44: Unleashing Authentic Travel Experiences and Business Insights with Katie Portanova (Part 2)

[00:00:00]

[00:00:33] Rosie: G'day, and welcome to the Pursuit of Freedom podcast. I'm your host, Rosie Burrows, and I'm on a journey to find my freedom so that I can help you do exactly the same. Join me each week as I share the stories of everyday people who've found their own path to freedom.

[00:00:51] I'm not going to focus on job titles and accolades because I don't care about that stuff. And neither should you. I want to uncover what truly makes you tick. Who are you when you step away from society's expectations and follow your heart? I still haven't figured it out yet. Have you? Either way, buckle up because it's going to be one hell of a ride. Can you share with our listeners the story behind your business and actually what it is, because my interpretation is it kind of was born from this love affair

[00:01:32] with Italy.

[00:01:34] Katie: So I, I start, I, so I studied abroad in college. I studied abroad for three months in in Florence. Oh, I was a town above Florence called Piazzale. So my, my passion started there and little did I not remember. Cause I did know little did I not remember is the fact that my grandmother was born in Italy.

[00:02:01] She was born in a small town in Emilia Romagna in a, in that region. But I just never thought about it. Like, I never thought that like, Oh, my grandmother's Italian. She doesn't speak Italian. She never, she never spoke Italian. So, so yeah, I, I studied abroad and I kept feeling that my, there was something about when I was living there and I was only there for three months, mind you.

[00:02:25] So it was really a short period of time. But I loved it so much that I couldn't stop talking about it. So I think a key thing for anybody that's not sure if they are sure about what their path is. If you can't stop talking about it, that is

[00:02:42] Rosie: That's a

[00:02:42] Katie: you probably should be doing it or pursuing it in some form.

[00:02:46] So my business came from that love and that passion and that that yearning to be somewhere that's not my home, even though my home, my second home, I feel home at home there,, I moved abroad permanently as a UK citizen, as a, during, before the Brexit. Cause during that time, the, the UK was part of the European union. So it was easier for me to become an English citizen or UK citizen. To be a resident in Florence than it was for me to be in America, because an American citizen has to do a thing, a process called Permessa di Soggiorno, which is like a visa program, but it's a whole shit show and it's like totally out of whack.

[00:03:32] So this was an easier route. And I became a resident within like three months of living there. So just because I was, I got British citizenship through my mother, she was born there. Long story. Anyway. So I moved abroad in 2009 and I started teaching English. And that was like the only way for me to sustain myself and you know, make, you know, make money, pay my rent and stuff.

[00:04:00] So I did that for four years four and a half years. And then within those four and a half years, I met my husband, not planning on it, but met my husband, fell in love, la, la, la. And , before I met him, I had always been brainstorming this idea of like, I want to bring people here, but I want to do it authentically.

[00:04:20] And I want to do it in a way where I am supporting local businesses and I'm supporting families and I'm supporting the, the, the artisans, like the crafts that are going away, you know? So it was born out of that. I had thought this idea up with my friend Pasquale, who's my little goober man, and he's fabulous.

[00:04:41] And from there, like I couldn't do anything when I was living there because I didn't have any money. I didn't even, I couldn't barely like run my blog. Like it was like a whole thing. So I, when my husband decided he wanted to try living here, we moved abroad in 2013, moved abroad, moved back here. And we've been here ever since.

[00:05:04] So I've been here 10 years. He's successfully.

[00:05:07] Been promoted to a new job recently. I'm very proud of him. So now from then, from 2013 until now, I've been slowly trying to build this business. And in 2019, I started my business. I started an LLC started my website. I have shifted from doing just yoga retreats to then during the pandemic deciding, okay, do I really just want to teach yoga?

[00:05:32] Not really. I can teach it. I don't really want that to be my focus. And I'll tell you why I chose yoga retreats is because who doesn't want to do a yoga retreat nowadays? Everybody, everybody does yoga retreats. There's so many yoga retreats all over the world. So that was like thinking that I should do it that way.

[00:05:50] I was shitting on myself. And then during the pandemic, I had like a light bulb go off and like, Hey, just fucking talk about Italy. Just do Italy retreats. That's what you love. And then in 2021, I started my blog, Florence and Me. And I talk about my journey through that blog and then highlights places that I like and other types of travel tips and stuff like that.

[00:06:15] And that from there, now we're here 2024, I have successfully done one retreat and I'm going to be doing two more this year. Two separate times one in May, which is the yoga retreat that I believe will be my last one. But I'm not teaching yoga, but if my friend Melissa would like to do another yoga retreat, we're going to plan it better because I learned from my mistakes.

[00:06:39] There's a lot of mistakes I've been doing that. So there was and we both realized it. Me and her had a conversation and she's like, oh, my God. Yes, we do it this way. So, and then the 1 in September is going to be at the same villa I did in 2022. So.

[00:06:54] Rosie: Mm

[00:06:55] Katie: So, yeah, that's like my business. So we, we visit, we visit like, yeah.

[00:07:00] Family run places. We do wine tastings, cooking classes. But we do one thing a day, so there's no rushing, there's no getting up at five in the morning because we have to get a train at six. Like, we're not doing that. We're, we're really relaxed the whole day, the whole week. So it's weeklong retreat.

[00:07:18] Rosie: it sounds amazing. Yeah. People aren't going to get that on, I don't know the name of tour

[00:07:23] companies

[00:07:24] Katie: don't either.

[00:07:25] Rosie: Contiki tours, but they're not going to get that on a Contiki tour, right?

[00:07:29] Katie: yeah.

[00:07:29] Rosie: You're about having the authentic experience. It's not about going to all the

[00:07:34] tourist hotspots and that sounds like exactly the sort of travel I like to do,

[00:07:40] but it's difficult for someone like me when you don't know

[00:07:43] the country. So being able to pay an expert like you to show you all those amazing places and help you have those experiences, I think

[00:07:51] Katie: No, totally. And I think that that's. I think people are afraid to do it that way, like do it authentically because they follow the fold, which is, you know, on a bike tour bus and go to five different places in a day and like sleep in a hotel for two nights and then go to a different hotel the next two nights.

[00:08:08] Like, I think that's like something that people just see and they're like, oh, that's what I should do because that's what it does.

[00:08:15] Like, I don't, I don't, I understand that there's some people out there that maybe have never traveled abroad. Anywhere in the world. And they're just like, I just need to get it all done in this one trip.

[00:08:26] Rosie: yeah.

[00:08:29] Katie: do it, but then in the end, if you think about it, which I talk about this a lot on my podcast, like if you decide that I want to do 10 days in Italy and I want to go to basically the North and South of the most popular cities in Italy. You get home. I, I, I will swear.

[00:08:47] I, I, I will swear on some sort of religious thing. I don't have anything here. But I will swear on it and tell you that I'm sure you are gonna go back to your pictures, your phone, and be like, where the fuck was this? Why did I take a picture of a statue? Where is this? I have no idea. So then, in the end, it's like, goes right back to presents.

[00:09:06] You weren't present. You were just listening to the little headphones with the tour guide talking to you and telling you like, Oh, this was, you know, Caesar and blah, blah, or whatever. And, and I think, yeah, it's fine if that's what you, as a traveler, like, I am going because someone so signed me up. Or I'm going because I'm 75 and I don't think I'm going to be going again.

[00:09:28] Fine. But my focus is for you, even if you are, maybe this is going to be your only time, but I want to take you to the best places, You're gonna be meeting my friends. You're gonna be feeling comforted, like taken care of. I mean not luxury style there's no butlers or massage therapists, but like but you'll be taken care of in the sense that I'm gonna show you places and people and experiences and food and wine and things that you will never see out of a guidebook or a big tour bus because they're not gonna be able to fit into these places because Well, places, these are small family run places where, like I was, I was talking about John Luca before John Luca has a tiny house.

[00:10:12] He can only host four people and he's in a, an an ancient Borgo in, in county like that is picturesque beyond belief. I should send you a picture. It's so beautiful that you want to experience it with the less amount of people as possible. So that you can really feel that you're there instead of just being like taking pictures, pictures, pictures, and being like, I don't know where the fuck I just was.

[00:10:36] Was I in Pompeii or Sorrento? I don't know.

[00:10:39] Rosie: Yeah, like ticking

[00:10:40] things off a list. What's that about?

[00:10:42] Katie: Totally. So, I think that there's, you know, there's pros and cons to both. To both types of experiences, like going to a, through a,

[00:10:51] tour bus. A pro is just like, yeah, you get it done. You see everything that you set out to see. It was on your bucket list.

[00:10:57] That's fine. But a con is like, again, like I said, you're not going to remember that meal in Naples or that meal in Almoffy because you were drunk or like, I mean, like, you know, you, you couldn't finish it because you were so stuffed from lunch or like, But and there's also pros and cons with my with my experience a pro is the fact that like all these things I said you're gonna be doing authentic things.

[00:11:24] You're gonna be talking to actual Italians I'm going to be speaking Italian for you. Like some of these people don't speak Italian. I can help you with that. You're not going to be having a guide to trying to like, understand, like trying to explain things to you and broken Italian, broken English. Cause their English isn't very well, you know, good.

[00:11:41] A con could be for me, like coming on my trip is like, you're, you're nervous. You're like, I've never done this. I'm scared. I'm fearful. I don't know who else is going on this retreat. Maybe you are a solo traveler. And that's okay.

[00:11:55] And I think that's like the biggest part of my life that I remember being so proud of myself was the fact that I moved abroad to live in Florence on my own.

[00:12:08] I was scared out of my mind. I was, I was, I was hopeful, but I was scared because I did not know if I was going to make it. You know, if I was going to be able to make a living and I was going to, you know, pay the rent and I'll do all the things that I haven't done before on my So I think there's There's ways that you can take those of you that are solo travelers and maybe are thinking about doing something like my retreats, like think about it in a different way.

[00:12:40] Like, be so proud of yourself that you're like, I'm going to buy a ticket. I'm going to fly across the ocean, whatever ocean it is. And I'm going to go to this remote place in Tuscany. And just let, let go of, of the fear, let go of the, of the reins of control and like, Desperation of like, where the fuck are we going?

[00:13:02] I don't know. I want to, I want to know.

[00:13:04] And let Katie just do it. Let Katie drive you around. Because you don't have to know what street we need to turn on. You don't have to know any of that. Like, you can just relax, look out the window, and just look at what, what's driving by. Like, what are we driving by?

[00:13:19] These beautiful hills,

[00:13:20] these olive trees, these gorgeous cypress trees. Like, be present. And, yeah.

[00:13:27] Rosie: Mm. Yeah, I'm just like, it sounds so good. One of the things I find really stressful, I like to plan my holidays before I go. And I'm trying to find these experiences that are a bit off the beaten track. And then you're trying to have it all fit within your budget. And there's only so much you can do like It is is. Yeah.

[00:13:50] but if I could pay someone like you, that's the hard part of travel for me, I just make you all do it. And. I know it's going to be authentic and great and I can be present. Like that to me is the perfect balance. Like I still get to enjoy my holiday, but no stress of planning things and trying to figure it out and make an itinerary. And if you're traveling with other people, are they going to like it? And blah, blah, blah, blah.

[00:14:18] Or is it safe for me to go on my own?

[00:14:20] Katie: totally. And I think that there's like, it's, it's, it's such a hard thing for someone like me being small business and being not out there, like I'm not publicized like a lot of other tour companies. So it's hard to find people like us. If you're looking for an authentic experience in any place in the world, like you've got to know somebody, like it's a word of mouth type of thing, or you've got to find, you know, listen to a podcast and be like, Oh, okay.

[00:14:52] Okay. I, I think I'm going to reach out to her or I'm going to, you know, look at her website, see if I can, you know, I jive with her or not. So I think there's like, it's, it's when you are thinking of something that you want to be present, you want to be in an authentic space, you want to experience the people you want to do, whatever that, if that's your type of travel, that is a hard avenue and a hard niche to find.

[00:15:17] Because there is not a lot of travel companies that focus on that because they focus on the big bulk things that are going to make them more money. And like, that don't work with local companies, they work with bigger companies. So that's also, it is, it's a hard, I, yeah, I can imagine. Like, it's hard to like plan something like that.

[00:15:38] If you have no connection with anything else,

[00:15:41] Rosie: Oh, for

[00:15:42] Katie: like, yeah.

[00:15:44] And especially in Australia, Australia is huge. I would imagine like. Even if I wanted to go to Australia, I would have such a hard time probably finding the right people to connect with because

[00:15:56] I don't know anything about Australia apart from like, I love koalas and kangaroos.

[00:16:02] Rosie: Yeah!

[00:16:03] Katie: Like, I had a koala bear when I was a kid. Like, I love my koalas. I know koalas are not nice. I don't think kangaroos are either, but still, I believe them to be part of my spirit animal family. So like, I don't know. I just, I just always, I would have loved, would love in the future to come to Australia and just see a koala and a kangaroo.

[00:16:27] I don't need to touch them. I don't want to bother them.

[00:16:30] Rosie: yeah, they're beautiful. I mean, you can go to a zoo where they're tame and you can cuddle the koala and have your photo

[00:16:37] Katie: they're so soft, aren't they? Aren't they so soft? Have you ever touched one?

[00:16:41] Rosie: They really are, yeah, yeah. You should, you should Google what sound a koala makes. They sound like a monster. It is the weirdest sound. It's so strange. I'm not going to try

[00:16:53] Katie: No. Oh, I'm so glad I didn't know that as a child because I probably want to like, like if they were screaming at me. Oh

[00:17:02] Rosie: Yeah. So yeah, you can have that kind of more touristy experience, which I still think's fun, going to the zoo and seeing them, but seeing a koala in the wild and kangaroos in the wild. Oh, it's magical.

[00:17:15] It really

[00:17:16] Katie: Oh my god.

[00:17:17] Rosie: So

[00:17:17] Katie: I would love to see the Great Barrier Reef too

[00:17:20] Rosie: You know what's outrageous? I've lived here Most of my life, there was only five years I wasn't in Australia.

[00:17:28] I even lived near the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns and I have never been. I don't think it's that crazy. Like it's not the cheapest thing, but there's different options and more affordable ones and I've just never

[00:17:41] Katie: Because I know that it's like, well, as all like natural places are like, I want to see it before, you

[00:17:47] Rosie: Hmm.

[00:17:49] Yeah. Yeah. I. I was going to say, I think I should. No, I would like to go and see it. Right. I think I would really enjoy that. I love being

[00:18:00] in

[00:18:00] nature. So maybe that's something I

[00:18:03] Katie: There you go. That could be on a list of like things you want to experience. Not a goal, not like one of those check off things, but just like something I want to experience. Yeah, for sure.

[00:18:14] Rosie: Yeah.

[00:18:17] Katie: meet you.

[00:18:20] Rosie: Yeah. That'd be great.

[00:18:21] Katie: Not just animals.

[00:18:23] Rosie: Come for an adventure in the

[00:18:24] van.

[00:18:25] Katie: just meeting animals. She doesn't want to see any people. Like, yeah,

[00:18:30] Rosie: that.

[00:18:32] Katie: I mean. I've met a lot of Australians when I lived in Florence. There were a lot of Australians living there when I was living there. So I always,

[00:18:41] Rosie: Yeah, we get

[00:18:42] Katie: yeah.

[00:18:43] Yeah. Oh my gosh.

[00:18:45] Rosie: Let's go back to,

[00:18:46] to business for a bit. Cause I think, Oh, it can be

[00:18:51] tough. And a lot of people who listen to this podcast, you know, they're wanting something different. And it often, involves trying your own thing, starting a business. So can you share with us, what are some of the big lessons you've learned and maybe some of the

[00:19:08] challenges?

[00:19:10] Well, the first one is definitely that you can't do it all on your own.

[00:19:15] Rosie: Mm.

[00:19:16] Katie: I have had a lot of, at the beginning of my journey, I've had a lot of volunteer help. There was this there was this company in the States that kind of partnered me up with like a guy that worked in the travel world.

[00:19:30] And he just does this as he volunteers. He doesn't, he's retired, whatever.

[00:19:35] Rosie: Right.

[00:19:35] Katie: gave me a lot of good advice. So I think asking for help and also seeking feedback

[00:19:42] Rosie: Mm.

[00:19:44] Katie: Is good, even if it does hurt and if it does Like, you know when you ask for feedback and you're like somebody like tells you well, you know I wonder if you could do it this way and like blah blah like I think wonder is better than saying like you should like I wonder if like if you tried at this angle like I like when people like I trust and I work with and like mentors say like, you know Hey, I wonder if you would try to instead of doing it this way do it this way I wonder, I wonder what it would look like.

[00:20:15] And that at least makes me feel like, Huh, okay. Maybe I should give it a try. So yeah, I mean, seeking for, seeking help asking for, you know, assistance, and I would, I would say don't ask family. Because family is always going to tell you don't do it. It's a risk. You're wasting your money. Blah, blah, blah, whatever.

[00:20:40] Because it happened to me at the beginning. My parents weren't really keen on it, and they're still somewhat, they're keen, they're not as, they're better now. Anyway. But I, I think another one is I guess not jump the gun in buying certain types of software.

[00:21:01] Rosie: yeah,

[00:21:02] Katie: we talked about that earlier. When you don't have any money, like maybe you have money, but it's like, I don't really need Candley because nobody's booking appointments with me, but I bought it anyway, because I thought, well, I have it and I look professional and like, whatever.

[00:21:17] Rosie: Yeah. I use a free calendar solution.

[00:21:20] Katie: I mean, I think exactly. I think the less you money into your business at the beginning or look around and do the comparing game. Not friends that have their businesses and stuff like you don't need all the things to make you a legitimate business like the other one that was really big at the beginning to for me was like a lot of A lot of the people I was like being mentored with and stuff like, you know If you don't have your website ready, it's totally fine.

[00:21:54] You know, don't worry about Getting your website to look perfect. Just do it Like if it's, if it is, if it's where it is, let it be, don't keep adding to it. And what did I do? I kept adding to it. So my first website was a shit show because it was literally like a million pages long. Cause I just kept writing and writing.

[00:22:16] I had all these stories and stuff like that. And then I hired somebody, this was the best decision I made. I hired an all woman marketing website design team in Canada. And they rocked my brand brand font, my logo, my website. So that was a, that was a win for me. I, that, that money paid for itself. Like I, I websites amazing.

[00:22:41] I love it. And I still talk to those girls still, because they're just amazing. I think it's also important even when you get feedback. And again, I think I touched on this earlier.

[00:22:52] It was like, If you get feedback or you get advice or anything like that, like make it be the end all be all like that's what you have to do Because I did have a a kind of a coach, consultant She was based in san francisco. She was helpful She was helping with my budget and did like amazing things for me But there were certain things that I was like, she never told me like what I should and should not do But she was always just kind of like, oh, okay yeah, and like kind of gave me a little bit of advice, but then I'm like, okay, I'm not really feeling this.

[00:23:26] So I actually, I don't regret having her as, cause I did pay her a bit, but like I did in the end when I think back, I'm like, you know, she wasn't very good. Like she was, and she wasn't because she was helpful with the money stuff because she liked creating budgets and stuff, but she wasn't helpful in the, in the mentoring part, which I think that was something that I was hiring her for necessarily, but she came.

[00:23:51] Rosie: Yeah.

[00:23:52] Katie: Like a sounding board. So then I was like, I was using her as that. Anyway, so I think, okay, so Yeah, asking for help when you do ask for help Don't necessarily take it to heart and take it that that's your path

[00:24:08] like listen to it and if it's something that resonates with you take it as what it is or let it go and

[00:24:16] Rosie: Right.

[00:24:17] Katie: And then also just don't buy all these software programs that

[00:24:22] Rosie: You

[00:24:22] Katie: You don't need you don't need any of it if it's something If you're doing something online, I think that there's so many free things that you can do where you can work slowly towards purchasing a software for XYZ.

[00:24:37] But like, I just bought a CRM last year, like, for my, for my collecting my contacts. It's helpful with, like, contracts and then invoicing and all that other stuff for my retreats because I was sick of using Google Docs. So, like,

[00:24:54] it's like a pain.

[00:24:55] Rosie: yeah.

[00:24:56] So prioritize what you need and what's going to make the most

[00:24:59] Katie: Yeah,

[00:25:00] Rosie: I'm trying to think what I pay for. Well, Riverside, what I record on, I pay for because I care about the quality of

[00:25:07] my

[00:25:07] Katie: hmm.

[00:25:08] Rosie: But initially I started with the free version and then I outgrew that because I just have so many guests now. I use a free calendar solution. It's not calendly, which everybody recommends. It's called simply meet. And the free version lets you have unlimited

[00:25:23] calendars. It's great. Like that's what you would have booked in a time for me. Like it doesn't look as fancy, but it does the job.

[00:25:30] It's great. , I'll be starting an online community for women.

[00:25:34] Hopefully by the time this goes live, it'll be launched. I will be using a free solution. I'm not going to pay for Thinkific or this or that. I might down the line, but I can just change the platform. Like I don't have to put in all this money because I haven't got the cashflow right now. I And I don't think paying all this money for fancy software is actually going to make much of a difference.

[00:26:00] Like I think of other businesses, I take my dog to training. These guys don't have a website. They've just got a Facebook page. Where they do the training is underneath their house. They rent it. The landlords are awful. So don't repair anything like the door looks like cardboard. It's deteriorating from the rain. Like it's just, it's so basic, but the value they deliver is outstanding.

[00:26:27] Katie: and that wouldn't

[00:26:28] Rosie: you don't need

[00:26:28] Katie: and it wouldn't have been conveyed to you if you went there without knowing Like how they are right because you would have seen a lot of

[00:26:37] There, but you know, of the value, it doesn't matter what they look like or the place or the door or whatever. And I think that's something that's a really other amazing lesson.

[00:26:49] I agree. Like, I think that there's like a lot to be said about, you know, the value of what somebody gives you doesn't necessarily mean that you have to have X, Y, Z. All your ducks in a row and, you know, an amazing, you know, set up van. Like you don't need to have that set up van. Like you can just like you, you you're happy with what it is.

[00:27:15] And actually anybody that, I don't know if you do, do you do interviews in your van or no?

[00:27:21] Rosie: Most of the, Oh, live. I actually haven't done a, I've done one face to face interview, but I wasn't

[00:27:27] Katie: Oh, okay.

[00:27:27] Rosie: time, but that's something I wouldn't mind playing with. Like there's room for it and it would be so

[00:27:33] Katie: Yeah, totally.

[00:27:34] Rosie: And I actually, I save so much money by living in the van that I've got a bit more, you know, wiggle room to, to try some things and maybe pay for a few things like Riverside and I have satellite internet, which is fairly expensive, but. It allows me to do this. It keeps me connected. Like mobile phone reception in Australia is pretty sketchy and I need

[00:27:56] good internet. So that's

[00:27:57] something I do. So Yeah, I agree with that. You just, just go, do I really need this? Or am I just trying to keep up with the Joneses? I, you know, trying to be slick.

[00:28:07] Yeah.

[00:28:12] Katie: when somebody gets to know you as a business, whatever your business is, you're They're going to look past the fact that your website's undone or that you just have a Facebook page or that you, you know, you can only contact me by phone.

[00:28:26] Like, you can't, there's no other way. Like, you have to call me. You can't text me because my phone is old. I still have a Nokia. I don't know. Like, you know, whatever, like, there's still, there's, there's just a lot to be said. And I think, I think the last lesson. I would say that I've learned is that I have fine.

[00:28:46] Well, I'm still learning. It is like. It's going to take time.

[00:28:50] Rosie: Hmm.

[00:28:51] Katie: Time,

[00:28:52] Rosie: That's a big

[00:28:53] Katie: time is like, as much as like, you want things to happen fast when you're starting a new business and maybe you left your full time job and this is your all in, you're all in and you're gonna see, it's gonna take time and there's a lot of lessons and a lot of steps, I think, and decisions you should make before you leave something that's maybe sustaining your life.

[00:29:17] Rosie: Yeah.

[00:29:17] Katie: Just because I'm still working at my full time job doesn't mean that I'm failing. And I'm saying that out loud because

[00:29:23] I would think that way a few years ago being like, why can't I just have this to work? Why doesn't this work? Why doesn't anybody know me? Why aren't people finding me? Like, why does anyone to come to Italy with me?

[00:29:34] Like, why, you know, why, why, why? Like, and, but I was grateful that I still had my full time job. Right. So. And, but I would always think to myself, I'd come home, I'd be working on my website and doing all the things I'm like, and I would just like, you know, think to myself, like, well, no, I, I feel like I'm failing because I'm not doing what I set out to do, because there's something in society, or maybe it's just in me that if I decide to do something, not necessarily that I need to have it happen immediately, but I would like it to slowly start to conform and like, develop and, and, And like bloom into something where I'm successful.

[00:30:17] Right. And I haven't had that yet. Like I've done

[00:30:22] so many events with, I I've, I've joined my local chamber of commerce, which they do a lot of events for small businesses and stuff, but I haven't gotten really anything out of that. So that's like another thing I'm like rethinking, like, is that something I really want to do?

[00:30:36] Oh, because

[00:30:38] I'm putting a lot of time and energy into certain events and certain things where I'm not gated any new clients. Any new interest in my business. So I feel like I'm failing, you know, because nothing's happening, you know, nothing, I'm not, there's no change in money. Like I'm not getting any richer, I'm not, I'm not getting any more income that, you know, I'm, I'm getting income now just because I'm getting, I'm planning.

[00:31:05] I have two retreats coming up, but after those two retreats, I'm, I'm, I'm wondering like how much I'm going to have left. You know, like how much am I going to gain from these things? I'm hoping I'm going to gain from marketing. Like, I'm hoping I'm going to gain like people that say, Hey, you know, I went on this retreat with Katie and like, I want to go again.

[00:31:26] Let's go, let's go again next year. She's going to Florence. You know, I don't know. Like, I think the time thing is hard. And then realizing the fact that I'm not, I'm not failing. It's just taking time. And that. And then knowing that in each experience, even if I only have four people in September, because right now I would like to have six, but I have only a four.

[00:31:50] I have four, I just need to stop saying only I have,

[00:31:52] Rosie: Exactly. Yeah.

[00:31:54] Katie: is very good. That those four people that are coming on and the six people that are coming on in May, those people are my marketing team.

[00:32:06] Rosie: Yes.

[00:32:07] Katie: like, I need to be like, so excited. And so happy to be with them as much as it's like, it's so hard to be on for five days in a row, six days in a row.

[00:32:21] But like, it is like

[00:32:23] Rosie: Mm-Hmm?

[00:32:24] Katie: my mindset is going to be like, okay, I'm going to not just like, I have to make them happy, but I'm just gonna, I'm going to show them the most amazing places in this part of Tuscany and they're going to enjoy it. And I know I'm going to deliver because I know these places and I know they're going to be happy.

[00:32:42] If they're not going to be happy, I have no control over that. Like that's another thing to not feel like I need to control their happiness to control, like the, the experience for them. Because there, I've had this happen all the time and I'm sure you've had this, or you've known people that have like, had the culture shock of like coming into a country

[00:33:04] where nothing is, nothing is of like your home.

[00:33:09] There's nothing that's there. Everyone's speaking a different language or in a foreign country. You don't feel comfortable. You don't feel safe. You don't, you, you feel. You know, you're an outcast you feel like out of place and that is triggering for a lot of people like especially if you go into One of those tiny those hotel rooms in in in Italy where they have the tiny tiny showers You know like but that's like what it is Like and that's what's funny about Italy because it's like yes, there are tall Italians but majority of Italians are small but like Isn't it funny that the showers are so small?

[00:33:52] There's literally, even if, no offense, but like, if you are overweight, like, it's gonna be funny taking a shower. Like, literally. I mean, not like they're like, extremely tiny, I'm not gonna scare everybody, but like, you know, they're, if you're from America, they're a lot smaller than an American shower.

[00:34:10] Rosie: yeah.

[00:34:11] Katie: but like, making humor out of it, and appreciating the fact that like, hey, Yeah, there's a bidet in your, in your bathroom.

[00:34:19] I know you have no idea what to do with it. Neither did I, when I first moved here, but I'll explain the history of it. Cause it's really kind of cool. Like, I

[00:34:28] mean, only in Italy and France, I don't know if Germany has them. I'm not sure, but they have bidets in all their bathrooms. It's rare not to see a house without a bidet in the bathroom.

[00:34:42] Rosie: Think that's such amazing advice for people who are looking to start a business, just do it. Yeah. Go back and rewind that people.

[00:34:52] Take notes.

[00:34:53] I think that's valuable. There's a question I like to ask all my guests. So can you tell me what does freedom mean to you?

[00:35:05] Katie: Freedom means being and doing exactly what your intuition guides you to do. Being in your body and being aware that you are on the right path. That is freedom.

[00:35:26] Rosie: Yeah. I'm impressed how succinctly you conveyed that.

[00:35:31] Katie: I know, and I'm having

[00:35:32] such a trouble time with words today, like, I think my brain is still like, calibrating back from speaking in Italian for two weeks, so like, I'm just like trying to figure out what is the word that I want to say, because it's hard. Oh,

[00:35:48] Rosie: powerful,

[00:35:49] so

[00:35:50] Katie: thank you.

[00:35:51] Rosie: but Katie, thank you so much. I have learnt a lot through this conversation and I know that listeners have

[00:36:00] Katie: been very

[00:36:00] therapeutic.

[00:36:02] Rosie: Oh good, Yeah,

[00:36:04] likewise, this is why I do what I

[00:36:07] do, yeah,

[00:36:07] yeah, yeah, You've spoken about, I'm, I'm, trying to just go back to the beginning of our conversation we've spoken about

[00:36:18] so much, but you know, we've spoken about going against the norm and where that started and always feeling a bit on the outside and belonging, which is so important. And you know, how Brene Brown talks about that is amazing. I'll put a link in the description to some of her stuff. I'm a

[00:36:37] huge fan. Belonging is huge. And it sounds like you really found that in Italy. You're in the U S at the moment, but you've found a way to balance that. And you've built a business around that.

[00:36:50] So you can have some joy and, you know, steadiness is your word for this year, which I think is

[00:36:57] Katie: yeah, yeah.

[00:36:59] Rosie: It's just. Such a beautiful concept, I think. And I'm someone who needs to learn to slow down and just go, it's not going to happen overnight. You're not a failure. Just little step

[00:37:12] forward means I'm moving closer to the life I want. Who knows if I'm going to get there, but I'm

[00:37:18] getting closer. Yeah.

[00:37:19] Katie: No, for sure. Yeah. I think that was a beautiful summary. And that made me feel a lot better because as you said, like you started a business, I was like, in my mind, I'm like, but I'm feeling like, that's what I said.

[00:37:34] Rosie: Mm.

[00:37:36] Katie: Cause like, I, it's such a, it's such a trigger because like, I try to say like so much about like I'm, I'm in a bit, I started a business, I have a business, but because it, because it hasn't created.

[00:37:49] Money, and this is another, I guess, a good lesson for everybody out there. That doesn't mean it's not a business. It's still, it's

[00:37:57] Rosie: Right. Absolutely. And tell the Barrys out there to shut the fuck

[00:38:03] up. You know? It's there, but just shut up, thank you.

[00:38:08] Katie: Fuck off, Barry. Get out of here. Yeah,

[00:38:13] Rosie: Oh. Katie, Thank you, so

[00:38:16] Katie: you, Rosie.

[00:38:17] Rosie: I know your business is going to continue to grow because You just give so much value and it's so unique. I'll put your contact details in the description so people

[00:38:27] can reach out. There's so many people in Australia who want to travel, so you might end up with a bunch of Aussies, at

[00:38:34] Katie: great. I want, I want the accents. Maybe,

[00:38:39] Rosie: Yeah, yeah, we're, we're a unique bunch.

[00:38:42] Katie: and maybe someday I'll be there and we can play with koalas together.

[00:38:46] Rosie: Oh, thank you, Katie. We'll

[00:38:48] Katie: All right.

[00:38:49] Rosie: If this episode resonated with you at all, could I please ask that you share it with a friend who you think could get value from it?

[00:38:57] And whilst you're doing that, make sure you follow and subscribe to the podcast so that you never miss another episode. And whilst you're following or subscribing, please leave us a rating. Preferably five stars and also a written review doing each of these things is going to help this podcast, reach more people and impact more lives, which is at the end of the day is what we're here to do.

[00:39:22] Thank you so much. I appreciate you. Remember you matter. You're worth it. And you are so, so capable. Take care of yourself and I'll see you next week.