Welcome. Welcome. I’m really excited. to be with you this week for what is an atypical episode. I am currently in Brooklyn. I’m about here in about an hour to head into Manhattan. Um, I right now behind my computer, as I’m recording this, I can see the New York skyline. It’s gorgeous. It’s so different than Portugal.

I mean, I live in this tiny little beach town. Um, we don’t really have large buildings except for. Medium sized apartment buildings, so it’s a very different kind of beautiful, but beautiful. Nonetheless, I wanted to record this short episode today to reflect a little bit on the idea of investing in your dreams.

And this is something that I have had to personally. Learn as I’ve been in business for now, nearly 14 years and not nearly for 14 years. I keep forgetting, like it has officially been 14 years. And I think in the beginning I had this mindset that I had to just do everything on my own, that I had to learn on my own, that I had to try and fail and try again on my own.

But everything changed for me when I started making investments into my dreams. Investment doesn’t always mean money. It can mean money, but it certainly doesn’t just mean money. A lot of times. That’s also taking a risk and trying something. It means investing your energy and intention into whatever the thing is that might get you closer to your dreams.

Um, and I think honestly, time and energy are 2 of the most important investments we make, but certainly investing money in guidance. For me has been massive. So I am here as part of a program that I joined, um, to learn from somebody that I respect that has done a lot of the things that I am doing, want to do.

And as I grow this podcast, as I grow my social media, my email list. Learning how to do that in a really authentic way as it gets larger and larger and just really to be able to show up, show up and serve. And, um, I think just scale scale my impact and message. So I joined this program. Part of it is, uh, actually coming here to New York to be.

In a lunch and in community with other women and to attend a book release party, which was extremely fun. And I have to say that this time here has been so meaningful for me, not just because of the group, although the women that I met were. are incredible women. I have had such a lovely time connecting with each of them.

But as you might know, if you’re on my newsletter, you’ve listened to the podcast before I am working on a book. I currently have a book proposal out with an agent. Um, that’s considering it. And, uh, in order to successfully get this book in Hands like yours, I have a, I have to make an effort. I need to put, you know, time and energy and belief into the vision that I have for this book and what this book can do in the world.

And so coming here to New York, meeting people that can help me along with those dreams, networking with people who share my zest for life and my drive and my heart to make an impact, that is a really, really important thing. And I feel like I’ve grown on this trip, not just because, you know, again, like I’ve gotten learning from this program, which I have, but I have made a true step toward that future vision that I hold for my life.

And that is incredibly valuable. And it made me think about years ago, um, probably, gosh, it’s probably been, it was a really long time. 8 years ago, maybe I, I, uh, I had this idea for this event. It was like, it was like a unconference in a way it was a retreat, but it was more than a retreat. You can see the problems here.

I couldn’t even explain it. Um, but I did actually craft this beautiful, um, I called it, I called it the clarity intensive, and it was really for people who were in a transformational stage in their life or transitional, I should say stage in their life. And, um, I had planned this, this gorgeous retreat of really giving people space for introspection and to really uncover what the next step was for them or is for them.

And, um, as part of my scouting, I made this trip to Florida to go check out a resort where I thought I might host this event and I, um. You know, up until that point in my career, I had always waited for somebody else to bestow an opportunity on me, like. If I wanted to travel for work, I always felt like somebody else had to pick me to offer it to me to ask me to go on these trips.

And when I went to Florida on the scouting trip, it was the 1st time I had ever initiated. My own travel for my own thing. And I remember I did this sunset cruise. Cause I was like, I’m here. I’m just going to have fun as well, as well as work. I went on this sunset cruise and I was sitting on the, whatever the front part of a, um, sailboat is called.

And I was looking out over the water and I remember thinking, like, I brought myself here. I brought myself here. Nobody else, like, had this idea. Nobody else invited me. Nobody else, you know, created this moment for me. I created this moment for myself and while my idea did not end up working in the long run, I did end up booking a place in San Diego after doing a couple more scouting trips, I did launch it and then I got really scared and I, like, pulled the plug on it before I’d ever had an opportunity and I lost a lot of money on it.

Um, Even though all of that happened, it was one of the most transformative things I have ever done for myself as a business owner was me creating my own thing, investing in my own thing, and then learning from it. And although that failed, you know what, like I had to have that experience. I definitely would do things differently now, but, um, at this point in my life, I just.

I look back on that and I think how like that was so brave, you know, to, to go and do that. And, um, to, to also just give myself permission to invest in my own dreams. And if I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have the courage and conviction to. Now, travel all the places that I travel to invest in myself. I go to London last year.

I’ve gone to Amsterdam, Berlin, actually multiple times to London. I’ve gone to all these places for professional education for learning for community for networking for connection. And also for space, because as a, as an entrepreneur, as a big dreamer, as a big thinker, as somebody who is driven and not driven.

Yeah, I, I love to grow my business. I love that piece of it. It’s very rewarding. Money is very rewarding for me. I, I, I enjoy it. I’m not going to, I’m not going to like, pretend like I don’t, but. Really, I am driven by so much more than money, because if I was just driven by money, I would be in a totally different space professionally, because I would do things that would get me only to that destination, but I have chosen in my life to pursue a path of impact and pursue a path of really growing.

My own impact through other people’s impact. This is what I do as a book coach, as a leader of my team. Um, you know, as we’re ghostwriting books for people and helping them build their thought leadership, I have chosen ethics and virtue and like. Um, you know, I’ve turned down so many projects and opportunities because they did not align with my values.

And I think that these investments that I make in myself and honoring my own growth, honoring my personal space. Honoring a desire to be better and like investing in that and traveling at to those things or, you know, hiring a coach, um, whatever I have done. I mean, I’ve done all of these things along the way.

Each of those is like a way of reinforcing to myself that, um. That there’s more within me and like, that I can grow and that I can be better and I can, you know, support my clients better. And I can, um, I can, I can make an impact on this world through my work. So all of that to say, and the reason that I’m, I’m sharing this with you is that.

If you haven’t done this for yourself, give yourself permission today, take one small step to make an investment in yourself, whether that is signing up for a course that you’ve been thinking about, or hiring a coach that you’ve been thinking about, or like booking a hotel in another city. And Taking one to three nights away from your family, your obligations to just journal and eat good food and move your body and just be, and just think whatever that investment is that you need to make in yourself, whatever that thing is that will move you toward that next big dream, like whatever that thing is, go for it, go for it because it, I guarantee you, whether it is, Successful or a failure as I will, I will very like willingly own that my first experience in investing myself was a failure.

I don’t know why we’re so afraid of that word because failure is 100 percent our best teacher. It teaches so much more. Then success ever will. So whether it’s a quote unquote success or a quote unquote failure, whatever that thing is that you do to invest yourself to invest in yourself, like it will pay off down the road.

It may pay off in unexpected ways. Maybe the payoff. Is learning to invest in yourself. Maybe the payoff is simply starting to take action and beginning to have more agency over your own life. It’s at the end of the day, when we invest in ourselves, when we invest our money, when we invest our time, when we invest our energy, our attention, man, that’s a huge one that is us.

Asserting agency over our own lives and shaping our own futures and claiming choice, claiming that opportunity for choice in our lives and so as I’m here in New York, and I look forward tonight to. Attending Hamilton, I am going to Hamilton on Broadway and I, I reflect on the experiences that I’ve had this week with the women that I connected with, with the conversations that I had at this great book release yesterday with the feeling that I have today, waking up and really just kind of sitting in.

In awe of whatever this next step in my life and work is like being open and excited. It’s really powerful. And I encourage you today. I encourage you to take that step for yourself. I hope that, uh, this episode. Brought you some joy today. Maybe got you thinking a little bit. I am off to explore the city off to, um, a little bit of a exciting rest of my trip.

I should say I’m going to see my sister. I’m going to come back. So my sister lives in another state. I’m going to fly there. I’m coming back to New York in a few days to work with an amazing client. And then I go back. to my absolutely beautiful life in Portugal and my beautiful family and the beautiful future that’s ahead.

Um, with so much opportunity. Thank you for being with me today. Thank you for letting me gush about this thing that I’m so passionate about. Whatever you do next in your day, in your week, in your month, in your life, I hope that is one driven by your vision and by your own choosing. I will be back with you before you know it.