 Lea so good to connect with you on this interview where we're talking about sort of your business learnings and your learnings throughout your essentially your career. Since the last time we talked, but we can talk more, more generally as well be beyond that beyond the specific timeframe. And before we started recording. You were talking about this very important theme that I think a lot of folks who are watching this can relate to which is, how do we deal with the doldrums in the, I mean, it's like unless you have a stable job, which for most people is probably quite boring and unengaging and not purpose but at least it brings in stable money right like unless you have that situation. Most solopreneurs I have. Yeah, a lot of struggles, you know throughout their journey with feeling down, it could be financial reasons emotional energy reasons so I definitely want to talk about that and your experience with it and how you are recovering and how you have recovered again and again. But first, maybe you could practice your introduction. Share about yourself and your work with those who are watching. It's great to be here. Good to see you. Yeah, so my name is Lea. I am, you know, I was trying with this, I had a thought the other week of calling myself an authentic wellbeing coach. I love it. You know me, I love to put the word authentic in front of it. I love it. And I was like, what does that mean? You know, and for me, it's, it's for me, I do, I teach yoga. I'm all about health and wellbeing. I have a podcast called the wellbeing room. I'm really passionate about sharing, you know what I've learned about health and wellbeing with other people and really want people to take responsibility and control for their health and wellbeing so that they can live a long healthy life well into your old age. And yeah, so I'm interested in sharing about that. Currently, I'm mainly doing that, like I said, through my yoga teaching and through my podcast, which is just a side hobby at the moment. And yeah, I'm hoping to now also potentially train other yoga teachers in the things that I've learned. I've recently gained my certification as a level three senior yoga teacher by Yoga Australia, which is the accrediting yoga board in Australia. So that's, that's exciting for me. That's opening potential doors to do professional development for other yoga teachers and even train yoga teachers to become yoga teachers. So I'm quite excited about that because that ties into a lot of the work I've done previously as a learning designer and as a teacher in schools. So I'm hoping that things will all come to alignment and I can help people with their health and wellbeing. Yeah, that's really neat that you have that level of expertise and certification now and you're kind of mentoring the next generation of yoga teachers and that's really cool. I realized something else I want to talk to you about in our short time together is, you are one of my favorite interviewers that I've had the chance to be on a podcast. Be a guest for and so maybe you could share a bit about your tips for inter I mean, not only have you interviewed people and I think you do a good job of it, great job of it but you obviously listen to many interviews so maybe maybe we could set that aside for the last, you know, the last 10 minutes But let's first dive into this topic that I that all of us probably can can relate to here and there myself included which is, you know, you recently had another experience of, you know, feeling low. And, you know, maybe you could tell us what what could have been the reasons. I mean, as much as you're able willing to share but you were saying, Oh, well, it may be physical reasons like hormonal, it could be, you know, astrological. It could also be connected to financial or other sort of like social social or emotional reasons. But tell us about why you think you get you've, you know, experienced that, or, or you'd want to say more generally why do you think other solopreneurs experience that and how you lift yourself out of that. Yeah. Yeah, thank you, George. Yeah, it's such a such an important topic because I think everyone to some degree experiences periods, whether it's a day, a couple of days, weeks of these days, periods where we're feeling inadequate, lacking confidence, depressed, you know, just, you know, whole is another way of putting it, I guess. And yeah, and I just recently just earlier this week I had an experience where I was in that position. And it for me it was an experience of feeling, you know, a complete lack of confidence in my ability to, you know, to do whatever to just to live to be a teacher to be, you know, a mother or daughter or whatever. I was just feeling very disconnected. And, and it's when you're in those situations, it's you sent a spiral down it's really hard to to lift yourself up on your own. I think that's, that's what I've been discovering as the years go by and as these experiences happen. And like I said, it could have been a whole colonial related thing it could be, you know, because just returned from an overseas trip. So there's that, you know, the high of the travel, you know, coming back to reality. There's also the fact that, you know, spending money overseas coming back to a depleted bank balance, and also dealing with you know, changes within my family, you know, parents having health issues that kind of thing so dealing I guess it's just like all those burdens stack up on top of us. Yeah, so working out how to get out of that is challenging. And for me I found, like that day specifically was Monday. When I was sort of on my own and I think a solopreneur solo, you know, implies that you're generally doing things on your own. And I think for people who are working on their own whether that's they're at their home, they might be in a co-working space, they might be using co-working things like focus mate, but essentially we're still on our own. So we're not getting that feedback from other people constantly like we would in a workplace, you know, if you go to the office or something or if you're in a another place where there's people coming in going you're seeing people you're meeting people you're interacting with people even if it's just going to a cafe for lunch or, you know, writing with someone in a lift, you know, there's other people around and you're listening to things. And there's constant input and sensory experiences going on and we I think as we're on our own that can sort of diminish to some degree. And so for me I found that night I taught a yoga class and people come to my house we, you know, taught yoga and it was that sense of connection with other people that buoyed me up again. And it's, you know, partners can do something similar, but I think that's one level I think for me in those situations I need more than just a partner to sort of lift me up. I need a family member I need more people around me and I think having discovered that I think that's something to keep in mind but I think sometimes also we need to just sit in that space as well. It's, you know, we can try and band aid ourselves out of it but I think sometimes you have to process those emotions. And I don't really think we have to dwell in those places because we don't want to buy real estate there if you know what I mean, we want to be able to move on. So, but I think there is a process of working through that feeling and then hopefully something can lift you up like I said that connection piece I think that's really important. So that worked for me in that instance and since then things have been gradually day by day improving. And, you know, I'm seeing, you know, connecting with more people now in my circle and feeling more potential for, for, you know, each day as it goes on. Yeah. And I think that's all we can really do. Yeah. I mean, it's probably more. No, it's really, I so appreciate you sharing about, yeah, the ins and outs of that experience for you and how you started to pull yourself out of it. It's really fortunate that you had the yoga class that night is the same night. Right. And, like, you're witnessing yourself contributing to others and having that contribution received and appreciated is one of the great healing bombs of feeling, you know, disconnected down, etc. So you, I think you were very fortunate that that happened that night. Really, right, you know, because not many people know. And, but I'm curious, like when you have been feeling down and I agree, you know, just just the partner like we can't, you know, we can't rely on our family or a partner if we have one for, for being like the ideal therapist or something like that, you know, right because we have our own, you know, we're dynamic a relationship and we need to care for them to and have you has it, has it, have you reached out to a fellow solopreneur or some, you know, yeah, fellow solopreneur when you're in a downstate has that ever been a strategy that's been helpful for you. Yeah, no I have and we, you know, our mutual friend Mira has been a wonderful help for me on certain situations and she was someone that popped into my head and I did interview her on my podcast about something related to this I think as well. So if people interested they can check that out. Yeah, so I mean there are people obviously. Yeah. And I think you know sometimes therapists can be helpful as well you know like to, to talk to. Yeah, but I generally, yeah I mean, interestingly I had a co-working session with with someone this morning and we didn't chat about this specifically but it was just a good opportunity to say look you know, I was having this issue with some business related thing and you know I was like oh from your perspective you know what do you think about this and you know we're just she was shared some ideas with me and thoughts and I thought that was really a good way to to connect and get some support from a I guess a business perspective not necessarily an emotional relationship perspective. Yeah, great yeah. And this is why I really love facilitating a group of solopreneurs. I mean what you're saying is making me realize I need to emphasize that point more, like, for example coming to the group calls can be a touch point for mental health. Right like I hear people come to the calls and, and sometimes they don't have any quite a lot of times actually they don't have any questions and I say oh you have any questions like what brought you here and oh I just I'm here for the energy. You know, and so that is, yeah, I'm really happy to be able to facilitate that on a weekly basis and I, I'm going to start emphasizing that point more. And I think that's wonderful because a lot of the people that I've met that I find value connections you know I've been through your courses or your groups. So yeah, definitely and I do come to those calls to sometimes just for the connection. Yeah, totally. Exactly. You know I know welcome you there. So, let's switch gears a little bit if that's okay right now I as you know I happen to be teaching a course called interview history, and it's about how to get better as a host, as well as as a guest of interviews, whether it's a podcast or you know YouTube channel or Instagram live or webinar interview or something. So, given that you like I've talked you up, you know, folks please do. You know, check out Leia's podcast, The Well-Being Room. Yeah. Yes. And, you know, you can listen to the episode where I was the guest and you can listen to the episode where Mira Rao was the guest. So, I think you do a fantastic job. What have you learned? Let's start, let's start with what have you learned as a host and I also want to hear what have you learned as a guest of other interviews as well. And you could speak generally not just from your own podcast experience but just being a consumer of other people's podcast interviews. What have you learned as being what does it mean to be a good host and a good guest. So, let's start with hosts. Like, what do you think makes your interviewing good? Like, I think it's good. But what do you think? How do you prepare or how do you approach the role that you think might be beneficial for other hosts to hear? Firstly, thank you for saying those lovely things about my podcast and my interviewing stuff. I don't necessarily think that I'm a great interviewer but I'll take it. I find, I only interview people that I either have a connection with already or I'm really interested in what they do. I think for me that's essential. If I don't know the person from a bar of soap then, you know, I'm not going to ask. You know, I won't have that interest in what they do. I often get emails now from, you know, these people, oh, you know, would you like to interview this person there, this, that and the other. And I'm like, well, I don't know them and no, thank you. I'm not interested. So, I seek out people that I want to interview. So that's really the first step to it is, you know, who do I want to sit down? Who would I love to sit down in a room with and pick their brain about something? That's really my first thought about when I select people for an interview. So it's like someone that I'm interested in, interested in what they do, interested in how they think, interested in what they offer. And it's something that I would like to do, you know, I'd like to explore, go on exploration with them and then also share that with other people. Like, you know, I'm asking the questions for people that can't be there. So for me, it's like, well, I've got all these questions and I'm hoping that other people would be interested in the same thing. And hopefully by asking those questions, it's an interesting discussion. And, you know, people get a chance to learn. I'm all about learning. So, you know, lifelong learner, that type of thing. So, yeah, I want to educate people in improving their well-being. So it's always around, you know, how is this going to help improve someone's well-being? And why is it important? And, you know, what led them to do that? You know, obviously, everyone's got a story about how they came to do what they're doing. So it's always interesting to know a bit of backstory. A lot of the time, you know, I've met teachers such as yourself and, you know, we don't know where they've come from or why they've chosen this particular path. And a lot of the time as they're teaching, they don't share that necessarily. So I'd like to sort of pull away the curtain and go, well, you know, why did you do that? Or how did you come to that? Why was it so important for you? And I think that helps us generate a relationship with this person, get to know them and understand them. And so then, yeah, we think that that's more like a friendship or, you know, a mutual connection. And then that creates that space for people to share more about what they do and, yeah, and how that gets results. Yeah, no, this is great. I love this very important point of this genuine enjoyment and curiosity that you have about these people. So how do you prepare? Yeah, maybe you could you could tell us a bit about that, like how do you prepare for it? Sometimes I think I should prepare more. Oh, all of us. No, of course. Yeah, exactly. No, I mean, I'm, I'm asking the question because I'm like, how do I prepare? Yeah, I mean, I think I would obviously, you know, read their bio, whatever information I can find on their website or in a book that they've written or, you know, if I I've read, I've interviewed a few people about books, like they've written like your your your soldier book, but also other people that I've talked about their publications and so obviously reading what they've done so to get a bit of an understanding of their viewpoints and and use that those as questions or talking points, you know, like you wrote about this. Can you explain, you know, a bit more about what that means or, you know, but then also pointing people back to their publication, like, oh, you know, we've just touched on this topic. But if you want to learn more, then please, you know, find their book and get a copy and read about it. So, but preparation wise, it's more just, you know, making sure I've got a solid bio for them so I can introduce them. I like people like I think it's nice to have someone introduce you and then having the opportunity, you know, if they want to add to that and having a good solid set of questions, you know, you have a minimum of three but sometimes I have up to seven questions prepared in advance and having them, you know, open on my screen so I can refer to them easily. And, you know, having as I like to have a sort of a set ending question, you know, like, you know, what's one thing that you've learned you've done to improve your own well being and get more out of life because, you know, it's all about the well being room and getting more out of life so I like to sort of, I don't do that every time. But most of the time I'll ask my guests, you know, to answer the trade my question. Yeah, I just sort of throw it in the end sort of offhand. So they haven't really prepared for it and I don't often share my questions with them in advance, usually because I'm doing it the night before. Yeah, totally I know that's understandable and they you're pulling them out of out of the work they've done what you know so they it should be coming naturally to them. More recently I have created like a Google form for people to fill out beforehand. And that's kind of helpful because then you know I can ask them to give me their bio and then I can just rework it to how I want to learn it. And then maybe you know what are some talking points that you would like to discuss asking them about that. I think is good to sort of you know get them a bit more of a space to share what they want to share about to. You know I recently signed up for that you shared it was a link to this Facebook page for podcasts guests and hosts and I was looking in there and I sort of contacted one person saying I'd like to be a host on that guest on their show. And she sent me this form and I had like so much information it was, you know your bio, you know, everything and it was like, and I was just like I just stopped I don't want to fill this out. Like, if you're not doing any research about me, then I don't really want to feed you everything about me before we even start this. What's the point you know you're just reading off a sheet or yeah it's not buying it just felt wrong. That's a really interesting point actually I really appreciate you saying that, because that's an assumption that many hosts make like well, you know outsource the work to the guest they want to be on my show. You know they, but yeah there's there's no sense of like you said buy in or sense of I am we're meeting half we're meeting each other halfway kind of thing. Gosh the time is already passing so fast and I'm about to be swallowed up by the night here. I mean my new office here I just moved to a different country for those we don't know. I haven't yet set up the evening, lighting, and you know liaison on the other side of the world where it's still nice and bright. So, let's let's finish up by, if you want to share with the audience. I'm just curious how can they work with you with something that you would love for people to contact you about a service. Well people should definitely check out your podcast so I'll put the link below for that. But anything else you want to say about what kind of service you provide. I guess I'd be interested if anyone watching would like to be a guest on the wellbeing room or would like to interview me on their own podcast if they have one. I'm always looking to meet more people and share what they can share with us about health and wellbeing so if that is something that is your working in then please get in touch. I would like to make a connection with you first before I interview you though so that's that's a given. As far as working with me. I mean I teach yoga classes they're mainly in person but you can join via zoom obviously for time zone differences that might be a problem for people. I'm in the process of refining where I want to go with offers for the future so I can't really offer much more than that at this point in time. But there might be some online courses coming up in the not too distant future. Whether you're a yoga teacher or interested in health and wellbeing that might be something you're interested in and I know this video will be on YouTube. So you know if you're watching this six months from when it was first published or six years from when it was first published then check me out. I also have a YouTube channel which which I'm very proud of actually I've just hit over 400 subscribers which I know sounds like not much to some people but for me that's a bit of a milestone and I have. Absolutely which are near the 10,000 view mark which I'm like yeah I know it's impressive really well thank you so much Leah for sharing of yourself today and always sharing with heart. And so folks will look at the links you know go ahead and look at the links below this video below this podcast and yeah we'll see you on the other side so thank you so much Leah. Thank you George.