partner indusbound, what would it look like if we were to host you? And then I was trying to, I earn a commission from the travel partner over there. So I was trying to, it's a family trip. We're going to go to a party in Delhi, and we're going to go to tigers to show my son the Tigers and share it with my husband, because I've been and then, I don't know, I just had this moment of like, yeah, maybe we can totally do that. We'll totally do that trip another time, and I can totally sell that tour. But it was like, Maybe this one's just for us. And maybe we just go for a couple of days. And maybe instead of trying to monetize it and subsidize it, and maybe we just go to India as a family and enjoy India, the country that I love, as a holiday for once, because I'm often working. And potentially it turns into a something later on. But maybe it doesn't, or we do that, that that vision another time. And there are so many opportunities, like, just this week, I've turned down two trips, and they just weren't right, you know? And it's hard when editors are coming to you with with trips. So it's not even PRs that are coming to you with offers and saying, Do you want to go here? But it's an editor saying, we want to send you to this place, but if it's not the right time, if it doesn't fit in with what you want to do in your heart, then I feel like I'm not going to do my best, my best work on that. And I just trust, I mean, this one's a bit Woo, but I just trust that there will be other things waiting for me. You know, the universe will deliver in other ways that I don't need to scramble and say yes to absolutely everything that comes at me, yeah. And I think there's a time for that, maybe when you're starting early, there is a time of like you said, saying yes,

33:31

but it's lovely to be discerning, and the point where you are discerning and deciding what you want to do and what that life, that pleasure life, that business and travel or just holiday like, what that looks like and the time to take your family and the time not you know, it can all look different and work in different ways. But do you think the pleasure life, so the business and travel combination is possible and sustainable?

33:59

Yeah, I do,

34:02

and I think it depends on each individual person, what that looks like for me, more and more that business and leisure is looking like

34:15

trips away, where I get to bring my family, or domestic trips, or working here, and having those trips that feel quite separate, or like when we went to Europe recently, where we stayed in a hotel, and that was hosted, and then I wrote a couple of stories about the city, but then I had a break of two weeks in the middle of that in the UK, where I did no writing, no work, and then At the end, we stayed in raffles, and I wrote a review of that for a publication. And so I think it's just about working out what that balance looks like for you. I recently had, I've got a friend who lives in Colorado. She's a freelance graphic designer, and she came to Australia for six weeks and did not bring her laptop. And that to me.

35:00

Is, like, goals, freelance goals, but it would make me so anxious to not bring my laptop. But I think for her, she was like, I want to switch off totally. And she'd spent months teeing it all up with her clients who knew that they were going to get her out of office. And for her, that is her business. That is her business, running itself while she is away. Yeah, yeah. Well, and then there's choices, I think, like, when you do have this life, the thing that is missed, when I said, like, people think, oh, it's all well and good for the thing that's missed is the choices and the sacrifices like that. It is choice. And, like you said, it's a maybe it's not financial, but maybe it's time, like, so it's something, you know, or we work more so that we can have that time off. But that's fine. That's the choice. And if you're not willing to do that, then maybe you can't have that. But don't say it's not possible at all. It's just finding the way that works and and finding role models. And you are such a role model. Now this is a tricky one. I'm going to ask you, and

36:02

we'll talk about after I've asked you and said, What's your dream destination to work in,

36:07

to work in?

36:12

Oh, do you know this is going to be so boring and quite controversial, but I actually think it's being at home.

36:18

I think that's my dream destination. Is here because I have worked in all sorts of places all around the world, including in airplanes. And for me, getting the bulk of my work done here is how I like to roll. And I find it very difficult to do proper, proper work when I'm traveling, when I'm on the road, I love it. The reason I ask that is because I feel like, for travelers, it's like our mind goes first to our dream destination, and then it's like, the caveat is to work in because my mind goes straight to Antarctica, but because it's a goal destination, but I don't want to work there. Yeah, like, when I go and do that trip, I don't want to work there. Like, sweet, if I can find a way to make it work. But I'm really, the vision at the moment is to go and really enjoy and have that. So, yeah, that's, that's where the question comes from. Like, the work bit. Well, what's the, what would be the dream way of working? And I love that your answer is home, yeah. And I think, like, I have, I love the idea of, like, having a little apartment in Bologna or, you know, and spending a few hours every morning and then going out and eating amazing Italian food. But I think for me, the reality is, I like the disconnect when I'm when I'm away, and I like being able to block my time. And so I don't know that I could fully unwind into a place, if I was on the clock all the time, or if I had one on my laptop and one eye at the outside, at the piazza, well, and I always, I sort of comes from, like, I wrote an article once they used a stock photo. And it is that, like, you know, it's the hashtag influencer, this beautiful girl sitting at a table by the water with a coconut with a laptop. And people literally wrote back, and they're like, that's not you like, that's not how it works. And I was like, I don't even have photos of me working on my laptop in beautiful destinations. I've done it, but I'm working, so I don't now. I do now on purpose, because I'm writing this book, because I'm talking this topic, I'm setting up the camera. But it's like, no, when I'm working, I'm working and and I don't actually like working outside that much either. I would rather the same. And I'll stay in my dark hobble of a hotel room in the morning or not like the nice hotel room. But I want to dark, do a couple of hours and then enjoy

38:35

Rome or wherever it is that we are whenever.

38:40

Lindy always. I could talk to you forever. Thank you so much, and I love how you put the question back on me as well. But I love your newsletters, the constant inspiration. I love that you have the dream job, but I love that you share the work.

38:57

Thanks, Emma. I will put all your links in the show notes. She's Lindy Alexander. We'll put all the links and put all the works that will all of the things, just find her internet and the freelance is here for more, like all the programs

39:11

and links, perfect. Thanks, lovely.

39:15

Thank you for listening. Lovely one. I hope this has inspired you to dream big and start creating a life you love today. If you love what you're hearing, don't forget to follow and rate on Spotify and rate review and subscribe on iTunes. It helps other awesome people to find this podcast and get motivated and inspired as well. Want to stay connected, come and join the live a life you love. Group on Facebook or connect with me on Instagram. Emma lovell.au the same as my website, but all the details are in the show notes. Lovely. I'll see you next episode for more inspiration, motivation and freedom seeking. Now go out there and live a life you love. You.

40:00

Just be happy.